Talkin' Broadway Sound Advice Recap Week of 11/21/23

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Digital Music Now Available:

Julie Garnyé and Stephen Schwartz: "Forgiveness' Embrace"
(Club44 Records - new digital recording)
Song by Stephen Schwartz, performed by Julie Garnyé and Schwartz. In full orchestra and piano/vocal arrangement versions. Produced by Wayne Haun and Stephen Schwartz. From the 2023 film Jimmy and Carolyn. Released 11/17/23.

Merrily We Roll Along
(Masterworks Broadway - new digital album)
2023 Broadway revival cast recording of Score by Stephen Sondheim (book by George Furth). Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez, and Daniel Radcliffe with Krystal Joy Brown, Katie Rose Clarke, and Reg Rogers. "Overture," "Merrily We Roll Along," "That Frank," "First Transition," "Old Friends -- Like It Was," "Franklin Shepard, Inc.," "Second Transition," "Old Friends," "Growing Up," "Third Transition," "Not a Day Goes By," "Not a Day Goes By," "Now You Know - Reg Rogers," "Gussie's Opening Number," "It's a Hit! - Reg Rogers," "Fourth Transition," "The Blob - Part I," "Growing Up," "Good Thing Going," "The Blob - Part II," "Fifth Transition," "Bobby and Jackie and Jack," "Not a Day Goes By," "Sixth Transition," "Opening Doors - Reg Rogers," "Seventh Transition," "Our Time." CD to be released 1/12/24. Released 11/15/23.

Vinyl Now Available:

Jersey Boys OBC
(Rhino Records/Arts Music - new 2-LP vinyl set)
First ever vinyl issue of OBC album. Christian Hoff, Daniel Reichard, J. Robert Spencer, and John Lloyd Young. Side A: "Ces Soirées-Là," "The Early Years: A Scrapbook," "Cry for Me," "Backup Sessions," "Sherry," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Walk Like a Man," "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)," "My Boyfriend's Back," "My Eyes Adored You"; Side B: "Dawn (Go Away)," "Big Man in Town," "Beggin'," "Medley: Stay/ Let's Hang On!/ Opus 17 (Don't You Worry ‘bout Me/ Bye, Bye, Baby (Baby Goodbye)," "C'mon Marianne," "Can't Take My Eyes Off You ," "Working My Way Back to You," "Fallen Angel," "Rag Doll," "Who Loves You." Also: exclusive red vinyl set at Barnes & Noble.

Blu-ray/DVDs Now Available:

Babes in Toyland
(Kino Lorber - new blu-ray)
1986 made-for-TV musical film based on the 1903 Victor Herbert and Glen MacDonough operetta. Score by Leslie Bricusse, with portions of the original operetta. Drew Barrymore, Richard Mulligan, Eileen Brennan, Keanu Reeves. 96 minutes.

Books Now Available:

Conversations in Color: Exploring North American Musical Theatre
(Methuen Drama - Hardcover Book/Paperback/Kindle Edition
By Sean Mayes. Unveils the untold stories and perspectives of artists of color shaping the stage today, through interviews drawn from Broadway and regional productions, including André De Shields, Alex Lacamoire, Baayork Lee, and many more. 168 pages.

Fifty Key Theatre Designers
(Routledge - Hardcover Book/Paperback)
By Arnold Aronson. Looks at the history of theatrical scenography by examining the work and contributions of fifty set, costume, lighting, and projection designers since the Renaissance ... including opera, dance, Broadway and West End commercial theatre, avant-garde performance, and even Olympic spectacles. Each chapter features one designer, with basic biographical information and a discussion of that artist's style, aesthetics, and contributions. 330 pages.

Newly Listed Recordings:

December 1, 2023:

Christmas with The Choir of Man
(Westway Music - new digital EP)
From the British jukebox musical, which originated at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. With Choir of Man cast members who have been seen on stage across the world. The 6-track EP to include "This Christmas," "Driving Home for Christmas," and "The Christmas Song." CD to be available at Arts Theatre in London's West End.

March 1, 2024:

Sweeney Todd 2023 revival cast
(Reprise Records - new on 3-LP disc box set)
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. 40-page booklet with full libretto, production photos, and an essay by Peter Marks. Digital and CD released earlier.

March 29, 2024:

Tom Ball: Curtain Call
(Westway Music - new album)
Debut album from former Britain’s Got Talent and America’s Got Talent star Tom Ball. To feature songs from stage and screen and some new original songs written exclusively for the album.

April 19, 2024:

Stephen Schwartz Collection
(Westway Music - new on deluxe CD/vinyl)
With West End performers. Conceived and produced by Rhydian Roberts and Stephen Schwartz.

No release date:

Boop! The Musical
(new album)
Cast recording the score by David Foster and Susan Birkenhead of musical (book by Bob Martin) now playing at CIBC Theatre in Chicago. Cast includes Jasmine Amy Rogers, Faith Prince, Ainsley Melham, Erich Bergen, Stephen DeRosa. Recorded the week of November 12. Details TBA.

Newly Listed Books:

January 16, 2024:

Mary & Ethel ... and Mikey Who?
(Moreclacke Publishing - new Hardcover Book)
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." 216 pages.

Other News:

Moved to February 23, 2024:

Harmony
(Ghostlight Records - new on CD)
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." Digital released 8/31/23.