Talkin' Broadway Sound Advice Recap Week of 1/16/24
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See the complete list of Upcoming/Recent releases.
Last week's recap
Books Now Available:
Greasepaint Puritan: Boston to 42nd Street in the Queer Backstage Novels of Bradford Ropes
(Univ of Michigan Press - Hardcover Book/Paperback)
By Maya Cantu. Details the life and work of Bradford Ropes, author of the bawdy 1932 novel "42nd Street," on which the classic film and its stage adaptation are based. Follows Ropes s successful career as both a performer and the author of the backstage novels "42nd Street," "Stage Mother," and "Go Into Your Dance." Ropes rebelled against the "Proper Bostonian" life, in a career that touched upon the Jazz Age, American vaudeville, and theater censorship. 330 pages.
Mary & Ethel ... and Mikey Who?
(Moreclacke Publishing - new Hardcover Book/Kindle Edition/Audible Audiobook)
By Stephen Cole, who has "taken his real-life friendships with Ethel Merman and Mary Martin, the two undisputed queens of Broadway, tossed them into a blender and come up with a fantasy about a nerdy super-fan in the early 1980s who, while visiting his dying idol Ethel Merman, stumbles into a time portal in her closet and exits on the other side in Sophie Tucker's star dressing room at the Imperial Theatre in 1939." Audio version narrated by Anita Gillette. 216 pages.
Newly Listed Recordings:
February 23:
Whisper Darkly
(TBI Music Group - new album )
Concept album for "immersive electro-swing musical" score by Andrew Gerle (the book is by DJ Salisbury). Cast includes Kayla Davion, Claybourne Elder, Keri René Fuller, Alli Mauzey, Aléna Watters. Accompanied by jazz band: Sara Caswell (violin), Josh Roberts (drums), Alphonso Horne (trumpet), and Roberto Gervasi (accordion). Preview dance mix "Too Much Fun" to be available January 17. Produced by Andrew Gerle and PiSk (Roberto Costa). 15 tracks.
March 22:
Rosie the Musical
(Absolute Label - new on CD [import])
Studio cast recording of score by Chris Broom. Cast includes Desmonda Cathabel, Lucy Thomas, Will Callan, Nora Thomas. The show follows Rosie Boot, a convent-educated Irish girl who joins the chorus line at London's Gaiety Theatre in the Strand at the turn of the last century.
Release date TBA:
Mauricio Martínez live album
(new album)
Show titled 5'11, Based in NYC recorded live at 54 Below in October 2023, written by Mauricio Martínez and Robbie Rozelle, with musical direction and arrangements by Brian J. Nash and directed by Robbie Rozelle. Emmy Award winner Mauricio Martínez (On Your Feet!. Showtunes from Chicago, Moulin Rouge!, The Phantom of the Opera, Disney's The Lion King, Merrily We Roll Along, and more. Album produced by Mauricio Martínez and Robbie Rozelle.
Details added:
Here We Are
(Concord Theatricals Recordings - new album)
Score by Stephen Sondheim (book by David Ives). Cast includes Francois Battiste, Tracie Bennett, Bobby Cannavale, Micaela Diamond, Amber Gray, Jin Ha, Rachel Bay Jones, Denis O'Hare, Steven Pasquale, David Hyde Pierce, and Jeremy Shamos. Recorded week of January 10, 2024. Produced by Sean Patrick Flahaven and Bill Rosenfield. Release date Spring 2024.
