CDs Now Available:

Memphis the Musical OLC
(First Night - new import CD/mp3)
Original London cast recording of David Bryan/Joe DiPietro score. Killian Donnelly, Beverley Knight, Rolan Bell, Tyrone Huntley, Claire Machin, Jason Pennycooke and Mark Roper. "Underground," "The Music Of My Soul," "Scratch My Itch," "Ain't Nothin' But A Kiss," "That's Not Possible," "Everybody Wants To Be Black On A Saturday Night," "Make Me Stronger," "Colored Woman," "Someday," "She's My Sister," "Radio," "Say A Prayer," "Crazy Little Huey," "Big Love," "Love Will Stand When All Else Falls," "Stand Up," "Change Don't Come Easy," "Tear Down The House," "Memphis Lives In Me," "Steal Your Rock ‘N' Roll," "Memphis Lives In Me" (bonus track, David Bryan). Recorded December 2014. Digital version released 1/26/15.

Strange Magic
(Disney - new on CD/mp3/iTunes)
2015 animated film from Lucasfilm Ltd., a fairy tale musical inspired by A Midsummer Night's Dream. Popular songs from the past six decades help tell the tale. "Can't Help Falling in Love" (Evan Rachel Wood), "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" (Evan Rachel Wood), "Three Little Birds" (Meredith Anne Bull), "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" (Marius De Vries), "C'mon Marianne / Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" (Evan Rachel Wood), "Trouble" (Alan Cumming), "Love Is Strange" (Kristin Chenoweth), "Say Hey" (Elijah Kelley), "Mistreated" (Alan Cumming), "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" (Meredith Anne Bull), "Straight On" (Evan Rachel Wood), "Strange Magic" (Evan Rachel Wood), "Tell Him / Wild Thing" (Evan Rachel Wood).

DVD/Blu-Rays Now Available:

Kiss Me Stupid Blu-ray
(Olive Films - new Blu-ray)
1964 Billy Wilder film based on Anna Bonacci's play L'Ora della Fantasia (The Dazzling Hour). Dean Martin, Kim Novak, and Ray Walston. Songs "Sophia," "I'm a Poached Egg," and "All the Livelong Day" by Ira Gershwin, using some of George Gershwin's unpublished melodies, and music by André Previn.

BOOKs Now Available:

The Complete Book of 1940s Broadway Musicals
(Rowman & Littlefield - Hardcover Book/Kindle Edition)
By Dan Dietz (The Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals). Examines examines every musical and revue that opened on Broadway during the 1940s - every hit and flop, revivals and one-man and one-woman shows. Each entry contains: Opening and closing dates; plot summary; cast members; number of performances; names of all important personnel, including writers, composers, directors, choreographers, producers, and musical directors; musical numbers and the names of performers who introduced the songs; production data, including information about tryouts; source material; critical commentary; details about london and other foreign productions.

Neil Simon on Screen: Adaptations and Original Scripts for Film and Television
(McFarland and Co - Paperback Book)
By Peter Shelley. Catalogue of Simon's screen work with cast and crew information, synopses, release dates, reviews, awards and DVD availability. Notes on each film cover his narrative subjects and themes as well as adaptation, direction and performance.

The Sound of Music Story: How A Beguiling Young Novice, A Handsome Austrian Captain, and Ten Singing Von Trapp Children Inspired the Most Beloved Film of All Time
(St. Martin's Press - Hardcover Book)
By Tom Santopietro. "Fan book with all the inside dope from behind the scenes stories of the filming in Austria and Hollywood to new interviews with Johannes von Trapp and others." The real life story of Maria von Trapp, the success of the Broadway musical, the story of the near cancellation of the film ... a historian's critical analysis of the careers of director Robert Wise and screenwriter Ernest Lehman, a look at the critical controversy which greeted the movie, the film's relationship to the turbulent 1960s, and the super stardom which engulfed Julie Andrews. 336 pages.

We'll Have Manhattan: The Early Work of Rodgers & Hart (Broadway Legacies)
(Oxford Univ Press - Hardcover Book/Kindle Edition)
By Dominic Symonds. Explores the first, formative period of Rodgers and Hart's collaboration and their work from their first meeting in 1919 to the early 1930s as they left the theater to explore sound film. During this time, their output was prodigious, progressive, and experimental. Also covered: the theme of identity that runs throughout Rodgers and Hart's work; how the business side of the theater affected their artistic output; and their continued experimentation with a song's dramatic role within a narrative.

Recordings RECENTLY MADE AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER:

Billie Holiday: The Centennial Collection
(Sony Legacy - new on CD)
Newly curated anthology of recordings released 1935-1945, to commemorate Holiday's 100th birthday. "What a Little Moonlight Can Do," "These Foolish Things," "Summertime," "Billie's Blues," "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm," "Why Was I Born?," "I Must Have That Man," "I'll Get By (As Long As I Have You)," "Mean To Me," "When a Woman Loves a Man," "You Go To My Head," "The Very Thought of You," "I Can't Get Started," "Them There Eyes," "All of Me," "God Bless the Child," "Gloomy Sunday," "Strange Fruit," "Fine And Mellow," "Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be)."

Broadway - Lafayette (Ravel, Lasser, Gershwin)
(Sony Classical - new on CD/mp3)
Classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein celebrates the time-honored transatlantic link between France and America through three different composers Maurice Ravel, George Gershwin and Philip Lasser. "Piano Concerto in G Major: I. Allegramente," "Piano Concerto in G Major: II. Adagio assai," "Piano Concerto in G Major: III. Presto," "The Circle and the Child - Concerto for Piano and Orchestra: I. Poco Allegro," "The Circle and the Child - Concerto for Piano and Orchestra: II. Chorale and Child," "The Circle and the Child - Concerto for Piano and Orchestra: III. Circles," "Rhapsody in Blue."

Cassandra Wilson: Coming Forth By Day
(Sony Legacy - new on CD/mp3/2-LP vinyl)
Musical homage to Billie Holiday. "Don't Explain," "Billie s Blues," "Crazy He Calls Me," "You Go to My Head," "All Of Me," "The Way You Look Tonight," "Good Morning Heartache," "What a Little Moonlight Can Do," "These Foolish Things," "Strange Fruit," "I'll Be Seeing You," "Last Song (For Lester).

Jack The Ripper OLC
(Stage Door Records - new import CD)
Original London cast recording of Ron Pember/Denis De Marne score. Previously unreleased, and digitally remastered from the master tapes. Terese Stevens, Eleanor McCready, Roy Stone, Charles West, Linda Rusby, Elaine Holland, Peter Spraggon, Christine Edmonds, Charles West. "Saturday Night," "Sing, Sing," "Generally Nice," "God Bless Us," "Goodbye Day," "What A Life - The Gang, The Girls," "Love," "Ripper's Going To Get You," "Charlie And Queenie," "Half A Dozen Pints," "There's A Boat Coming In," "Look At Them," "Suspects," "Policeman's Chorus," "Step Across The River," "Montage," "Saturday Night (Reprise)."

Books RECENTLY MADE AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER:

Best Monologues from The Best American Short Plays, Volume Three (The Applause Acting Series)
(Applause - Paperback Book)
William W. Demastes, editor.

Bryden & Clark: Lives in the Theatre
(Oberon Books - Paperback Book)
By British director Bill Bryden and photographer Nobby Clark. Memories of some of the twentieth century's biggest stars, including Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Laurence Olivier, and Helen Mirren, accompanied by previously unseen photographs. 112 pages.

Chance Magazine: Issue 4: Unbound
(Magazine)
Chance is a photography magazine and serialized art book that looks at the world through the lens of theater and design; and produces an original photo shoot of nearly every production they cover. Issue 4 theme "new spaces mean new ideas, and the reactivation of theatre as a literary contact sport": Kathryn Hamilton's Sister Sylvester; the Comedie-Française and Virginie Gervaise; The Chekhov Project at Lake Lucille; Rita Ryack's Casa Valentina; Tim Etchells' and Hugo Glendinning's Empty Stages; James Thompson's work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Sandrine Philippe's stage-ready couture; design legend Eugene Lee's library; the Toneelgroep's scenographer Jan Versweyveld and video designer Tal Yarden; Hugh Hardy's new buildings for LCT3 and TFANA; Kristen Robinson's broken space for Nora; and Jeff Hinchee's paper theatre kit. 232 pages.

Ziegfeld and His Follies: A Biography of Broadway's Greatest Producer
(Univ Press of Kentucky - Hardcover Book)
By Cynthia Brideson and Sara Brideson. The life and legacy of the great theatre producer. Sources include previously unpublished letters to his second wife, Billie Burke and to his daughter Patricia. Illustrated with over seventy-five images. 600 pages.

Madeline Kahn: Being the Music, A Life
(Univ Press of Mississippi - Hardcover Book)
By William V. Madison. Examines Kahn's career and her personal life. Drawing on new interviews with family, friends, and such colleagues as Bill Cosby, Lily Tomlin, Carol Burnett, Gene Wilder, Harold Prince, and Eileen Brennan, as well as archival press and private writings. 336 pages.

OTHER NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Added to February:

A Rockin' Midsummer Night's Dream (World Premiere Recording)
Broadway Records - new on 2 CDs)
2 CD set with special edition photo booklet from the 2014 world premiere production. Marla Mindelle (Cinderella), Clarke Thorell (Hairspray), Saum Eskandani (Disaster!), joined by several dozen children and teen performers from Newtown, CT. Features a new rock score by Eric Svejcar with lyrics by William Shakespeare, Eric Svejcar and Michael Unger. Pre-ordering now at Broadway Records - order there and you will receive a digital copy as a free gift prior to the CD release.

Added to March 17:

Galavant
(Hollywood Records - new on CD-R)
Songs by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater. Joshua Sasse, Mallory Jensen, Timothy Omundson. "Galavant," "She'll Be Mine," "Maybe You're Not the Worst Thing Ever," "Oy! What a Knight" (Faith Prince), "Jackass in a Can," "Togetherness," "Comedy Gold," "Lords of the Sea" (Hugh Bonneville), "No One But You," "Hey, Hey, We re the Monks" (Weird Al Yankovic), "If I Could Share My Life With You," "A Day in Richard's Life" (Ricky Gervais), "Love Is Strange," "Goodnight My Friend." Produced by Michael Kosarin, Christopher Lennertz and Alan Menken. Released on mp3
and iTunes earlier.

Added to March:

The Sound Of Music Anniversary Soundtrack: Vinyl/Hybrid SACD - DSD
(Analog Spark - new on 2-LP vinyl/vinyl-SACD)
Newly remastered and expanded two disc version on 180-gram vinyl. And original 16-track RCA Victor soundtrack album on 180-gram vinyl and super audio CD (SACD)