Sound Advice
Schedule of New & Upcoming CD, DVD & Book Releases

Updated 11/28/23

This week's recap | See previous releases

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Now Available (scroll down for upcoming releases):

James A. Rocco: Holidays with Mom
(new digital EP)
Broadway/regional actor/singer/director/choreographer James A. Rocco. "I Remember," "The Christmas Song," "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)."

Liam Forde: "The Holiday Season"
(Ballyhoo Music - new digital single)
New version of the Kay Thompson classic. Billy Stritch on piano.

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.

Dianne Fraser: You and I - The Words and Music of Leslie Bricusse
(new on CD/digital)
Debut album. "At the Crossroads / After Today," "Pure Imagination," "Feeling Good," "Crazy World / If I Ruled the World," "Le Jazz Hot," "Happiness," "Look at That Face / Something in Your Smile," "You and I," "This Is the Moment / Once in a Lifetime," "Two for the Road."

Hook Ultimate Edition
(La-La Land Records - new 3-CD set)
Expanded and and remastered soundtrack from 1991 film. Disc One / Disc Two: the John Williams score presentation with additional music tracks. Disc Three: songs by Williams and Leslie Bricusse (eight demos from when it was going to be a musical), alternate cues, and source music. 48-Page booklet with in-depth liner notes by Mike Matessino and associate producers John Takis and Jason LeBlanc. 12-page second booklet in the package has track list. Limited release of 5000 units.

Julie Benko: Christmas with You
(Club44 Records - new EP)
"The Man with the Bag," "(I Never Had a) Christmas with You" (with Mykal Kilgore) - available now, "Tumbalalaika," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

The Sound of Music Super Deluxe Edition
(Craft Recordings - 4-CD/1-Blu-Ray Audio box set and digital)
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein score. The soundtrack, expanded, remixed and remastered. With well over 40 previously unreleased tracks. Collects every musical element from the film for the very first time, along with instrumentals of each song, plus 11 never-before-heard alternate takes, including rare performances from the cast. The accompanying Blu-Ray Audio disc features the full score in hi-res audio as well as a new Dolby Atmos mix of the original 16-track soundtrack. In-depth liner notes by Robert Wise associate Mike Matessino, who also remixed and remastered the album from the original multi-track tapes. Read more here. Also to be available: Deluxe 2-CD edition; Deluxe 3-LP vinyl in black and in Picnic Meadow Green; Super Deluxe Edition digital; and Standard digital.

December 5, 2023

Everywhere an Oink Oink: An Embittered, Dyspeptic, and Accurate Report of Forty Years in Hollywood
(Simon & Schuster - Hardcover Book/Kindle Edition/Audible Audiobook/Audiobook on CD)
By David Mamet, with illustrations by David Mamet. The author " shares scandalous and laugh-out-loud tales from his four decades in Hollywood where he worked with some of the biggest names in movies." Audiobook narrated by Jim Frangione. 256 pages.

December 8, 2023

Wild About You
(Broadway Records - new on CD)
World premiere recording of new musical score by Chilina Kennedy. Lea Salonga, Alex Newell, Joaquina Kalukango, Jenn Colella, Eric McCormack, Aisha Jackson, Noah Ricketts, Jay McKenzie, Katharine McPhee, Jessie Mueller, Jackie Burns, Rachel Ling Gordon. Arrangements, orchestrations and music production are by Daniel Edmonds. Produced by Brian Spector, Daniel Edmonds and Michael J. Moritz Jr. Previously released digitally.

December 15, 2023

Jesus Christ Superstar: Behind the Scenes of the Worldwide Musical Phenomenon
(Applause - Hardcover Book)
By Ellis Nassour ("Rock Opera: The Creation of Jesus Christ Superstar, from Record Album to Broadway Show and Motion Picture," 1973). Detailed account of the life of the musical from 1969–1973. Behind the scenes look at the evolution of Jesus Christ Superstar from an album to a Broadway musical, exploring the breakthroughs, the frustrations, and the pitfalls. Never-before-seen photos and new interviews. 232 pages.

Sweeney Todd 2023 revival cast
(Reprise Records - new on CD)
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. Release at Target.com appears to be 11/24/23. Digital released earlier.

December 28, 2023

The Final Curtain: Obituaries of Fifty Great Actors
(Unicorn Publishing Group - Hardcover Book/Kindle Edition)
By Michael Coveney. Fifty articles (from the the Guardian, the Observer, the Financial Times, and the Evening Standard) arranged in chronological order of each actor’s demise, constituting a vivid history of postwar theatre through the lives of the actors. There are happy/sad juxtapositions of shooting stars Robert Stephens and Alan Bates; tragic niece and aunt, Natasha Richardson and Lynn Redgrave; classical queens Diana Rigg and Barbara Jefford; and versatile showtime hoofers Una Stubbs and Lionel Blair. 256 pages.

January 12, 2024

Kimberly Akimbo
(Ghostlight Records - 2-disc vinyl set)
2022 original Broadway cast recording of score by Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire. Victoria Clark, Steven Boyer, Justin Cooley, Alli Mauzey, Bonnie Milligan, Olivia Elease Hardy, Fernell Hogan, Michael Iskander, Nina White. DISC 1: "Skater Planet," "Hello, Darling," "Make a Wish," "Anagram," "Better," "Hello, Darling #2," "Father Time," "Happy for Her," "This Time"; DISC 2: "How to Wash a Check," "Good Kid," "Hello, Baby," "Skater Planet (Reprise)," "Our Disease," "The Inevitable Turn," "Now," "How to Wash a Check (Reprise)," "Before I Go," "Great Adventure." If booklet is the same as the CD, it features complete lyrics, color photography and liner notes by Washington Post theater writer Peter Marks. GhostlightRecords.com. Released earlier in digital format.

Mark Winkler: The Rules Don't Apply
(Café Pacific Records - new album)
Vocalist/songwriter Mark Winkler's 21st album. With 16 top musicians who play in various combinations. "Sunday in L.A.," "I.G.Y (What a Wonderful World)," "The Joy of Singing," "In Love in New York," "Got to Get You into My Life," "The Rules Don't Apply," "Something So Right," "Just Around the Corner," "If These Walls Could Talk," "Jazz Swings," "Mama Told Me Not to Come," "Lessons I've Learned," "Here's to Jazz."

Merrily We Roll Along
(Masterworks Broadway - new on CD)
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," "Gussie's Opening Number," "It's a Hit!," "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," "Seventh Transition," "Our Time." Released digitally 11/15/23.

January 16, 2024

Greasepaint Puritan: Boston to 42nd Street in the Queer Backstage Novels of Bradford Ropes
(Univ of Michigan Press - Hardcover Book/Paperback)
By Maya Cantu. Details the life and work of Bradford Ropes, author of the bawdy 1932 novel "42nd Street," on which the classic film and its stage adaptation are based. Follows Ropes s successful career as both a performer and the author of the backstage novels "42nd Street," "Stage Mother," and "Go Into Your Dance." Ropes rebelled against the "Proper Bostonian" life, in a career that touched upon the Jazz Age, American vaudeville, and theater censorship. 330 pages.

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.

January 30, 2024

Becky Nurse of Salem: A Contemporary Comedy About a Historical Tragedy
(Theatre Communications Group - new Paperback Book)
Play by Sarah Ruhl. Played at Lincoln Center Theater in the fall of 2022. 112 pages.

Clyde's
(Theatre Communications Group - Paperback book/Kindle)
Play by Lynn Nottage. 96 pages.

Tell it to the World: The Broadway Musical Abroad
(Oxford Univ Press - Hardcover Book)
By David Savran. A look at how the Broadway musical travels the world, influencing and even transforming local practices and traditions. Focuses on recent musicals but also looks back through the twentieth century to plot the evolution of musical theatre in South Korea and Germany. 312 pages.

February 20, 2024

A Case for the Existence of God
(Theatre Communications Group - Paperback Book/Kindle Edition)
Play by Samuel D. Hunter. 128 pages.

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.

March 1, 2024

Merrily We Roll Along
(Masterworks Broadway - new 2-disc vinyl)
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," "Gussie's Opening Number," "It's a Hit!," "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," "Seventh Transition," "Our Time." Barnes and Noble exclusive.

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 19, 2024

Cambodian Rock Band
(Theatre Communications Group - Paperback Book)
Play by Lauren Yee. 96 pages.

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 15, 2024

On Bette Midler: An Opinionated Guide
(Oxford Univ Press - Hardcover Book)
By Kevin Winkler. Traces the early development of Midler's performing ethos from New York's downtown experimental theater scene and examines her impact across media, with chapters on the soaring highs (and occasional cringe-worthy lows) of her stage work, movies, recordings, and television appearances, and considers her influence as an environmental activist and social media presence. Features performance analysis and deeply researched background information, all supporting informed - and divinely opinionated - consideration of Midler the artist. 224 pages.

April 16, 2024

The Tony Awards: A Celebration of Excellence in Theatre
(Black Dog & Leventhal - Hardcover Book/Kindle Edition)
Coffee table book by Eila Mell and The American Theatre Wing. Foreword by Audra McDonald. Commemorating over 75 years of Broadway greatness with never-before told stories, rare photos from the American Theatre Wing'a archives, and more than 100 interviews with past and present Tony winners, including actors, producers, writers, and costume designers. 400+ color and black-and-white photographs. 320 pages.

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.

April 23, 2024

Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent
(St. Martin's Press - Hardcover Book/Kindle Edition/Audible Audiobook)
By Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea. Judi Dench opens up about every Shakespearean role she has played throughout her seven-decade career in a series of intimate conversations with actor and director Brendan O'Hea. Interspersed with vignettes on audiences, critics, company spirit and rehearsal room etiquette, she serves up priceless revelations on everything from the craft of speaking in verse to her personal interpretations of some of Shakespeare's most famous scenes. Prevously released in paperback.

April 30, 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.

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.

Carol Burnett: The Prime Time Specials Collection
(Legendary Entertainment - DVD set)
"Carol + 2" 1966 TV Special, "An Evening with Carol Burnett" 1963 TV Special, "Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall" 1962 TV Special. Details and release date 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)

Days of Wine and Roses
(new album)
Original Off-Broadway cast recording of score by Adam Guettel (book by Craig Lucas). Sharon Catherine Brown, Bill English, Olivia Hernandez, Brian d'Arcy James, Byron Jennings, David Jennings, Ted Koch, Ella Dane Morgan, Kelli O'Hara. Recorded week of 7/24/23. Details TBA.

Death Note, The Musical
(Ghostlight Records - new album)
West End Palladium concert cast recording of score by Frank Wildhorn and Jack Murphy. Orchestrations by Jason Howland. Adam Pascal, Joaquin Pedro Valdes, Dean John Wilson, Aimie Atkinson, Frances Mayli McCann, Rachel Clare Chan, and Christian Ray Marbella. Album produced by Nigel Wright. Co-produced by production musical supervisor, Katy Richardson. Engineered by Nick Pugh. 17 tracks. Release date TBA.

The Gospel According to Heather
(JAY Records - new album)
2023 Off-Broadway cast recording of score by Paul Gordon. Cast includes Lauren Elder, Badia Farha, Maria Habeeb, Jeremy Kushnier, Maya Lagerstam, Zach Rand, Katey Sagal, Carson Stewart, Brittany Nicole Williams, and Wayne Wilson. Produced by John Yap. Release date TBA.

Harbinger Records upcoming releases: material from Eubie Blake; download only demos of Hugh Martin and Sheldon Harnick; Steve Ross' back catalog for download;

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.

Suffs
(Atlantic Records - new album)
2022 Public Theater cast recording of score by Shaina Taub. Jenna Bainbridge, Ally Bonino, Tsilala Brock, Jenn Colella, Hannah Cruz, Nadia Dandashi, Aisha de Haas, Amina Faye, Holly Gould, Cassondra James, Nikki M. James, Jaygee Macapugay, Grace McLean, Susan Oliveras, Mia Pak, J. Riley Jr, Phillipa Soo, Shaina Taub, and Ada Westfall. Release date TBA.

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.

Walking With Bubbles
(new on CD/digital/vinyl)
Recording of score by Brianna Kothari Barnes for Jessica Hend's solo show. To include the seven songs from the show plus one bonus track of the cut title song. Release date TBA.

Wild About You
(Broadway Records - new album)
World premiere recording of new musical score by Chilina Kennedy. Lea Salonga, Alex Newell, Joaquina Kalukango, Jenn Colella, Eric McCormack, Aisha Jackson, Noah Ricketts, Jay McKenzie, Katharine McPhee, Jessie Mueller, Jackie Burns, Rachel Ling Gordon. Arrangements, orchestrations and music production are by Daniel Edmonds. Produced by Brian Spector, Daniel Edmonds and Michael J. Moritz Jr.