Wonderful Town Cast Album To Be Recorded

By Kenneth Jones
09 Dec 2003

Donna Murphy
Donna Murphy

Donna Murphy's critically-hailed performance in Wonderful Town will be preserved on a Broadway cast album on the DRG label, record producer Hugh Fordin told Playbill On-Line.

The disc will be recorded Jan. 5, 2004, for release March 9, Fordin said, though the producers have not announced a recording plan and a spokesman for the show said no deal has been signed.

Fordin said the CD will be available earlier at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, where the revival of the Leonard Bernstein-Betty Comden-Adolph Green show is playing.

Murphy plays the tough talking older sister, Ruth, in the show based on the comedy, "My Sister Eileen."

The orchestra, conducted by Rob Fisher, will be sweetened with six additional strings, reflecting the sound heard in the Encores! concert that inspired the full stage revival.

A number of albums of the score exist (including Broadway and TV cast albums, both starring Rosalind Russell), but Fordin said the reasons for doing this new one are clear: The production's energy and Murphy's incandescent performance.