Though audiences aren’t able to enjoy live on-stage performances during the ongoing coronavirus shutdown, Ghostlight Records offers cast recordings from a selection of popular musicals for digital download. Among the latest releases from the 2019-20 season are three award-nominated Off-Broadway favorites, featuring powerhouse performances of the original music and lyrics by the shows’ renowned stars.
Broadway Bounty Hunter – Following its critically acclaimed sold-out debut at Barrington Stage Company, Broadway Bounty Hunter – the electric musical send-up of 1970s pop culture, with music and lyrics by Joe Iconis – played a limited-engagement New York premiere last summer at Greenwich House Theater. If you missed the Off-Broadway run, or want to hear the songs again and again, the original cast recording is now available online for your listening pleasure. Stage and screen veteran Annie Golden brings her unmistakable voice to the eponymous role of “A Woman of a Certain Age,” supported by a diverse cast that delivers blockbuster vocals on the expressive works by one of the most inventive and prolific writers and composers in contemporary musical theater.
Little Shop of Horrors – The latest Off-Broadway stage revival of the cult-classic sci-fi rock musical by Howard Ashman (book and lyrics) and Alan Menken (music), based on the original B-movie of 1960, opened at the Westside Theatre in October and was in production at the time of the COVID-19 closure of all public performances. It’s still scheduled to return, but in the meantime, before the reopening of New York theaters, you can feast on the retro-camp songs from Little Shop of Horrors – including the iconic hit “Suddenly Seymour” – performed by its award-winning stars Jonathan Groff, Tammy Blanchard, and Christian Borle, and the entire company on the new cast album.
Soft Power – A hot-button collaboration between Tony Award winners David Henry Hwang (book and lyrics) and Jeanine Tesori (music and additional lyrics), Soft Power examines American democracy from the perspective of China in a riotous and relevant new musical-within-a-play that had its New York premiere at The Public Theater last fall. Francis Jue, Conrad Ricamora, and Alyse Alan Louis lead the spirited cast through hard-hitting numbers filled with sharp-witted parodies and heartfelt honesty that will leave you laughing and thinking.
For the full Ghostlight Records catalogue of original cast albums from Off-Broadway, Broadway, and beyond, available in both digital and physical release, go online. You can check out video samples of studio recordings of songs from Broadway Bounty Hunter and Soft Power here:
