Talkin' Broadway Sound Advice Recap Week of 11/8/16 (updated 11/11/16)

Receive the weekly recap by email each Tuesday: Sign up on the front page, right below the menu.

See the complete list of Upcoming/Recent releases.

Earlier recaps:

2016: November 1 | October 25, 18, 11, 4 | September 27, 20, 13, 6 | August 30, 23, 16, 9, 2 | July 26, 19, 12, 5 | June 28, 21, 14, 7 | May 31, 24, 17, 10, 3 | April 26, 19, 12, 5 | March 29, 22, 15, 8, 1 | February 23, 16, 9, 2 | January 26, 19, 12, 5, 2016 | 2015


CDs Now Available:

Shades of Beautiful - The Tracy Stark Songbook
(Miranda Music - new on CD/mp3)
Songs by Tracy Stark; she accompanies on piano (and some vocals) with Sean Hardness (guitar), Mary Ann McSweeney (bass), Donna Kelly (percussion), Michael Visceglia (bass), Skip Ward (bass), David Sillman (drums) and backup singers Tanya Holt, Richard Barone. "Woman on the Stage" (Ann Hampton Callaway)), "Find My Strength" (Lesley Gore), "You Changed Me" (Lillias White), "Mr. Moon" (Jane Monheit), "Walk with Me" (Nona Hendryx), "Camera" (Janis Siegel), "The Only One" (Nicolas King), "Morning Light" (Johnny Rogers & Tracy Stark), "Let Love In" (Tanya Holt), "Greatest Nightmare" (Karen Black), "Portrait" (Barb Jungr), "Hungry" (Janice Pendarvis), "Fluffy World" (Marcus Simeone), "Life's Been Kind" (Tonya Pinkins), "Welcome Home" (Tracy Stark). Released 10/19/16.

Simply Christmas: Leslie Odom Jr.
(s-curve - new on CD/mp3/at iTunes)
"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas," "First Noel," "My Favorite Things," "I'll Be Home For Christmas," "The Christmas Song," "Merry Christmas Darling," "Winter Song," "Ave Maria."

Spoon River Anthology OBC
(Masterworks Broadway - new on CD/mp3 w/ digital booklet/at iTunes)
1963 dramatic reading of the verse of Edgar Lee Masters. Conceived by Charles Aidman, music by Naomi Caryl Hirshhorn, lyrics by Charles Aidman. Charles Aidman, Robert Elston, Betty Garrett, Joyce Van Patten, Naomi Caryl Hirshhorn, Hal Lynch. "He's Gone Away, Tom Beatty, "Spoon River, Benjamin Pantier, Margaret Fuller Slack, Knowlt Hoheimer, Fiddler Jones, Ollie McGee, Lucius Atherton, "Times are Getting Hard, "The Water is Wide, George Gray, Harry Williams, "Paper of Pins, Roscoe Purkapile, Shack Dye - "Freedom, "Illinois, Mrs. Charles Bliss, Pauline Barrett, "In The Night, Alexander Throckmorton, Amanda Barker, Abel Melveney, Hod Putt, "Indignation" Jones, Lucinda Matlock, Petit the Poet, Anne Rutledge - "Spoon River."


DVD/Blu-Rays Now Available:

The Goodbye Girl
(Warner Archive - new on Blu-ray)
1977 film with screenplay by Neil Simon and was the basis for 1993 musical. Richard Dreyfuss, Marsha Mason, Quinn Cummings, Paul Benedict. Screenplay by Simon. Directed by Herbert Ross.


BOOKs Now Available:

The Babylon Line
(Plume - Paperback Book/Kindle Edition)
New Richard Greenberg play to be presented at Lincoln Center beginning November 10. 144 pages.

The Delaplaine Judy Garland - Her Essential Quotations
(CreateSpace - Paperback Book)
By Andrew Delaplaine. Illustrations by Renee Delaplaine. Garland quotations culled from a variety of source materials ... compiled, edited and carefully selected by quote collector Andrew Delaplaine. 40 pages. Published 9/22/16. The Delaplaine Essential Quotations series also includes The Delaplaine Meryl Streep, The Delaplaine Joan Rivers, The Delaplaine Gore Vidal, The Delaplaine Dorothy Parker, The Delaplaine Mike Nichols, The Delaplaine George Bernard Shaw, and many more.

Drop Dead: Performance in Crisis, 1970s New York
(Northwestern Univ Press - Hardcover/Paperback/Kindle Edition)
By Hillary Miller. Exploration of how the city's financial crisis shaped theater and performance practices in this turbulent decade and beyond. The author reviews how numerous theater professionals, including Ellen Stewart of La MaMa E.T.C. and Julie Bovasso, Vinnette Carroll, and Joseph Papp of The Public Theater, developed innovative responses to survive the crisis. Combining theater history and close readings of productions, each of Miller's chapters is a case study focusing on a company, a production, or an element of New York's theater infrastructure ... visiting Broadway, Off-, Off-Off-, Coney Island, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, community theater, and other locations to bring into focus the large-scale changes wrought by the financial realignments of the day. 280 pages.

Neil Simon's Memoirs
(Simon & Schuster - Hardcover Book/Kindle Edition)
Combines Neil Simon's two memoirs, Rewrites and The Play Goes On, into one volume that spans his five-decade career in theater, television, and film. New introduction by Nathan Lane; new afterword by Elaine Joyce. 672 pages.


MUSIC to be released this Friday

Simply Christmas: Leslie Odom Jr.
(s-curve - new on CD)
"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas," "First Noel," "My Favorite Things," "I'll Be Home For Christmas," "The Christmas Song," "Merry Christmas Darling," "Winter Song," "Ave Maria."

Spoon River Anthology OBC
(Masterworks Broadway - new on CD/mp3 w/ digital booklet)
1963 dramatic reading of the verse of Edgar Lee Masters. Conceived by Charles Aidman, music by Naomi Caryl Hirshhorn, lyrics by Charles Aidman. Charles Aidman, Robert Elston, Betty Garrett, Joyce Van Patten, Naomi Caryl Hirshhorn, Hal Lynch. "He's Gone Away, Tom Beatty, "Spoon River, Benjamin Pantier, Margaret Fuller Slack, Knowlt Hoheimer, Fiddler Jones, Ollie McGee, Lucius Atherton, "Times are Getting Hard, "The Water is Wide, George Gray, Harry Williams, "Paper of Pins, Roscoe Purkapile, Shack Dye - "Freedom, "Illinois, Mrs. Charles Bliss, Pauline Barrett, "In The Night, Alexander Throckmorton, Amanda Barker, Abel Melveney, Hod Putt, "Indignation" Jones, Lucinda Matlock, Petit the Poet, Anne Rutledge - "Spoon River."


Recordings RECENTLY MADE AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER:

Adam Pascal & Anthony Rapp - Acoustically Speaking: Celebrating 20 Years of Friendship - Live at Feinstein's / 54
(Broadway Records - new on CD)
Recorded live at Feinstein's/54 Below in October 2016.

The Barkleys of Broadway
(Warner Archive - new on DVD-R)
1949 M-G-M musical film starring Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, Oscar Levant, Gale Robbins, Billie Burke. Screenplay by Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Sidney Sheldon. Directed by Charles Walters. Songs by Harry Warren music and Ira Gershwin lyrics "They Can't Take That Away from Me" by George and Ira Gershwin). Choreography by Robert Alton and Hermes Pan.

Carmen Cusack Live at Feinstein's / 54 Below
(Broadway Records - new on CD)
Solo concert debut recorded live at Feinstein's/54 Below in August 2016.

Charles Busch Live at Feinstein's / 54 Below
(Broadway Records - new on CD)
Recorded live at Feinstein's/54 Below in June 2016.

The Hamilton Mixtape
(Atlantic Records - new album on CD (with explicit lyrics) & CD (clean version) /on mp3 (explicit) & mp3 (clean)/at iTunes)
Music artists putting their own stamp on numbers from and inspired by Hamilton. "No John Trumbull" (Intro, The Roots), "My Shot" (feat. Busta Rhymes, Joell Ortiz & Nate Ruess) [Rise Up Remix] (The Roots), "Wrote My Way Out" (Nas, Dave East, Lin-Manuel Miranda & Aloe Blacc), "Wait For It" (Usher), "An Open Letter" (feat. Shockwave) [Interlude] (Watsky), "Satisfied" (feat. Miguel & Queen Latifah, Sia), "Dear Theodosia" (feat. Ben Folds, Regina Spektor), "Valley Forge" (Demo, Lin-Manuel Miranda), "It's Quiet Uptown" (Kelly Clarkson), "That Would Be Enough" (Alicia Keys), "Immigrants (We Get The Job Done)" (K'naan, Snow Tha Product, Riz MC, Residente), "You'll Be Back" (Jimmy Fallon & The Roots), "Helpless" (feat. Ja Rule, Ashanti), "Take A Break" (Interlude, !llmind), "Say Yes To This" (Jill Scott), "Congratulations" (Dessa), "Burn" (Andra Day), "Stay Alive" (Interlude, J.PERIOD & Stro Elliot), "Slavery Battle" (Demo, Lin-Manuel Miranda), "Washingtons By Your Side" (Wiz Khalifa), "History Has Its Eyes On You" (John Legend), "Who Tells Your Story" (feat. Common & Ingrid Michaelson, The Roots), "Dear Theodosia" (Reprise, Chance The Rapper & Francis and The Lights).

His Girl Friday (The Criterion Collection)
(Criterion Collection - new 2-disc Blu-ray set)
1940 film adaptation of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's play The Front Page. Cast includes Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, John Qualen. Directed by Howard Hawks. Extras include: New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray; new 2K restoration of Lewis Milestone's The Front Page (1931), made from a recently discovered print of the director's preferred version; new interview with film scholar David Bordwell about His Girl Friday; archival interviews with director Howard Hawks; featurettes from 1999 and 2006 about Hawks, actor Rosalind Russell, and the making of His Girl Friday; radio adaptation of His Girl Friday from 1940; new piece about the restoration of The Front Page; new piece about playwright and screenwriter Ben Hecht; radio adaptations of the play The Front Page from 1937 and 1946; His Girl Friday trailers; booklet featuring essays on His Girl Friday and The Front Page by film critics Farran Smith Nehme and Michael Sragow. New cover art.

It's Always Fair Weather
(Warner Archive - new Blu-ray)
1955 musical film starring Gene Kelly, Cyd Charisse, Dolores Gray, Dan Dailey, Michael Kidd. Script by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Lyrics by Comden and Green with music by André Previn. Co-directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen.

Mary Martin Sings Walt Disney & Other Rarities
(Stage Door Records - new import CD)
CD debut of Mary Martin's 1958 album "Hi-Ho" featuring songs from Snow White, Pinocchio, and Bambi. Plus rare bonus tracks. "Hi-Ho," "Lavender Blue," "One Song," "Whistle While You Work," "I Bring You a Song," "I'm Late," "With a Smile and a Song," "Some Day My Prince Will Come," "I'm Wishing," "The Magic Song - Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo," "When You Wish Upon a Star," "I Wonder," "Once Upon a Dream," "Sing a Smiling Song," "Making Believe It's Christmas Eve," "Motherless Child," "Daughter of Silence," "I Got the Sun in the Morning," "My Creed," "The Sweetest Sight," "Mary Martin Reads 'The Little Lame Lamb' - Part 1," "Mary Martin Reads 'The Little Lame Lamb' - Part 2." Part of Stage Door's "Collector's Series" with retro style LP packaging, sleeve notes by Alan Eichler, digitally remastered from stereo reel to reel, and limited to 500 copies. Also directly from the UK at StageDoorRecords.com.

The Street Where I Live Audible – Unabridged
(Random House Audio - new Audiobook)
Alan Jay Lerner's 1978 autobiography. Read by David Case. 8 hours, 21 minutes.


Books RECENTLY MADE AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER:

May Irwin: Singing, Shouting, and the Shadow of Minstrelsy (Music in American Life)
(Univ of Illinois Press - new paperback book)
By Sharon Ammen. Story of May Irwin (1862-1938), reigning queen of comedy and "coon" songs on the American stage. Traces the comedic performer's colorful and successful career and also examines the strategies that Irwin employed to maintain both popularity and power while stepping far outside traditionally defined boundaries of late nineteenth-century womanhood. 288 pages.

Technical Theater for Nontechnical People
(Allworth Press - new paperback book/Kindle edition)
By Drew Campbell. From scenery, lighting, and sound to props, costumes, and stage management, with new content about digital audio, intelligent lighting, LED lighting, video projection, and show control systems, all explained in an approachable style. Updates also include a new chapter on sound design, plus every chapter has been updated with more information about the basics of theater technology, including draperies, lighting instruments, microphones, costume sketches, and more. This book teaches: 404 pages.


OTHER NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Track list and cover added:

Simply Christmas: Leslie Odom Jr.
(s-curve - new on CD)
"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas," "First Noel," "My Favorite Things," "I'll Be Home For Christmas," "The Christmas Song," "Merry Christmas Darling," "Winter Song," "Ave Maria."