CHICAGO, HAIRSPRAY & ONCE VINYL Out Now | Plus Simply Heavenly & New MWB Vault Releases Announced
We are thrilled to announce our Autumn 2016 releases including three classic albums from the archives – Simply Heavenly – 1957 Original Broadway Cast Recording (October 14), A Christmas Carol – 1995 Original Cast Recording (November 4) and Spoon River Anthology – 1963 Original Broadway Cast Recording (November 11).
In addition to the rare archive releases, we’ve also released new titles on vinyl that can now be purchases exclusively at Barnes and Noble! Titles include Chicago: The Musical (1997), Hairspray (Original Broadway Cast Recording), and Once: A New Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording).
Starring Claudia McNeil and Melvin Stewart, Simply Heavenly was written by Harlem renaissance poet Langston Hughes based on his novel “Simple Takes a Wife and Other Simple Stories.” With music by David Martin, Simply Heavenly was originally produced for the Off-Broadway 85th Street Playhouse. The show transferred to Broadway’s Playhouse Theatre on August 20th 1957 when fire violations forced the closure of the original venue. Hughes continually looked to the musical stage for success following the groundbreaking 1947 original production of Kurt Weill and Elmer Rice’s Street Scene for which he wrote lyrics. Set in Harlem of the ‘50s, Simply Heavenly follows Jess Simple as he tries to raise enough money for a divorce so he can marry his new love and eloquently captures the color, humor and poetry of that time and place. McNeil had made her Broadway debut as a replacement cast member in the groundbreaking original Broadway production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. She would later originate the role of Lena Younger in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun both on Broadway and in the feature film. Simply Heavenly – 1957 Original Broadway Cast Recording will be officially released for the first time on CD in the U.S. October 14, with streaming and downloads available the same day. Visit the album page here.
Based on Charles Dickens’ 1843 classic novella, A Christmas Carol was presented annually at New York City’s Paramount Theatre in Madison Square Garden from 1994 through 2003. Over its nine years, A Christmas Carol featured a slew of notable actors as “Scrooge” including F. Murray Abraham, Tim Curry, Tony Randall, Roddy McDowall (in his final role), Frank Langella, Tony Roberts, Jim Dale, and Roger Daltrey. A Christmas Carol featured a creative team of Broadway’s heavy hitters: Alan Menken, Music; Lynn Ahrens, Book and Lyrics; Mike Ockrent, Book and Direction and Susan Stroman, Choreography. A Christmas Carol – 1995 Original Cast Recording will be released on November 4, with streaming and downloads available the same day.
Charles Aidman adapted and starred in Spoon River Anthology, a play with music based on Edgar Lee Masters’ renowned collection of short free-form poems. With music by Naomi Caryl Hirshhorn and Hal Lynch, Spoon River Anthology weaves the epitaphs of the residents of fictional small town Spoon River into a chilling history of turn-of-the century America. Also starring Betty Garrett, Joyce Van Patten and Robert Elston, the show opened at the Booth Theatre on September 29, 1963 and ran for 111 performances. The Original Broadway Cast Recording of Spoon River Anthology makes its CD debut November 11, with streaming and downloads available the same day.
Simply Heavenly – 1957 Original Broadway Cast Recording is Out Now! Listen below.
A Christmas Carol – 1995 Original Cast Recording. Available November 4
Tracklist:
- Overture
- The Years Are Passing By
- Jolly, Rich and Fat
- Nothing to Do with Me
- Link by Link
- The Lights of Long Ago
- Fezziwig’s Annual Christmas Ball
- A Place Called Home
- Money Montage
- Abundance and Charity
- Christmas Together
- Dancing on Your Grave
- Yesterday, Tomorrow and Today
- Christmas Day
- God Bless Us, Everyone
Spoon River Anthology – 1963 Original Broadway Cast Recording. Available November 11.
Tracklist:
- “He’s Gone Away” / The Hill
- Tom Beatty
- “Spoon River”
- Benjamin Painter / Mrs. Benjamin Painter
- Margaret Fuller Slack
- Knowlt Hoheimer / Lydia Puckett
- Fiddler Jones
- Ollie McGee / Fletcher McGee
- Lucius Atherton
- “Times Are Getting Hard” / Eugene Carman
- “The Water Is Wide” / William and Emily
- George Gray
- Harry Williams
- “Paper of Pins”
- Roscoe Purkapile / Mrs. Purkapile
- Shack Dye / “Freedom” / Hannah Armstrong / Faith Matheny
- “Illinois”
- Charles Bliss
- Pauline Barrett / The Village Atheist / Mabel Osborne / Franklin Jones
- “In the Night” / Dippold the Optician / “In the Night” (reprise)
- Alexander Throckmorton
- Amanda Barker / Willard Fluke / Lois Spears
- Abel Melveney
- Hod Putt
- Indignation Jones / Minerva Jones / Doctor Meyers / Mrs. Meyers / Willie Metcalf / “I Am, I Am” / Barney Hainsfeather
- Lucinda Matlock / “Spoon River”
- Petit the Poet
- Anne Rutledge / “Spoon River” / Last Poem
