Block's album, "This Place I Know," is currently available at iTunes. Gets' disc, "The Journey Home," and the tracks for The Story of My Life, which co-stars Gets, will hit iTunes May 19. All three albums hit stores on June 2, but — for those who want product in their hands sooner — the PS Classics website will begin shipping orders this week.
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The entire cast — two actors — of The Story of My Life, the short-lived Broadway musical about the contours of a lifelong friendship, went into a recording studio March 13 to preserve the score by composer-lyricist Neil Bartram.
The Broadway cast album from PS Classics will feature Will Chase and Malcolm Gets. Tommy Krasker, co-founder of PS Classics, is producer of the recording.
The Story of My Life closed at Broadway's Booth Theatre Feb. 22 after 18 previews and five regular performances. The CD serves as a document of the score, but also as a calling card to encourage future productions. (MTI is expected to handle future licensing.) The Broadway production was produced by Chase Mishkin, Jack M. Dalgleish, Bud Martin, Carole L. Haber in association with Chunsoo Shin.
Brian Hill penned the original libretto (much of which is underscored), which shows small-town pals Tom and Alvin between the ages of six and 35. In the intermissionless 90-minute show, Chase's Thomas leaves town and finds fame as a fiction writer, while Gets' Alvin stays behind and cheer-leads from long-distance.
Following the closing, the writers got a spring gift: the musical was nominated for four Drama Desk Awards (Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Music (Bartram), Outstanding Lyrics (Bartram) and Outstanding Book (Hill).
The theatrical memory-play of a musical has orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick (A Catered Affair, 110 in the Shade, LoveMusik, Road Show). Musical director is David Holcenberg, whose Broadway credits include Good Vibrations, Mamma Mia! and Seussical.
In The Story of My Life, Tom processes the chapters of his life (literally thumbing through short stories that he wrote) and discovers a main character between the lines — Alvin.
Gets' Broadway credits include The Moliere Comedies, Amour (Tony nomination as Best Actor in a Musical) and concerts of Passion and Dreamgirls. Gets may be best known to audiences as Richard on the television comedy "Caroline in the City."
Chase's Broadway credits include High Fidelity, Aida, The Full Monty, Rent and Miss Saigon. He was Roger in the final Broadway company of Rent, which was recently captured on film for a "cinecast" presentation (now on DVD).
For more information about the collaborators, visit bartramandhill.com.
For more information visit www.thestoryofmylife.com. The track listing of The Story of My Life is:
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2. Mrs. Remington - Will Chase & Malcolm Gets
3. The Greatest Gift - Will Chase & Malcolm Gets
4. 1876 - Will Chase
5. Normal - Will Chase & Malcolm Gets
6. People Carry On - Malcolm Gets
7. The Butterfly - Will Chase & Malcolm Gets
8. Saying Goodbye (Part 1) - Will Chase & Malcolm Gets
9. Here’s Where It Begins - Will Chase & Malcolm Gets
10. Saying Goodbye (Part 2) - Will Chase & Malcolm Gets
11. Independence Day - Will Chase & Malcolm Gets
12. I Like It Here - Will Chase
13. You're Amazing, Tom - Will Chase & Malcolm Gets
14. Nothing There - Will Chase & Malcolm Gets
15. I Didn't See Alvin - Will Chase & Malcolm Gets
16. This Is It - Will Chase & Malcolm Gets
17. Angels in the Snow - Will Chase & Malcolm Gets
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Grammy Award-winning songwriter Dolly Parton duets with 9 to 5: The Musical's Stephanie J. Block on the Parton classic "I Will Always Love You," one of 13 tracks on Block's debut solo recording, "This Place I Know,". The single CD (and the entire disc) will be available for purchase on the PS Classics website May 12 and will arrive in stores June 2. Block's recording was produced by its music director, Dominick Amendum.
In addition to Parton, the disc also boasts an array of award-winning musical theatre songwriters: Composer Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime) accompanies Block for the recording premiere of "Something Beautiful"; Stephen Schwartz assumes the piano on "Making Good," a song cut from Wicked; and Marvin Hamlisch not only accompanies but arranges his own "Smart Women," which was cut from the play with music Imaginary Friends.
Also expect songs by Deborah Abramson, Scott Alan, Zina Goldrich, Marcy Heisler, Andrew Lippa, Paul Loesel, Steve Marzullo and Claude-Michel Schonberg.
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1. Something Beautiful (with Stephen Flaherty)
2. One Day (with Andrew Lippa)
3. I Will Always Love You (duet with Dolly Parton)
4. Gotta Start Small (with Deborah Abramson)
5. 15 Pounds (Away From My Love) (with Zina Goldrich & Marcy Heisler)
6. Never Neverland (Fly Away) (with Scott Alan)
7. The Hardest Part of Love (with Steve Marzullo)
8. Invention (with Paul Loesel)
9. Making Good (with Stephen Schwartz)
10. Because I Am a Wife (with Claude-Michel Schonberg)
11. Smart Women (with Marvin Hamlisch)
12. The Human Heart (with Stephen Flaherty)
13. Life Starts Clapping (with Paul Loesel)
In addition to 9 to 5, Stephanie J. Block was seen on Broadway in the musical The Pirate Queen. The singing actress also created the role of Liza Minnelli in the Peter Allen biomusical The Boy From Oz, and she portrayed Elphaba in the national tour of Wicked, earning a Helen Hayes Award for her performance. She later repeated that role on Broadway. Block's regional credits include Funny Girl, Crazy for You (L.A. Ovation Award nomination), Oliver (Critics Award, Best Actress) and James Joyce's The Dead.
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Malcolm Gets' debut solo disc "The Journey Home," is arranged, orchestrated and produced by John McDaniel.
According to the label, "Malcolm Gets has often said that his career happened because of the record cabinet in his parents' living room — specifically, the cast albums of the 1950s and '60s that they stored there. Gets was studying to be a classical pianist, but instead of practicing, he would end up playing selections by Rodgers & Hammerstein. Now Gets retraces his musical roots in his debut album. Rediscovering his musical touchstones, he digs deep into beloved classics, takes on anthems both raucous and romantic, and mines the passion and pathos in newer ballads like William Finn's 'Anytime' and the title track."
Gets' Amour co-star Melissa Errico joins him on "Blue Skies"/"It's a Lovely Day Today."
The track list follows:
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Burton Lane & E.Y. Harburg
. Shall We Dance?
Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II
. It's a Fine Life
Lionel Bart
4. Anytime
William Finn
5. Wait
Stephen Sondheim
6. Huggin' and Chalkin'
Clarence Leonard Hayes & Kermit Goell
7. Everything I've Got
Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart
8. Getting Tall
Maury Yeston
9. Truly Scrumptious
Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman
10. Blue Skies/It's a Lovely Day Today
Irving Berlin
11. You Are Beautiful
Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II
12. The Journey Home
A.R. Rahman & Don Black
13. Long Before I Knew You
Jule Styne, Betty Comden & Adolph Green
Gets has appeared in New York in Amour (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), The Moliere Comedies, A New Brain, Merrily We Roll Along (Drama Desk nomination and Obie Award), The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Obie Award), Hello Again, Boys and Girls, Polish Joke, Finian's Rainbow, Juno and for Encores!, both The Boys From Syracuse and The Apple Tree. His films include "Thirteen Conversations About One Thing," "Love in the Time of Money," "Adam and Steve," "Sex and the City" and the new HBO film of "Grey Gardens," in which he stars opposite Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore.
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Founded in 2000 by Tommy Krasker & Philip Chaffin, and a four-time Grammy nominee (for its cast albums of Assassins, Nine: The Musical, Grey Gardens and Company), PS Classics celebrates the heritage of Broadway and American popular song through its through its critically acclaimed cast recordings; solo albums by such artists as Maureen McGovern, Victoria Clark, Jessica Molaskey, Rebecca Luker and Christine Andreas; and recording drawn from rare sound archives, including "Sondheim Sings." Recent releases include Steven Pasquale’s solo disc, "Somethin' Like Love" and songs from the GrooveLily musical Sleeping Beauty Wakes.
For more information, visit www.psclassics.com.
