The original musical, which was inspired by the memoirs and oral histories of gay and straight WWII service members, features a book and lyrics by David Zellnik and music by Joseph Zellnik. Yank! premiered at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2005 and played an Off-Broadway run at the York Theatre Company in 2010. It received seven Drama Desk nominations, three Outer Critics Circle nominations and two Lucille Lortel nominations – all including Best Musical.
Revised since its 2010 premiere, the cast album of Yank! reunites actors from the original York company, including Tony nominee Bobby Steggert (Big Fish, Ragtime, 110 in the Shade), Ivan Hernandez (Into the Woods), Nancy Anderson (Far From Heaven) and Jeffry Denman (White Christmas, Passion), as well as Tally Sessions, David Perlman, Chris Ruth, Joseph Medeiros, Zak Edwards, Todd Faulkner and Denis Lambert.
Yank! will be available in stores and digitally Feb. 25. Tommy Krasker, co-founder of PS Classics and album producer, told Playbill.com that the label will start shipping from its website Feb. 11, two weeks ahead of street date. This week, PS Classics will also be sending out advance tracks and complimentary discs to the many Kickstarter supporters who helped make the album possible.
"Betty" is performed by Ross Lekites as Tennessee, Ivan Hernandez as Mitch, Tally Sessions as Czechowski and Bobby Steggert as Stu. The orchestration is by Jonathan Tunick, who provided all-new charts for this recording.
Additional soundclips can be heard at the PS Classics website.
The track listing follows:
Act I
1. Opening Speech
2. Rememb'ring You
3. Yank
4. Polishing Shoes
5. The Saddest Gal What Am
6. Betty
7. Click
8. Get It, Got It, Good
9. Rememb’ring You/Letters
10. Blue Twilight
11. You, You
Act II
12. Yank (Reprise)
13. A Couple of Regular Guys
14. Your Squad Is Your Squad
15. Light on Your Feet
16. Just True
17. My Soldier
18. A Couple of Regular Guys (Reprise)
19. Final Speech/Rememb’ring You (Reprise)
According to the creators, "Yank! is a love song to Hollywood's 'it takes one of every kind' platoon flicks and to 1940's Broadway. The show tells the story of Stu, a scared Midwestern kid who becomes a reporter for (the real) Army magazine Yank, faces his fear in battle, and perhaps even scarier for him, finds love with a fellow soldier named Mitch. With a lively score inspired by the theatre and pop sounds of the 1940's, the show captures the spirit and exuberance of the World War II era even as it explores questions of prejudice, courage and survival."
PlaybillStore.com also offers numerous cast albums and theatre recordings.
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Founded in 2000 by Tommy Krasker & Philip Chaffin, and an eight-time Grammy nominee (for its cast albums of Assassins, Nine: The Musical, Grey Gardens, Company, A Little Night Music, Sondheim on Sondheim, Follies and The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess), PS Classics celebrates the heritage of Broadway and American popular song through award-winning cast recordings; solo albums by such artists as Maureen McGovern, Victoria Clark, Steven Pasquale, Liz Callaway and Christine Andreas; and restorations of long-lost musicals, including Sweet Little Devil, Sweet Bye and Bye and Strike Up the Band 1930. Recent releases include Far From Heaven, Philip Chaffin's Dorothy Fields Album "Somethin' Real Special" , Rebecca Luker’s solo disc "I Got Love (Songs of Jerome Kern)," the world premiere recording of Anthony Rapp’s one-man show, Without You, and the revue Noel and Cole. PS Classics will also release the world-premiere recording of the acclaimed Off-Broadway musical Fun Home.
