Blog

We’ve often heard the expression variously attributed to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Aby Warburg and Gustave Flaubert. But whichever of these men was the first to say it had a point. “God is in the details.” God has often blessed the Broadway musical, for (S)He has allowed many of its performers to leave their […]

A couple of weeks ago, I trumpeted the Tony-winning musicals that can be heard thanks to Masterworks Broadway. And how about Tony-LOSERS in the Best Musicals category? These have been on my mind because of – here comes some shameless self-promotion – my new book called Strippers, Showgirls, and Sharks: a Very Opinionated History of […]

“You’re the one who chose Alan Alda’s entrance music, aren’t you?” So said many people to me after I’d hosted The 69th Annual Theatre World Awards on June 3. Whenever a presenter or awardee sauntered onto the Music Box stage, our expert pianist/musical director Jason DeBord would play a song that was associated with the […]

So the percentage just went from 56.92% to 57.58%. I’m talking about the number of Tony-winning Best Musicals that can be found on recordings and downloads on Masterworks Broadway. With Kinky Boots winning Best Musical (over the slightly favored Matilda), thirty-eight of the sixty-six victors can be found on this website. “Sixty-six?” you ask. “But […]

Well, here’s a reissue of a show album that many fanatically dedicated cast album collectors never owned. ClownAround was originally recorded in 1972 by RCA Victor. But was it ever released? Some said yes, some said no. Who was right? The question surrounding the recording spurred my buddy Richard Thompson to conduct a personal odyssey […]