Maltby & Shire's Take Flight Score Will Take Wing on PS Classics Cast Album
By Kenneth Jones
20 Sep 2007
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Scenes from Take Flight at the Menier Chocolate Factory.
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PS Classics will record the original cast album of Take Flight, the new musical by award-winning songwriters Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire and librettist John Weidman.
The musical about human aviators and the universal dream of soaring above it all began previews at London's Menier Chocolate Factory July 13 and opened July 25. The Grammy-nominated label previously recorded the Menier production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park With George.
The album will be recorded in London Sept. 24-25, and is co-produced by PS Classics co-founder Tommy Krasker and London-based producer Chris Walker. Krasker told Playbill.com he anticipates an early 2008 release.
The actors who play real-life flying pioneers include Sally Ann Triplett (Guys and Dolls, Chicago, Anything Goes) as Amelia Earhart; Ian Bartholomew (Into the Woods, Tommy, Dead Funny) as George Putnam; Michael Jibson (Our House) as Charles Lindbergh; and Sam Kenyon (Amadeus, Sweeney Todd) and Elliot Levey (His Dark Materials and On Religion) as The Wright Brothers, among others.
The production reunites director Sam Buntrock, designer David Farley and musical supervisor Caroline Humphris, the creative team behind the Menier's Broadway-bound, multi Olivier-winning revival of Sunday in the Park With George.
Take Flight is the first musical to be staged since producer Bob Boyett and the Menier's David Babani announced their three-year partnership for presenting Menier productions in the U.S.
Maltby (lyrics) and Shire (music) are the songwriters whose urbane Off-Broadway revues, Starting Here, Starting Now and Closer Than Ever, are beloved by fans of the form. Cabaret singers have plucked songs from the shows to present in nightspots around the world. Maltby (lyricist of Miss Saigon) and Shire also collaborated on the musicals Baby and Big.
Take Flight has been in development in U.S. readings for several years, and those privy to the score in its formative state remarked at its beauty, grandeur and sophistication. It took London producers to give the show its first full staging.
A long-time Sondheim collaborator, Weidman wrote the books for Assassins, Pacific Overtures and Bounce. He also co-created the Tony-winning musical Contact; wrote the book for Big, which featured Maltby and Shire's score; and co-authored the Tony Award-winning 1987 revival of Cole Porter's Anything Goes.
Founded in 2000 by Tommy Krasker and Philip Chaffin, and twice Grammy-nominated (for its cast recordings of Assassins and Nine: The Musical), PS Classics's recent releases include the Broadway productions of Grey Gardens and 110 in the Shade. Upcoming discs include solo albums by Victoria Clark, Lauren Kennedy and Andréa Burns, all due in stores Nov. 6.
For more information visit www.psclassics.com.
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