2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
CDs Now Available:
Sylvia McNair and Kevin Cole: You Are Tomorrow
(Harbinger Records - new on CD/digital)
Rare songs by Harold Arlen and Martin Charnin. "I Could Be Good for You," "Little Travelbug," "Summer in Brooklyn," "Spring Has Me Out on a Limb," "Shoulda Stood in Bed," "Come On, Midnight," "This Ol' World"; Songs written for never-produced Softly (196567): "Happy Any Day," "We Were Always to Be Married," "The Brush-Off," "Once I Wore Ribbons Here," "Works Both Ways," "Why Do You Make Me Like You?," "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile," "You Are Tomorrow"; Performed by Harold Arlen, vocals and piano (also written for Softly)," "Studio talk/Fish Go Higher Than Tigers (with Martin Charnin)," "Suddenly the Sunrise," "Don't Say "Love" - I've Been There and Back"; Performed by Arlen; arranged and conducted by Peter Matz: "That's a Fine Kind o' Freedom (1965)." Dedicated to the memory of Edward Jablonski (19222004), Harold Arlen's esteemed biographer, who recognized the importance of the "late Arlen" songs on this album more than 30 years ago. As he put it, "They deserve a hearing." 24-page booklet: interview with McNair and Cole; article by Walter Frisch.
Digital Music Now Available:
Harmony
(Ghostlight Records - new album)
2022 Off-Broadway cast recording of score by Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman. Cast includes Sean Bell, Danny Kornfeld, Zal Owen, Eric Peters, Blake Roman, Steven Telsey, Jessie Davidson, and Ana Hoffman. "Overture," "Harmony," "And What Do You See?," "This Is Our Time," "Your Son Is Becoming a Singer," "Every Single Day," "How Can I Serve You Madam?," "The Wedding," "Home," "We're Goin' Loco!," "Hungarian Rhapsody #20," "Come to the Fatherland!," "Where You Go," "In This World," "Threnody," "Stars in the Night." Released 8/31/23. CD to be released 11/17/23.
Books Now Available:
Bing and Billie and Frank and Ella and Judy and Barbra
(Chicago Review Press - Hardcover Book/Kindle Edition)
By Dan Callahan. Interlocking story of the lives and careers American songbook interpreters Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, and Barbra Streisand. 384 pages.
Brainteasers for Broadway Geniuses: 500 Puzzlers to Perplex Even the Biggest Fans
(Applause Books - Paperback Book)
By Peter Filichia. Foreword by Richard Maltby Jr. Brainteasers that require more than an ordinary knowledge of Broadway facts that will send even the most seasoned theater lovers looking for answers. Kindle version to be released 9/15/23. 232 pages.
Broadway Decoded: Musical Theatres Forgotten References
(Applause Books - Paperback Book/Kindle Edition)
By Thomas Hischak. Guide to fifty popular musicals from the comedy classics of the 1930s and 1940s to the frequently-produced darlings of modern theater. Kindle version to be released 9/15/23. 314 pages.
How to Survive a Killer Musical: Agony and Ecstasy on the Road to Broadway
(Applause - Hardcover/Kindle Edition)
By Douglas J. Cohen. Chronicles Cohen's decade-long quest to bring No Way to Treat a Lady to the stage–writing, re-writing, and shepherding it across the US and Europe amidst all manner of adversity and plain rotten luck. A portrait of passion, persistence, and resilience. Cast of characters includes an Oscar-winning screenwriter who invites Cohen to his personal screening room for a marathon midnight writing session; a Tony Award-winning director making his comeback after a horrific accident renders him a quadriplegic; and a celebrated, volatile British director who inspires a fruitful collaboration in London, only to later leave carnage in his wake. Catastrophes abound, including the near-fatal stabbing of a female lead in rehearsal and an onstage accident incapacitating another leading ladyleaving only the author to go on in her place. 272 pages.
Music to Be Released by This Friday:
A Collective Cy: Jeff Harnar Sings Cy Coleman
(PS Classics - new on CD/digital)
Adapted from Jeff Harner's stage show. Alex Rybeck conducts a full orchestra. 17 songs with music by Cy Coleman. "You Fascinate Me So," "My Personal Property / My City," "It Amazes Me" (with Sean Harkness), "I've Got Your Number" (with Ann Hampton Callaway), "With Every Breath I Take," "Rhythm of Life" (with Nicolas King & Danny Bacher), "The Best Is Yet to Come," "(Doop Doo-De-Oop) A Doodlin' Song" (with Jay Leonhart & Alex Rybeck), "Some Kind of Music," "So Little Time," "Our Private World" (with Liz Callaway), "Witchcraft," "The Rules of the Road / Come Summer / I'm Way Ahead," "If My Friends Could See Me Now." Two tracks, "I've Got Your Number" and "Witchcraft" have been released early.
Some Like It Hot OBC
(Concord Theatricals Recordings - new double vinyl LP)
2022 original Broadway cast recording of score by Marc Shaiman (music/lyrics) and Scott Wittman (lyrics). Cast includes Christian Borle, J. Harrison Ghee, Adrianna Hicks, and Kevin Del Aguila. "What Are You Thirsty For?," "You Can't Have Me (If You Don't Have Him)," "Vamp!," "I'm California Bound," "A Darker Shade of Blue," "Take It Up a Step," "Zee Bap," "At the Old Majestic Nickel Matinee," "Poor Little Millionaire!," "Some Like It Hot," "Let's Be Bad," "Dance the World Away," "Fly, Mariposa, Fly," "You Coulda Knocked Me Over with a Feather," "He Lied When He Said Hello," "Ride Out the Storm," "Baby, Let's Get Good." Produced by Scott M. Riesett and Marc Shaiman.
Sweeney Todd 2023 revival cast
(Reprise Records - new digital album)
Score by Stephen Sondheim. Josh Groban, Annaleigh Ashford, Jordan Fisher, Gaten Matarazzo, Ruthie Ann Miles, Maria Bilbao, Jamie Jackson, John Rapson, Nicholas Christopher And Jeanna De Waal. "Prelude," "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd," "No Place Like London," "The Barber and His Wife," "The Worst Pies in London," "Poor Thing," "My Friends," "Green Finch and Linnet Bird," "Ah, Miss," "Johanna," "Pirelli's Miracle Elixir," "The Contest," "Wait," "Kiss Me (Pt. 1)," "Ladies in Their Sensitivities," "Kiss Me (Pt. 2)," "Pretty Women (Pt. 1)," "Pretty Women (Pt. 2)," "Epiphany," "A Little Priest," "God, That's Good!," "Johanna (Act 2 Sequence)," "By the Sea," "The Letter," "Not While I'm Around," "Parlor Song," "City on Fire!," "Searching," "The Judge's Return," "Final Scene," "The Barber and His Wife (Reprise)," "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (Finale)." Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick. Music supervision by Alex Lacamoire.
Newly Listed Recordings:
October 6:
Judy Garland: The Two-A-Day Is Back in Town, Closing Night at the Palace, February 24, 1952
(JSP - new on CD)
Produced by John Stedman. Remastered by John H. Haley. New liner notes by Lawrence Schulman and eyewitness account by singer-pianist Charlie Cochran. Based on a new transfer and restoration of original acetate transcription discs and other sources. "After You've Gone" (Hugh Martin, piano) Unknown other night, "Over the Rainbow" (concluding instrumental), "Auld Lang Syne" (audience), Judy introduces Lauritz Melchior, "Liza" (Hugh Martin, piano), "Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow" (Hugh Martin, piano), "Love" (Hugh Martin, piano), "Over the Rainbow" (instrumental), "Over the Rainbow," "The Trolley Song" (instrumental), "A Couple of Swells" (Judy & Jack McClendon), "What Next? What'll She Do Now?" (Judy's Boyfriends), "Get Happy" (Judy & her Boyfriends), "This is Our Spot" (Judy's Boyfriends), Introduction of Hugh Martin; Judy's Olio, "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody," "Judy at the Palace Medley," "Call the Press/On the Town" (Judy & her Boyfriends), "Chorus introduction" (Judy's Boyfriends), "Overture" (first release)."
