Talkin' Broadway Sound Advice Recap Week of 12/18/18

Receive the weekly recap by email each Tuesday: Sign up on the front page, right below the menu (at the bottom of the page on mobile screens)..

See the complete list of Upcoming/Recent releases.

Earlier recaps:

2018: December 11, 4 | November 27, 20, 13, 6 | October 30, 23, 16, 9, 2 | September 25, 18, 11, 4 | August 28, 21, 14, 7 | July 31, 24, 17, 10, 3 | June 26, 19, 12, 5 | May 29, 22, 15, 8, 1 | April 24, 17, 10, 3, March 27, 20, 13, 6 | February 27, 20, 13, 6 | January 30, 23, 16, 9, 2

2017 | 2016 | 2015


CDs Now Available:

A Carol Christmas original cast recording
(Kritzerland - new on CD)
New musical score by Music and Lyrics by Bruce Kimmel Book by Doug Haverty. Orchestrations and music direction by Richard Allen. To ship by third week in December. At Kritzerland.com.

Danny Bacher: Still Happy
(Whaling City Sound - new on CD/on mp3/at iTunes)
Singer-sax player Danny Bacher, with Allen Farnham, piano; Dean Johnson, bass; Alvester Garnett, drums; Harry Allen, tenor saxophone; Charles Caranicas, trumpet, flugelhorn; Rolando Morales-Matos, percussion. "Getting Some Fun out of Life," "Laughing at Life," "In Spite of All This I'm Still Happy," "Shakin' the Blues Away," "Hooray for Hollywood," "Lucky to Be Me," "Joie de vivre," "Estrada Branca," "Joy Spring," "Lazy Afternoon," "Get Happy," "Cloudy / Nuages." Arrangements by Allen Farnham; co-arranged by Danny Bacher. Produced by Jeff Levenson and recorded at Teaneck Sound Studio. Released 9/28/18.

An Evening with Jennifer Roberts
(on CD/mp3/at iTunes)
"Travel / The Glamorous Life / Little Gray House," "Nobody's Heart," "I Walk a Little Faster," "I Didn't Know About You," "Mean to Me," "The Ballad of the Shape of Things," "On the Other Side of the Tracks," "Live Alone and Like It / By Myself," "Sweet Kentucky Ham," "Home," "You There in the Back Row," "Lucky to Be Me," "People Get Ready." Arrangements by Tedd Firth, with Steve Doyle and Todd Hubbard on bass. Features special appearances by Tom Wopat, Lance Roberts, Jason Ellis, Sidney Myer, Jonathan West and Peter Carey. Released 3/27/18.

A Treasury Of Jewish Christmas Songs
(new on CD/mp3/at iTunes)
Jake Ehrenreich with Roger Kellaway Trio. 2017 album with bonus track. Songs from Jewish writers. "A Holly Jolly Christmas," "The Christmas Waltz," "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," "Winter Wonderland," "Christmas Time Is Here," "Home for the Holidays," "White Christmas," "A Christmas Love Song," "Let It Snow," "I'll Be Home for Christmas," "Silver Bells," "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" plus bonus track "The Christmas Song."


DIGITAL RECORDINGs Now Available:

"Danglin'": Travis Moser
(new digital single on mp3/at iTunes)
Travis Moser sings "Danglin'" by Maury Yeston.

Laura Dickinson: Auld Lang Syne
(Music and Mirror records - new on mp3/at iTunes)
"Happy Holiday / The Holiday Season," "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm," "Christmas Is Starting Now," "Peace and Joy," "The Man with the Bag," "Love, You Didn't Do Right by Me," "A Marshmallow World," "Miss You Most (At Christmas Time)," "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "Auld Lang Syne." Released 9/18/18.

Peter Jöback: Humanology
(Sinclair Entertainment - new digital album on mp3/at iTunes)
Scandinavian singer-actor (The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, Kristina). "Shape of You," "How Great It Is," "Rushing into Love," "The Mask," "Addicted," "I Want to Know," "What If Tomorrow Never Comes," "Dancing," "Call Me By Your Name," "Believer."


BOOKs Now Available:

The Antipodes
(Theatre Communications Group - Paperback Book)
Play by Annie Baker. Debuted at NY Signature Theatre in Spring 2017. 160 pages.

Who's Holiday: A Comedy with a Twist of Rhyme
(Broadway Play Publishing Inc. - Paperback book)
Play by Matthew Lombardo. "raunchy riff on Dr Seuss’s yuletide tale" first presented in 2017 at Westside Theatre. Published 3/30/18.


Books RECENTLY MADE AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER:

America in the Round: Capital, Race, and Nation at Washington D.C.'s Arena Stage (Studies Theatre Hist & Culture)
(Univ. of Iowa Press - Paperback Book)
By Donatella Galella. Behind the scenes look at Tony Award winning DC regional theatre company Arena Stage. A "... critical history that reveals how far Washington D.C.'s Arena Stage could go with its budget and racially liberal politics, and how Arena both disputed and duplicated systems of power." Sources include archival materials such as letters and photographs, and interviews with artists and administrators, with close-ups of major productions from The Great White Hope to Oklahoma!. 314 pages.

Chimerica and Other Plays
(Theatre Communications Group - Paperback Book)
Play by Lucy Kirkwood. Includes Chimerica, Tinderbox, it felt empty when the heart went at first but it is alright now, small hours, and NSFW. 400 pages.

Contemporary Plays by African Women
(Methuen - Paperback Book)
Niqabi Ninja by Sara Shaarawi (Egypt), Not That Woman by Tosin Jobi-Tume (Nigeria), I Want To Fly by Thembelihle Moyo (Zimbabwe), Silent Voices by Adong Judith (Uganda), Unsettled by JC Niala (Kenya), Mbuzeni by Koleka Putuma (South Africa), Bonganyi by Sophia Kwachuh Mempuh (Cameroon). For each play, also a biography of the playwright, the writer's own artistic statement, a production history of the play and a critical contextualisation of the theatrical landscape from which each woman is writing. 344 pages.

Disney Theatrical Productions: Producing Broadway Musicals the Disney Way
(Routledge - Paperback Book)
By Amy S. Osatinski. Examines the history and production practices of Disney Theatrical Productions (DTP), the theatrical producing arm of the studio branch of the Walt Disney Corporation. Case studies of three productions (The Lion King, Tarzan, and Newsies). Topics include the history of Disney Theatrical, its impact on the revitalization of Times Square, and its ability to open up a new audience base for Broadway theatre. 220 pages.

If I Forget and Other Plays
(Theatre Communications Group - Paperback Book)
Plays by Steven Levenson (Dear Evan Hansen). Includes If I Forget, The Language of Trees and The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin. 280 pages.

The Inheritance
(Faber & Faber - Paperback Book)
New play by Matthew Lopez (The Whipping Man, The Legend of Georgia McBride). Premiered at the New Vic in London in March 2018 (Transferring to the Noel Coward Theatre in September 2018). 320 pages. Had been announced for 2018.

Mary Poppins Returns: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack
(Hal Leonard - Paperback Book)
(Easy Piano Songbook) Score by Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman. Includes new original songs from the soundtrack: "Can You Imagine That," "A Cover Is Not the Book," "Nowhere to Go But Up," "The Place Where Lost Things Go," "The Royal Doulton Music Hall," "Trip a Little Light Fantastic," "Turning Turtle," and more. Includes an 8-page section of color artwork from the film. 72 pages.

Plays by Women from the Contemporary American Theater Festival
(Methuen Drama - Paperback Book)
Edited by Peggy McKowen and Ed Herendee. Gidion's Knot (Johnna Adams ), The Niceties (Eleanor Burgess ), Memoirs of a Forgotten Man (D.W Gregory), Dead and Breathing (Chisa Hutchinson ), 20th Century Blues (Susan Miller). Introduction by Lynn Nottage. Each of the plays is followed by a playwright interview conducted by Sharon J. Anderson that contextualizes and develops the works within the wider context of the annual festival. 344 pages.

Rage
(Methuen Drama - Paperback Book)
Play by Simon Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Heisenberg). Premiered at the Thalia Theatre, Hamburg in Autumn 2016, had its UK premiere at the Royal Welsh School of Music.

Sondheim on Music: Minor Details and Major Decisions
(Rowman & Littlefield - Paperback Book)
Updated and revised (first time in) paperback version of Mark Eden Horowitz' (senior music specialist in the music division of the Library of Congress) earlier book, published in 2003 and 2nd edition in 2010. Collection of interviews with Stephen Sondheim, in which Sondheim discusses the art of musical composition, lyric writing, the collaborative process of musical theater, and how he thinks about his own work. The entire scope of Sondheim’s career is covered here, in which Sondheim’s greatest works are discussed, and Sondheim even provides thoughts about the film adaptations of his works. The book features an entire chapter on Bounce, the previous incarnation of his latest musical, Road Show. Includes all of the interviews—verbatim—and a revised introduction and a postlude with an additional conversation. 288 pages.