Cast Albums Blog

As tweeted by the authors and cast members, the original Off-Broadway cast of See Rock City & Other Destinations will reassemble to record a cast album. The production originally played the Duke on 42nd Street during the summer of 2010.

See Rock City? HEAR Rock City!!! ...Off-B'way Cast Album in the works! #castalbum

— See Rock City (@seerockcityshow) July 2, 2012

@HayleyPrestwood It's the real deal, with the off-bway cast and arrangements! #SeeRockCityshow

— Mamie Parris (@MamieParris) July 2, 2012

After remixing the original 8-track session tapes for a limited edition re-release of Promises, Promises for his label Kritzerland (which sounds fantastic), producer Bruce Kimmel is turning his attention to the original cast recording of Follies. Bruce recently posted the following to Facebook:

"Holy moley on rye - I just heard Prologue/Beautiful Girls in our new mix - I am in HEAVEN - the detail and clarity are UNBELIEVABLE - things I've never heard before. And so, we're doing it!"

"It's not a remastering - it's a brand new mix off the original eight-track session masters. The sound is incredible and we're just hearing parts of the orchestration that were so buried in the original mix, so that's fun, plus in the original mix, the band just was excruciatingly loud at certain points - just for no reason, and we're smoothing all that out so that it all sounds of a piece and clear as a bell. When I compared the same track to the original mix on CD, that old CD sounds like a second generation cassette. I'm sure some will find the effort not worth it or there will be purists who will prefer what they did hastily in one day back then, but I could not be happier right now."

"I try not to be prone to hyperbole, but I just was amazed when I heard the opening. The original eight-track session masters were originally mixed to two-track in a day. And it sounded like it. Funnily, in listening to the old CD, it almost sounds like there's tape drag or bauble occasionally, none of which you hear in this new mix, of course. Also, they panned the vocals so weirdly in that original mix - so people would sing long solos panned hard left or right - which is just so wacky."

July 12 Update: The release has officially been announced!

PS Classics, which recorded the 2011 Broadway Revival production of Follies, has recently posted a free download of a new solo version of Broadway Baby from the recording.

"The Metropolitan Museum of Art recently asked if they could include "Broadway Baby" on a compilation CD they were doing, of songs from musicals set in New York City. We of course said yes, but we also felt the track might be more appropriate on a compilation disc as a Hattie solo, without Solange and the Whitmans mysteriously returning at the end. So the wonderful Jayne Houdyshell went back into the studio last month and recorded a new ending, and as a gift to our customers, we thought we'd make the solo track available here."

Originally tweeted by composer Gabriel Kahane, the Public Theatre confirmed their production of February House will record a cast album next week.

The musical, about Brooklyn bohemians sharing a house in the 1940's, stars cabaret singer Julian Fleisher. A record label or release date has not yet been announced.

New record label Broadway Records will record the final three performances of Laura Osnes' debut at the Café Carlyle, for a CD release in September. She will be joined by special guests Jeremy Jordan on June 28, Tom Wopat on June 29 and Max Crumm on June 30

Osnes' act will feature songs culled from Broadway, the Great American Songbook, as well as from the worlds of jazz and folk. She will be accompanied by a quartet led by her musical director Fred Lassen on piano.