CDs Now Available:

Ben Bagley's Ira Gershwin Revisited
(Kritzerland - new on CD)
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin. Music by George Gershwin, Vernon Duke, Burton Lane, Arthur Schwartz, Harry Warren, Kurt Weill. Performances by Blossom Dearie, Mary McCarty, Danny Meehan, Charles Rydell, Ethel Shutta, and Margaret Whiting, plus Dody Goodman, Paula Lawrence, KT Sullivan, and Arthur Siegel. Limited to 500 copies only and expected to ship by the second week of July. Track list, details, at Kritzerland.com. [Approximate shipping date.]

DIGITAL RECORDINGs Now Available:

Jason Robert Brown: How We React and How We Recover
(Ghostlight Records - digital album on mp3/at iTunes)
New solo album. A "politically-charged, far-reaching rumination on love, family and music." "Hope," "Melinda," "Invisible," "Fifty Years Long," "Hallowed Ground," "One More Thing Than I Can Handle" (with Kate McGarry), "All Things in Time," "A Song About Your Gun," "Everybody Knows," "The Hardest Hill," "Caravan of Angels," "Wait 'Til You See What's Next." Produced by Jason Robert Brown and Jeffery Lesser. Stacey Mindich and Kurt Deutsch serve as executive producers. Released 6/29/18. Also at GhostlightRecords.com.

DVD/BLU-RAYs Now Available:

Irma la Douce Blu-ray
(Kl Studio Classics - new Blu-ray)
1963 comedy film based on the stage musical. Featuring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Louis Jordan (narrator), Lou Jacobi, Herschel Bernardi. Directed by Billy Wilder. New HD master from a 4K scan of the original camera negative. Special features: audio commentary by film historian Joseph McBride, author of "How Did Lubitsch Do It?"; audio commentary by film historian Kat Ellinger; original theatrical trailer. 143 minutes.

BOOKs Now Available:

Backstage Pass to Broadway: More True Tales from a Theatre Press Agent
(Goodreads Press - Paperback Book/Kindle Edition)
Susan L. Schulman's follow-up to her 2013 book Backstage Pass to Broadway: True Tales from a Theatre Press Agent. 211 pages. Released 4/24/18.

Ivo van Hove: From Shakespeare to David Bowie (Performance Books)
(Methuen Drama - Paperback Book)
Sonia Massai and Susan Bennett, editors. Resources, critical overviews and detailed analysis of Ivo van Hove's internationally acclaimed work as a director of theatre, opera and musicals. Production photos capture the power of van Hove's directorial vision, his innovative use of theatrical spaces, and the arresting stage images that have made his productions so popular among audiences worldwide over the last 30 years. Foreword by Van Hove, plus an interview with him plus director's notes for some of his most popular shows. 264 pages.

Recordings RECENTLY MADE AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER:

Big Deal: Bob Fosse and Dance in the American Musical
(Oxford Univ Press - Audiobook on CD)
By Kevin Winkler. A look at the evolution of Fosse as choreographer and director. Considers Fosse's career in the context of changes in Broadway musical theater over four decades, tracing his early dance years and the importance of mentors George Abbott and Jerome Robbins on his work. It examines how each of the important women in his adult life—all dancers—impacted his career and influenced his dance aesthetic; and how his evolution as both artist and individual mirrored the social and political climate of his era and allowed him to comfortably ride a wave of cultural changes. Part of OUP's Legacy Series. Narrated by Paul Boehmer. Released earlier in Hardcover and Kindle Editions.

OTHER NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Added for next year:

Philemon
(Harbinger Records - new on CD)
Jones and Schmidt's legendary 1975 musical, in its first CD release. Off-Broadway cast includes Dick Latessa and Virginia Gregory. Complete restoration and remastering by Alan Silverman; extensive liner notes by Tom Jones; reminiscences by cast members Michael Glenn-Smith, Virginia Gregory and Kathrin King Segal; notes by Penna Rose (keyboards) on the creation of Schmidt's orchestration; and the composer's original logo design. Rare photos will also be included in the booklet. Expected in 2019.