The new musical — featuring a score by Michael John LaChiusa — played Off Broadway at the Public Theater starring Idina Menzel, Marc Kudisch, Mary Testa, Aaron Lohr and Henry Stram under the direction of Ted Sperling. The world premiere recording of See What I Wanna See hit stores March 7 on the Ghostlight Records label.

Broadway juggernaut Wicked remains atop the chart for its tenth week. The Decca Broadway release of the Stephen Schwartz musical has earned Gold certification. Angel Records' The Color Purple remains at No. 2 while Decca Broadway's Mamma Mia!, which is platinum-certified, stays at third.

Rhino's Jersey Boys and the highlight Rent cast albums round out the top five. This season's Sweeney Todd and last season's Monty Python's Spamalot also charted along with long-running shows Rent and The Phantom of the Opera. (The latter two appear twice — for their respective cast albums and "Highlights" CDs.

The Top Cast Albums chart debuted in Billboard on Jan. 12, 2006. Stephen Schwartz' Wicked — which opened on Broadway in October 2003 (album released Dec. 16, 2003) — appeared at the top of the first chart. The chart measures sales of albums from stage musicals, Broadway recordings mostly fill the 15-slot table, but cast albums from other locales are also eligible. The addition of the chart to Billboard's 112 charts generates exposure for the genre which does not often chart on the Billboard 200.

Billboard can be found on the web at www.billboard.com. Full charts are available by subscription at www.billboard.biz.