Sound Advice
Schedule of New & Upcoming CD, DVD & Book Releases
Updated 7/16/24
This week's update | See previous releases
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Note: The next udpate will be published on Tuesday, July 30
Appropriate/An Octoroon: Plays
(Theatre Communications Group - Paperback Book)
Two plays by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Revised edition. 260 pages.
Say It with a Beautiful Song: The Art and Craft of the Great American Songbook
(Roman & Littlefield - Hardcover Book/Kindle Edition)
By Michael Lasser and Harmon Greenblatt. Looks at the Great American Songbook's craft and its mastery through essential elements of the beloved songs, investigating the qualities that make the songbook a unique staple of American culture. With anecdotes, each chapter looks at a variety of songs thematically and dives into the lives of songwriters. 210 pages.
Teeth
(Yellow Sound Label - new digital album)
Playwrights Horizons cast recording of score by Anna K. Jacobs and Michael R. Jackson. Courtney Bassett, Phoenix Best, Will Connolly, Jason Gotay, Jenna Rose Husli, Jared Loftin, Alyse Alan Louise, Steven Pasquale, Lexi Rhoades, Wren Rivera, Helen J Shen. Released 7/12/24.
July 19, 2024
The Notebook
(Atlantic Records - new on CD)
OBC recording of score by Ingrid Michaelson. Cast includes Maryann Plunkett, Dorian Harewood, Joy Woods, Ryan Vasquez, Jordan Tyson, John Cardoza, Andréa Burns, and Carson Stewart. "Time," "Dance With Me," "Carry You Home," "Blue Shutters," "I Paint," "Sadness and Joy," "Leave The Light On," "What Happens," "I Wanna Go Back," "If This Is Love," "Kiss Me," "Home," "We Have To Try," "Forever," "Iron In The Fridge," "Don't You Worry," "It's Not Easy," "My Days," "I Love You More," "I Know," "Coda." Digital released 4/19/24.
July 26, 2024
Allyson Briggs Sings Burt Bacharach
(Fleur Seule - new digital album)
"Do You Know the Way to San Jose," "I'll Never Fall in Love Again," "Trop'ns Fin Regen Oif Mein Kop (Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head)" (with Julie Benko), "What the World Needs Now Is Love," "One Less Bell to Answer," "Anyone Who Had a Heart," "Uninvited Dream," "My Rock and Foundation," "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me," "Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte," "Casino Royale," "This Girl's In Love with You," "Promises, Promises," "Walk on By," "Alfie," "(They Long to Be) Close to You," "I Say a Little Prayer," "The Look of Love," "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)," "That's What Friends Are For."
Jeff Harnar Sings Sammy Cahn: The Second Time Around
(PS Classics - new on CD/digital)
Jeff Harner updates his out-of-print 2001 release with six new tracks and guest vocalists Clint Holmes, MOIPEI and Nicole Zuraitis. "All the Way," "I'll Only Miss Him When I Think of Him," "Come Fly with Me" (with Nicole Zuraitis), "Love Is a Bore," "Teach Me Tonight," "The Second Time Around," "Bei Mir Bist du Schön," (with MOIPEI), "I Fall in Love Too Easily," "Come Dance with Me/I Like to Lead When I Dance" (Clint Holmes), "Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night in the Week) / I'll Walk Alone / It's Been a Long, Long Time," "Call Me Irresponsible," "My Kind of Town," "Blame My Absent-Minded Heart," "Be My Love," "I Should Care," "Time After Time." PSClassics.com.
Judy Garland: A Celebration: Classic & Collectable Performances
(Acrobat - new 3-CD set)
Unreleased recordings include overdubs from her 1956 album Judy, alternates, outtakes, rehearsals, and television appearances. It includes restorations and remixes by such audio engineers as Nick Dellow, who has remastered as well as repitched several tracks, and Brian Lee, who has done stereo remixes on many tracks. Curated by Lawrence Schulman, who wrote the liner notes for the booklet, which includes archival photos. 73 tracks. Also being released is Volume 1 of a two-volume LP containing selections from the set.
Nick Cartell: A Thousand Spotlights
(Club44 Records - new on CD/digital)
Broadway actor-singer Nick Cartell (Jesus Christ Superstar, Scandalous: The Musical, Paramour, The Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables national tours). "Blue Skies," "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes," "It All Fades Away," "On the Street Where You Live," "Why Should I Worry?," "Never Enough," "You'll Be In My Heart," "Music of the Night," "Bring Him Home." Produced and orchestrated by Brian Eads and Wayne Haun.
The Stationmaster
(Auburn Jam Records - new album)
Score by Tim Connor (book by Susannah Pearse). Orchestrations by Jason Carr. Cast includes Nigel Richards, Alex Young, Jessica Sherman, Nicola Sloane, John Coates as Martin Cartwright, Kailun Dennie as Davey, Abiona Omonua as Mrs. Teasley, Rhys Jennings as Inspector/Joe/Judge/Ghost, and Adam Stickler. The musical debuted at Tristan Bates Theatre in 2015.
Teeth
(Yellow Sound Label - new on CD)
Playwrights Horizons cast recording of score by Anna K. Jacobs and Michael R. Jackson. Courtney Bassett, Phoenix Best, Will Connolly, Jason Gotay, Jenna Rose Husli, Jared Loftin, Alyse Alan Louise, Steven Pasquale, Lexi Rhoades, Wren Rivera, Helen J Shen.
The Wiz
(Immersive/Interscope - on CD)
2024 Broadway revival cast recording of score by Charlie Smalls (and others). Cast includes Nichelle Lewis, Wayne Brady, Deborah Cox, Melody A. Betts, Kyle Ramar Freeman, Phillip Johnson Richardson, and Avery Wilson. "Overture/Soon as I Get Home (Preprise)," "The Feeling We Once Had," "The Tornado," "He's the Wizard," "Soon as I Get Home," "You Can't Win," "Slide Some Oil to Me," "Mean Ole Lion," "Ease on Down the Road," "Be a Lion," "Meet the Wizard," "What Would I Do If I Could Feel," "We're Gonna Make It," "Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News," "Wonder, Wonder Why," "Everybody Rejoice/Brand New Day," "Y'All Got It," "Ease on Down the Road (Reprise)," "Believe in Yourself," "Home." Digital version released previously.
August 2, 2024
Brian Friel: Beginnings
(Four Courts Press - Paperback Book)
By Kelly Matthews. Based on newly discovered documents in the BBC and New Yorker archives, the book reveals Friel's youthful personality and his struggles to get noticed as a young writer. His correspondence with his first mentors - Belfast BBC radio producer Ronald Mason, New Yorker editor Roger Angell, and theatre director Tyrone Guthrie - shows how he shaped his early work, how he chose to write for the theatre, and how the patterns that became so memorable in his later plays were set in motion by his beginnings. 256 pages.
The Great Gatsby
(Sony Masterworks Broadway - new on CD)
OBC recording of score by Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen (book by Kait Kerrigan). Cast includes Jeremy Jordan, Eva Noblezada, Noah J. Ricketts, Samantha Pauly, Sara Chase, John Zdrojeski, Paul Whitty, and Eric Anderson. Digital released 6/21/24.
Natalie Jacob: Sooner or Later
(new digital album)
Jazz vocalist Natalie Jacob sings songs from The Great American Songbook and three bossa nova standards by Jobim. Scotty Barnhart on Trumpet, pianist Tamir Hendelman, guitarist Anthony Wilson, bassist Carlitos Del Puerto, drummer Clayton Cameron, and percussionist Kevin Winard. "Exactly Like You," "Wave," "I Could Write a Book," "Smile," "East of the Sun," "What a Little Moonlight Can Do," "Corcovado," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "Sooner or Later," "Chega de Saudade (No More Blues)." Arrangements by Barnhart and Hendelman. Produced by Scotty Barnhart.
August 9, 2024
The Outsiders
(Sony Masterworks Broadway - new 2-disc vinyl)
2024 OBC recording of score by Jamestown Revival and Justin Levine (the book is by Adam Rapp with Justin Levine). Cast includes Brody Grant, Sky Lakota-Lynch, Joshua Boone, Brent Comer, Jason Schmidt, Emma Pittman, Daryl Tofa, Kevin William Paul, and Dan Berry. Released earlier in digital format and on CD.
August 14, 2024
Fishamble Tiny Plays
(New Island Books - Paperback Book/Kindle Edition)
All 70 tiny plays commissioned by Fishamble for Tiny Plays for Ireland, Tiny Plays 24/7, and Tiny Plays for a Brighter Future performed in Dublin, New York City, and Washington DC. 320 pages.
August 16, 2024
Water for Elephants
(Ghostlight Records - new on CD)
OBC recording of score by PigPen Theatre Co. (book by Rick Elice). Two singles, "Wild" and "Silver Stars," now available. Cast includes Grant Gustin, Isabelle McCalla, Gregg Edelman, Paul Alexander Nolan, Stan Brown, Joe De Paul, Sara Gettelfinger, and Wade McCollum. Produced by Mary-Mitchell Campbell and Ian Kagey. "Anywhere/Another Train," "The Road Don't Make You Young," "Easy," "The Lion Has Got No Teeth," "I Choose The Ride," "Ode To An Elephant," "Just Our Luck," "I Shouldn't Be Surprised," "Silver Stars," "The Grand Spec," "Funny Angel," "Zostan," "Squeaky Wheel," "You've Got Nothing, Pt. 1," "You've Got Nothing, Pt. 2," "What Do You Do?," "Wild," "Go Home," "Finale (I Choose The Ride)." Digital version released earlier.
The Wiz
(Immersive/Interscope - 2-disc green vinyl LP)
2024 Broadway revival cast recording of score by Charlie Smalls (and others). Cast includes Nichelle Lewis, Wayne Brady, Deborah Cox, Melody A. Betts, Kyle Ramar Freeman, Phillip Johnson Richardson, and Avery Wilson. "Overture/Soon as I Get Home (Preprise)," "The Feeling We Once Had," "The Tornado," "He's the Wizard," "Soon as I Get Home," "You Can't Win," "Slide Some Oil to Me," "Mean Ole Lion," "Ease on Down the Road," "Be a Lion," "Meet the Wizard," "What Would I Do If I Could Feel," "We're Gonna Make It," "Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News," "Wonder, Wonder Why," "Everybody Rejoice/Brand New Day," "Y'All Got It," "Ease on Down the Road (Reprise)," "Believe in Yourself," "Home." Digital and CD versions released previously.
August 23, 2024
Aaron Lazar: Impossible Dream
(new album)
Lazar sings with Neil Patrick Harris, Josh Groban, Kristin Chenoweth, Kelli O'Hara, Leslie Odom, Jr., Kate Baldwin, Norm Lewis, Loren Allred, the late Rebecca Luker, National Children's Chorus, and the Broadway Inspirational Voices. The album finale is group performance of "The Impossible Dream" with the aforementioned celebrities plus Lin-Manuel Miranda, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Liz Callaway, Joanna Gleason, Brian d'Arcy James, Adrienne Warren, Shoshana Bean, Christy Altomare, Christiane Noll, Adam Jacobs, and more. Album sales benefit ALS Network. Special preorder link.
Illinoise: A New Musical
(Nonesuch - new 2-disc vinyl LP)
Original cast recording of score by Sufjan Stevens (book by Justin Peck & Jackie Sibblies Drury). Arrangements and orchestrations by Timo Andres. 14-piece on-stage band: Elijah Lyons, Shara Nova, Tasha Viets-VanLear, Christina Courtin, Sean Peter Forte, Domenica Fossati, Daniel Freedman, Kathy Halvorson, Nathan Koci, Eleonore Oppenheim, Brett Parnell, Brandon Ridenour, Kyra Sims, and Jessica Tsang. "Chicago (Reprise)" and "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us!" now available. Produced by Dean Sharenow, Timo Andres, Nathan Koci, Garth MacAleavey, and executive produced by Orin Wolf and Nate Koch. Edited, mixed, and mastered by Dean Sharenow at Steel Cut Audio and Garth MacAleavey served as recording engineer. Digital and CD versions previously released.
Lempicka
(Sony Masterworks Broadway - new on CD)
OBC recording of score by Matt Gould and Carson Kreitzer. Eden Espinosa, George Abud, Amber Iman, Natalie Joy Johnson, Zoe Glick, Nathaniel Stampley, and Beth Leavel. Digital version previously released.
August 27, 2024
Plays for the Plague Year
(Theatre Communications Group - Paperback Book/Kindle Edition)
Collection of plays by Suzan-Lori Parks. Presented at Public Theater in 2023. 112 pages.
September 3, 2024
The Hirschfeld Broadway Tarot: Deck and Guidebook
(RP Studio - card deck)
From spiritual practitioner, tarot card reader, and former Broadway publicist Emily McGill. Deluxe, one-of-a kind deck that "casts" Broadway icons in traditional tarot roles, complete with the art of Al Hirschfeld. 78 cards (3 X 5 inches), guidebook (4 3/4 X 6 inches, 120 pages), inner card box, and magnetic closure keepsake outer box. Fully illustrated guidebook which includes images of each card, alongside card descriptions and suggested interpretations, as well as sample card spreads to guide your practice. Official Al Hirschfeld art and foundation support.
I Danced on Broadway: Memoir of a Career on Stage
(McFarland - Paperback Book)
By Lee Wilson, who shares stories from her four decades of dancing on Broadway, with anecdotes about theatre legends including Agnes de Mille, Richard Rodgers, Michael Bennett, Donna McKechnie, and Bernadette Peters. She details the economic, political, and social events that led from the Golden Age to the slump of the early 1970s to the rejuvenation of Broadway with the huge success of A Chorus Line. 120 pages.
Stereophonic
(Theatre Communications Group - Paperback Book)
Play by David Adjmi (songs by Will Butler). On Broadway this season. 160 pages.
September 6, 2024
Here We Are
(Concord Theatricals Recordings - baby blue 2-disc LP)
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. "Exit Music" now available. Recorded week of January 10, 2024. Produced by Sean Patrick Flahaven and Bill Rosenfield. CD and digital released earlier.
Love Me Tonight (Oxford Guides to Film Musicals)
(Oxford Univ Press - Hardcover Book/Paperback)
By Geoffrey Block. About the musical film Love Me Tonight (1932), with individual chapters devoted to the work's genesis and development of the screenplay, the songs and instrumental music, the role censorship has played in the history of the film, and the film's reception from its time to the modern day. Informed by extensive archival holdings in several major library collections, as well as from the indispensable resources housed at the Paramount Studio archives. 208 pages.
Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel
(Chandos - new digital/SACD)
Studio recording of score by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. Nathaniel Hackmann, Sierra Boggess, Francesca Chiejina, Mikaela Bennett, Julian Ovenden, David Seadon-Young. "Prologue (The Carousel Waltz)," Change of Scene, Opening Act I, Scene 2, "Mister Snow," "If I Loved You," Opening Act I, Scene 3, "June Is Bustin' Out All Over," "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" (Encore), Girls' Dance: June Is Bustin' Out All Over, Julie''s Entrance, "Mister Snow," "When the Children Are Asleep," "Blow High, Blow Low," Hornpipe with Ensemble, Hornpipe Exit, "Soliloquy," Finale Act I, Entr''acte, Opening Act II, "A Real Nice Clambake," "Geraniums in the Winder" / "Stonecutters Cut It on Stone,""What's the Use of Wond'rin'," Change of Scene, "You'll Never Walk Alone," Incidental (Entrance of Heavenly Friends), "The Highest Judge of All," Exit of Billy and Heavenly Friends, Ballet, Music under Scene (My Little Girl), Carrie's Incidental, "If I Loved You," "You''ll Never Walk Alone" (Reprise), Exit Music (If I Loved You). Sinfonia of London conducted by John Wilson. Produced by Jonathan Allen. Recorded 4/23/24 at Susie Sainsbury Theatre, Royal Academy of Music, London. Chandos.net
September 17, 2024
The Book of Joel
(powerHouse Books - Hardcover Book)
By Joel Grey. The visual life story of Joel Grey: actor, singer, dancer, director, and photographer. This sprawling yet intimate scrapbook-style volume uncovers a kaleidoscope of both famous and previously unseen photographs, family snapshots, playbills, posters, and ephemera from Greys personal archive, revealing an encyclopedic and all-absorbing visual romp through one of the last living greats of American entertainment. Excavated from Grey's personal archives and the treasure trove of his New York Public Library collection. Also included: intimate essays contributed by Eddie Redmayne Tony Kushner. 176 pages.
The Third Gilmore Girl
(Gallery Books - Hardcover Book/Kindle Edition)
Memoir by Kelly Bishop, spanning her six decades in show business from Broadway to Hollywood with A Chorus Line, Dirty Dancing, Gilmore Girls, and much more. Also includes a special collection of personal and professional photographs. 288 pages.
September 24, 2024
The Play's the Thing: Fifty Years of Yale Repertory Theatre (1966-2016)
(Yale Univ Press - Hardcover Book)
By James Magruder. Foreword by Marguerite Elliott and Rocco Landesman. Each of four chapters is dedicated to one of the Yale Rep's artistic directors to date: Robert Brustein, Lloyd Richards, Stan Wojewodski Jr., and James Bundy. Numerous sidebars are dedicated to the spaces used by the theater, the playwrights produced most often, casting, the prop shop, the costume shop, artist housing, and other topics. Illustrated. Based in part on interviews with some of Americas most respected actors about their experiences at the Rep. 400 pages.
Suffs
(Theatre Communications Group - Paperback Book)
Libretto for musical by Shaina Taub. 144 pages.
October 8, 2024
The Spamalot Diaries
(Crown - new Paperback Book/Kindle Edition/Audible Audiobook)
Eric Idle shares original journal entries and raw email exchanges that reveal the sometimes bumpy, always entertaining path to the musical Spamalot's run. 208 pages.
October 29, 2024
Cambodian Rock Band
(Theatre Communications Group - Paperback Book)
Play by Lauren Yee. 96 pages.
October (no release date)
Sunset Blvd: The Album
(new album)
West End cast recording of score for Sunset Boulevard by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Recorded live at the Savoy Theatre, in the West End. Cast includes Nicole Scherzinger, Tom Francis, Grace Hodgett Young, and David Thaxton as Max Von Mayerling. October 2024 release date expected, to coincide with Broadway run, which begins 9/28/24.
November 26, 2024
Ira Gershwin: A Life in Words
(Liveright - Hardcover Book/Kindle Edition)
By Michael Owen. First full-length biography devoted to the life of Ira Gershwin. Draws on extensive archival sources and often using Ira's own words. 30 illustrations. 400 pages.
Release date unknown
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.
Charlie Rosen's Broadway Big Band
(new double album)
First recording from this band, which "puts both modern and classic showtunes on display, sung by the best and brightest of Broadway's young generation of leading performers, in the timeless tradition of Big Band. A full sized Jazz orchestra composed of 17 musicians play Rosen's re-imagined arrangements of an eclectic mix of tunes from Broadway's past, present, and beyond."
Complete Lyrics of Sheldon Harnick
(new book)
The Fantasticks
(JAY Records - new album)
Studio album recording of score by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones. Brad Oscar, Telly Leung, Elizabeth Teeter, Lewis Cleale, and Ron Raines.
Harbinger Records upcoming releases: material from Eubie Blake; download only demos of Hugh Martin and Sheldon Harnick; Steve Ross' back catalog for download;
The Jerusalem Syndrome
(JAY Records - new on CD/digital)
Original Off-Broadway (2023 York Theatre Company) cast recording of score by Laurence Holzman, Felicia Needleman, and Kyle Rosen.Farah Alvin, Dana Costello, Scott Cote, Andrea Fleming, James D. Gish, Alan H. Green, Danielle Lee James, John Jellison, Josh Lamon, Garrett Long, Karen Murphy, Jeffrey Schecter, Jennifer Smith, Chandler Sinks, Pablo Torres, Curtis Wiley, Lenny Wolpe, and Laura Woyasz. Digital release expected in January 2024 and CD in March 2024.
I Can Get It for You Wholesale
(Concord - new album)
2024 Off-Broadway cast recording of score by Harold Rome (book by Jerome Weidman). Santino Fontana, Adam Chanler-Berat, Eddie Cooper, Victor de Paula Rocha, Adam Grupper, Darron Hayes, Greg Hildreth, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Judy Kuhn, Julia Lester, Hayley Podschun, Sarah Steele, Joy Woods, Ephie Aardema, Jennifer Babiak, Billy Cohen, and John Plumpis. Arrangements by David Chase. Expected Fall 2024.
Larry Kramer authorized biography
(Henry Holt & Co. - new book)
By Bill Goldstein. To include interviews with Kramer and his husband David Webster, along with friends, colleagues, and "foes" plus material from Kramer's archives at Yale University.
Lizard Boy
(new album)
Live recording of 2023 Prospect Theatre cast. Score by Justin Huertas. Cast features Huertas, Kiki deLohr, and William A. Williams. Release date TBA.
The Nutty Professor
(new album)
Studio recording of score by Marvin Hamlisch and Rupert Holmes. Based on the recent Ogunquit Playhouse staging of the musical based on the Jerry Lewis movie.. Cast TBA. 2024 release expected.
Paradise Square OBC
(new on CD/digital)
Broadway cast recording of score Jason Howland (music), Nathan Tysen and Masi Asare (lyrics), with additional music by Larry Kirwan, inspired by the songs of Stephen Foster. Joaquina Kalukango, Chilina Kennedy, John Dossett, Sidney DuPont, A.J. Shively, Nathaniel Stampley, Gabrielle McClinton, Jacob Fishel, Kevin Dennis and Matt Bogart. Produced by Jason Howland and Billy Jay Stein. Recorded at Power Station at BerkleeNYC during the weeks of April 18 and April 25.
Romeo & Bernadette: A Musical Tale of Verona and Brooklyn
(Yellow Sound Label - new album)
Off-Broadway cast recording. Nikita Burshteyn (Newsies), Anna Kostakis, Carlos Lopez (Man of La Mancha), Michael Marotta (Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical), Judy McLane (Mamma Mia!), Michael Notardonato, Ari Raskin, Troy Valjean Rucker (August Rush), Zach Schanne (Pippin), and Viet Vo (Viet Gone). Lyrics by Mark Saltzman and music adapted from classic Italian melodies. Recorded 2/18/20. Late March release expected.
Rosemary Loar: Vagabond Heart
(new album)
Actress/singer Rosemary Loar
Tammy Faye
(new album)
Music by Elton John; lyrics by Jake Shears. Cast from Almeida Theatre debut production. Details TBA.
This Side of the World
(new album)
East West Players cast recording of score by Paulo K Tiról.
White Rose: The Musical
(Yellow Sound Label - new album)
Original Off-Broadway cast recording of score by Natalie Brice (music) and Brian Belding (book and lyrics). Orchestrations by Charlie Rosen. Was produced in 2024 at Theatre Row.