Talkin' Broadway Sound Advice Recap Week of 4/14/20 (updated 4/17/20)

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Please note that scheduling changes due to the coronavirus pandemic are being made as soon as we are aware of them. But there may be further changes in release dates in the future, as things play out.

See the complete list of Upcoming/Recent releases.

Earlier recaps:

2020: April 7 | March 31, 24, 17, 10, 3 | February 25, 18, 11, 4 | January 28, 21, 14, 7

2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015


DIGITAL MUSIC Now Available:

Laura Benanti: Sucker
(Masterworks - digital single on mp3/at iTunes)
Cover of song by Ryan Tedder, Frank Dukes, Louis Bell, Nick Jonas, Joe Jonas, Kevin Jonas II. 100% of the proceeds will go towards FoodCorps.

Drew Gasparini: We Aren't Kids Anymore
(Craft Recordings - new digital album on mp3/at iTunes)
Theatrical song cycle written by Drew Gasparini. With Nicholas Christopher, Lilli Cooper, Raymond J. Lee, Bonnie Milligan, and Colton Ryan. Licensed worldwide for live performance by professional and amateur theatres. Released 4/10/20.

Losing My Mind: A Sondheim Fever Dream
(Broadway Records - new on CD)
Adapted and expanded from a 2018 concert conceived and created by Joshua Hinck and Scott Wasserman. Combines over 40 Stephen Sondheim songs. 13-piece orchestra. Liner notes by David Levy. Alison Luff, Blaine Krauss, Aneesa Folds, Charity Angél Dawson, Vishal Vaidya, Brittnie Price, Juwan Crawley, Deonté L. Warren, Joshua Hinck, Aili Venho, and Onyie Nwachukwu and Chip Zien. "Opening (Doors)," "There Are Giants Somewhere," "Hello Pretty Lady / Lovely Moments By the Sea," "Unworthy of Your Love," "Our Time," "No One Is Alone," "The Miller's Son," "Artists Are Bizarre," "Color and Light," "It's Hot Up Here in This City on Fire," "Losing My Mind," "Megamix: Take Me to the World." Also at BroadwayRecords.com. Released on mp3 and at iTunes on 3/20/20.

Soft Power digital
(Ghostlight Records - new album on mp3/at iTunes)
Original cast recording of Jeanine Tesori/David Henry Hwang score. Billy Bustamante, Jon Hoche, Kendyl Ito, Francis Jue, Austin Ku, Raymond J. Lee, Alyse Alan Louis, Jaygee Macapugay, Daniel May, Paul HeeSang Miller, Kristen Faith Oei, Geena Quintos, Conrad Ricamora, Trevor Salter, Kyra Smith, Emily Stillings, Emily Trumble, John Yi. "Overture," "Dutiful," "Welcome to America," "Fuxing Park," "I'm With Her," "It Just Takes Time," "Election Night," "I Am," "Entr'acte/Song of the Campaign," "Happy Enough," "Good Guy With A Gun," "The New Silk Road," "Democracy," "Democracy (Reprise)." Also at GhostlightRecords.com.

Soul & Jazz Covers of Broadway Classics
(Warner Music Group - new on mp3)
"On a Clear Day You Can See Forever," (Mary Wells), "People," (Esther Phillips), "A Taste of Honey," (Barbara Lewis), "Over the Rainbow," (Patti Labelle And The Bluebelles), "On the Street Where You Live," (The Drifters), "I Could Have Danced All Night," (Ben E. King), "Summertime," (Dionne Warwick), "I Loves You Porgy," (Nina Simone), "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," (Brook Benton), "That's for Me," (Lorraine Ellison), "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To," (Ruth Brown), "Fascinating Rhythm (Live, 1974)," (Spinners), "My Favorite Things (Live, 1993)," (Al Jarreau), "Love for Sale," (Ernestine Anderson), "Don't Get Around Much Anymore," (Little Anthony & The Imperials), "I'm Beginning to See the Light," (Ray Charles), "Try to Remember," (Patti Labelle And The Bluebelles), "Who Can I Turn To," (Dionne Warwick), "What Kind of Fool Am I?," (Dinah Washington), "Spring Can Really Hang You up the Most," (Carmen McRae), "Someone to Watch Over Me," (Jimmy Scott), "In a Sentimental Mood," (Sarah Vaughan), "You'll Never Walk Alone," (The Flamingos), "Somewhere," (Aretha Franklin). Released 4/10/20.


BLU-RAY/DVDs Now Available:

Song of Norway
(Kino Lorber - new Blu-Ray/DVD)
1970 musical film based on the operetta about Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. Brand new 2K master. Directed by Andrew L. Stone. Toralv Maurstad, Florence Henderson, Christina Schollin, Edward G. Robinsonm, Robert Morley, and Oskar Homolka. Music by Edvard Grieg, Robert Wright, George Forrest. Blu-ray special features: Brand new 2K master; new audio commentary by film historian/author Lee Gambin and film historian/author John Harrison; 5.1 Surround and 2.0 Audio; optional English subtitles; dual-layered BD50 disc; trailers.


Books Now Available:

The First Oscar Hammerstein and New York's Golden Age of Theater and Music
(McFarland - Paperback Book)
by Adolph S. Tomars. Biography, from an unfinished manuscript by the son of one of his stage managers, recounts the spirited heyday of Hammerstein's daring and masterful productions, his often tempestuous relationships with both rivals and associates, and the birth of Broadway. 277 pages.

Dark Star: A Biography of Vivien Leigh
(Bloomsbury Academic - Paperback)
By Alan Strachan. A completely new full-life portrait of Leigh, covering both her professional and personal life. Using previously unseen sources from her archive, recently acquired by the V&A, the author sheds new light on her fractious relationship with Laurence Olivier, based on their letters and diaries, as well as on the bipolar disorder which so affected her later life and work. Hardcover and Kindle Edition released earlier. Had been delayed.

Recordings RECENTLY MADE AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER:

Judy Garland: The Best Of Lost Tracks 2: 1936-1967
(JSP Records - on CD)
Compilation. Along with material collated from the previous Lost Tracks box sets, there is the previously unknown 1938 "You Couldn't Be Cuter."

Petula Clark: On Air 1951-1961
(Stage Door Records - new import CD)
Landmark collection representing a unique archival discovery of recordings made by Petula Clark for various BBC Radio programmes between 1951 and 1961. Selections from the long running "Calling All Forces," where Petula appeared and broadcast on a weekly basis as the resident featured artist. Almost all of the performances featured on this collection have gone unheard since their original transmission. 23 tracks, 18 of which make their debut on CD. "Good Luck, Good Health, God Bless You," "Harbour Lights," "While the Angelus Was Ringing," "With a Song in My Heart," "Till Then," "Down in the Glen," "I'll Make Up for Everything," "My Choice," "Far Away Places," "My Happiness," "Someone Like You," "Autumn Leaves," "Always," "Made in Heaven," "We're a Couple of Swells (With Billy Ternent)," "Relax-Ay-Voo," "Suddenly There's a Valley," "Ooh Bang Jiggilly Jang," "It's Magic," "Sailor," "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes / Dancing in the Dark" Bonus tracks "Stardust," "Ordinary People" (With George Formby). Limited Edition of 500 units only.

Books/Plays RECENTLY MADE AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER:

A History of Theater on Cape Cod
(The History Press - Paperback Book/Kindle Edition)
By Sue Mellen. Foreword by Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll. From the beginning of theater on the Cape in 1916 when a group of artists and writers in Provincetown mounted a production of a one-act play, Bound East for Cardiff, by a little-known playwright, Eugene O'Neill. It grew into the constantly expanding theater universe it is today. The theatrical descendants of O'Neill and the Provincetown Players continue to present classical drama, contemporary hits and new, experimental works to audiences that have come to expect the best. A tour of the theaters from Provincetown to Falmouth, revealing the rich past behind a unique cultural treasure. 144 pages.

Humana Festival 2019: The Complete Plays
(Limelight Editions - Paperback Book)
All five scripts from the 43rd annual cycle of world premieres: Everybody Black by Dave Harris; The Thin Place by Lucas Hnath; The Corpse Washer, adapted for the stage by Ismail Khalidi and Naomi Wallace, from the novel of the same name by Sinan Antoon; How to Defend Yourself by Liliana Padilla; and We've Come to Believe, a collaboratively-written play by Kara Lee Corthron, Emily Feldman, and Matthew Paul Olmos. 312 pages.

The L.A. Theatre Works Audio Docudrama Series: Pivotal Moments in American History
(Methuen Drama - Paperback Book/Kindle Edition)
Foreword by Professor Michael Hackett. Play anthology featuring five docudramas originally commissioned by L.A. Theatre Works that each explore pivotal moments in 20th century U.S history: The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial by Peter Goodchild; The Real Dr. Strangelove by Peter Goodchild; RFK: The Journey to Justice by Murray Horwitz and Jonathan Estrin; The Chicago Conspiracy Trial by Peter Goodchild; Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers by Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons. 312 pages.

Victorians on Broadway: Literature, Adaptation, and the Modern American Musical
(Univ of Virginia Press - Paperback Book/Kindle Edition)
By Sharon Aronofsky Weltman. A wide-ranging interdisciplinary study of live stage musicals from the mid- to late twentieth century adapted from British literature written between 1837 and 1886. Investigates musical dramatizations of works by Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, Christina Rossetti, Robert Louis Stevenson, and others ... reveals what these musicals teach us about the Victorian books from which they derive and considers their enduring popularity and impact on our modern culture. Explores themes of race, religion, gender, and class, focusing attention on how these theatrical adaptations fit into aesthetic and intellectual movements while demonstrating the complexity of their enduring legacy. 328 pages.

OTHER NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Added to 4/24/20:

Bobby Conte Thornton: Along the Way
(Broadway Records - new digital album)
Debut album from Bobby Conte Thornton (A Bronx Tale, Company). "Nature Boy / Blame It on My Youth," "Along the Way," "Time Heals Everything," "Everybody Says Don't," "Me and Mrs. Jones," "How Deep Is the Ocean? / Maybe It's Because I Love You Too Much," "I'm All Over It," "Here, There and Everywhere," "She Loves Me," "Love to Me” "That's Life," "Vienna," "Alice" (bonus track). 10-piece band. Orchestrated by conductor/musician and producer James Sampliner.





Compiled by Talkin' Broadway Staff.

Corrections and questions may be directed to SoundAdvice@talkinbroadway.com