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CDs Now Available:

Blake: A Classic Christmas
(new import CD)
Holiday release from British harmony trio Blake. Shirley Bassey recorded her first ever Christmas song, collaborating with Blake on the first track. "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on An Open Fire)," "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!," "Christmas Time Is Here," "Frosty the Snowman," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," "Little Saint Nick," "Walking in the Air," "In the Bleak Midwinter," "O Holy Night," "I'll Be Home for Christmas," "Back in Your Arms (For Christmas)," "Silent Night." Released 11/27/15. Also available direct from the UK at Dress Circle
and Amazon UK.

Cynthia Loves Sinatra
(new on CD/mp3/at iTunes)
Cynthia Crane with Mike Renzi. "When No One Cares / Only the Lonely," "All or Nothing At All," "When Your Lover Has Gone," "Drinking Again," "One for My Baby," "No One Ever Tells You," "The Night We Called It a Day," "Its Easy to Remember," "Hey Look / No Crying." Also available directly from CD Baby. Released 11/1/15.

Joseph Summer: The Tempest
(Albany Records - new on 2 CDs)
Chamber opera version of Shakespeare's The Tempest, composed by Joseph Summer (founder and executive director of The Shakespeare Concerts) with a libretto by Eve Summer.

DIGITAL DOWNLOADs Now Available:

A New York Holiday
(Miranda Music - new digital album on mp3/at iTunes)
Miranda Music artists and friends. "The Shortest Day," (Kitty Skrobela & Sean Harkness), "Silent Night," (Lauren Fox & Peter Calo), "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm," (Richard Barone), "It's Christmas All Over the World," (Christopher Gines), "I Wonder as I Wander," (Hilary Kole), "Perfect Christmas," (Tracy Stark), "You'd Better Say Yes," (Marissa Mulder & Rick Jensen), "In the Bleak Midwinter," (Julie Reyburn & Mark Janas), "Your Hallelujah," (Kathleen France), "Holy Days," (Sean Harkness), "Sleigh Ride," (Sue Matsuki & Tom Hubbard), "Merry Christmas, Darling," (Maria Ottavia), "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," (Marcus Simeone), "After the Holidays," (Stacy Sullivan & Jon Weber), "The Christmas Tree," (Karen Oberlin & Fred Hersch), "So It's Christmas," (Bill Zeffiro), "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?," (Lina Koutrakos), "Let There Be Peace On Earth," (Joshua Lance Dixon), "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," (Benjamin Niemczyk). Released 11/26/15.

Whatever I Want It To Be
(new digital album on mp3)
Jonathan Reid Gealt's third studio album, featuring Loren Allred, Whitney Bashor, James Bilodeau, Alex Brightman, Craig Colton, Lilli Cooper, Michael Deleget, Luke Edgemon, Celisse Henderson, Joshua Henry, Caissie Levy, Addi McDaniel, Lindsay Mendez, Jane Monheit, Laura Osnes, Alysha Umphress, Natalie Weiss. Produced by James Bilodeau, Matt Hinkley and Gealt. "Whatever I Want It to Be," "Boy Crazy," "If I Close My Eyes," "This Could Be Love," "Mean to You," "You Had No Right," "Let Yourself Fall," "Where I'd Fall in Love," "Let Me Try," "Everybody Said...," "Lullaby," "Give It All Up." An "Instrumentals" version is also available on mp3 and at iTunes. Released 11/29/15.

BOOKs Now Available:

#GRATEFUL: Everything Happens for a Reason
(new Paperback/Kindle Edition)
By Annoying Actor Friend. Satirical "create your own show business destiny" sequel to "#SOBLESSED: the Annoying Actor Friend’s Guide to Werking in Show Business". Over one hundred different choices and endings.

Curtain Up: Agatha Christie: A Life in the Theatre
(Harper - Hardcover Book/Kindle Edition)
By Julius Green. Examines the bestselling mystery writer's career and work as a playwright, published to commemorate her 125th birthday. Analyzes her plays and features excerpts from Agatha Christie’s correspondences, notebooks, and several unpublished and unperformed scripts quoted from for the first time. 624 pages.

Theatre World Volume 69: 2012-2013
(Theatre World Media - Hardcover Book)
Ben Hodges and Scott Denny, editors. Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, and complete listings for 70 regional theatres, detailing more than 2,000 productions with over 800 photographs, each entry includes cast lists, replacements, producers, directors, authors, composers, opening and closing dates, song titles, and plot synopses. The year's obituaries, a listing of all nominees and winners of the major theatrical awards, the longest-running Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, and a detailed index. Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, and Regional Theatre roundups written by accomplished theatre critics. Highlights of the season include Kinky Boots; Matilda the Musical; Tracy Letts in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf; Cicely Tyson in Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful; Pippin; David Byrne and Fat Boy Slim's Here Lies Love. 524 pages.

Recordings TO BE RELEASED THIS FRIDAY, 12/4/15:

Irving Berlin - This Is the Life
(New World Records - on CD)
Highlights Berlin's songs for vaudeville, revue, and the Broadway stage, including some rediscovered scores from Berlin's first musical Watch Your Step (1914). All selections are performed from rare historic orchestrations prepared by Irving Berlin's own staff arrangers and orchestrators. Includes an extensive booklet. "Overture" (Watch Your Step), "Finale to Act II (Opera Medley)" (Watch Your Step), "That Mesmerizing Mendelssohn Tune," "The International Rag," "You'd Be Surprised," "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Everybody's Doin' It Now," "Play a Simple Melody," "I Love a Piano," "The Girls of My Dreams," "Smile and Show Your Dimple," "Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning!," "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody," "When I Leave the World Behind," "Home Again Blues," "Tell Me, Little Gypsy," "Nobody Knows (and Nobody Seems to Care)," "Say It With Music," "This Is The Life!," My Melody Dream," "When I Lost You."

School of Rock - The Musical OBC
(Warner Bros - new on CD/mp3/iTunes/2-LP vinyl)
Original 2015 Broadway cast recording, featuring Alex Brightman and Sierra Boggess. Twelve original songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Glenn Slater, and three songs from the 2003 film. Produced by Rob Cavallo and Lloyd Weber.

Sky-Pony: Beautiful Monster
(Knitting Factory - new on CD/mp3)
Lauren Worsham, her husband Kyle Jarrow, Kevin Wunderlich, drummer Perry Silver, bassist Eric Day, cellist David Blasher, and backup singers Jessi Suzuki, Lizzie O'Hara and Kristin Piacentile. "The Watcher," "Regret It In The Morning," "Beautiful Monster," "Rapture," "Doctor," "Action Movie," "Seems So Strange," "Steal Tonight," "Vampire," "Run Away," "Everyone Will Die."

Recordings RECENTLY MADE AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER:

Blackstar
(Columbia - new on CD/mp3/at iTunes)
New David Bowie album. Includes the title track from new David Bowie and Enda Walsh musical Lazarus.

Dorothy Loudon at the Blue Angel and Other Rarities
(Stage Door Records - new on CD)
Dorothy Loudon's live club act, recorded in stereo album at New York's Blue Angel supper club in 1959, accompanied by the Norman Paris trio, plus Loudon's complete rare singles recorded between 1951-1955. First time on CD. Retro LP packaging. Limited to 500 copies. At the Blue Angel: "Red Hot Mama / Someday My Prince Will," "Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love," "Louisiana," "South Rampart Street Parade," "I Like a Hungry Man," "Westport," "Six Feet of Papa," "Supper on the Table," "You Gotta See Your Mama," "Great Day," "Jamboree Jones," "Dixie Medley," "Bei Mir Bist du Schon; Bonus tracks: "Nickelodeon Rag," "Rustle a Paper," "How High the Moon," "Would I Love You," "I Wanna Say Hello," "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," "Zing a Little Zong," "Ma-Ma, Ma-Ma Put the Kettle on," "Nickel And Dime Man," "Sinnin' Again," "I'm With You," "Last Stop," "Mississippi Mambo," "Bei Mir Bist du Schoen," "All for the Lack of a Bobbin." Available for early shipping from Stage Door Records UK. (Amazon U.S. link to be announced.)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame
(Ghostlight Records - new on CD)
American premiere studio recording of Alan Menken/Stephen Schwartz score. Michael Arden, Patrick Page, Ciara Renée, Andrew Samonsky, Erik Liberman. 25-piece orchestra and a choir of 32. Recorded September 28-30.

Melissa Errico: What About Today? Live at 54 BELOW
(Broadway Records - new on DVD)
Live footage from her opening night cabaret performance of "What About Today?" at Feinstein's 54 Below. 15-song collection includes 11 tracks which Melissa has never recorded before, including the strong title track by David Shire. 64 minutes.

Books RECENTLY MADE AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER:

Master of Ceremonies: A Memoir
(Flatiron Books - Hardcover Book/Kindle Edition)
Memoir by Joel Grey. "... of a life lived in and out of the limelight, but it is also the story of the man behind the stage makeup." 256 pages.

Master of Ceremonies: A Memoir Audio version
(Macmillan Audio - new on CD)
Memoir by Joel Grey. "... of a life lived in and out of the limelight, but it is also the story of the man behind the stage makeup." Audio version read by Joel Grey.

OTHER NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Added, no release date:

Close to You: Bacharach Reimagined
(new on CD)
West End production cast recording (previously played U.S. as What's It All About?. Recorded November 2015. Score by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Kyle Riabko arranger and music director. Cast/musicians includes Kyle Riabko, Daniel Bailen, Greg Coulson, Anastacia McCleskey, Stephanie McKeon, Renato Paris, James Williams. Co-conceived by Kyle Riabko and David Lane Seltzer.

Also see last week's recap

Compiled by Talkin' Broadway Staff.

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