Adding Machine Hits 100 Performances in NYC; Cast Album in Stores June 3

By Kenneth Jones
June 3, 2008

The world-premiere recording of Adding Machine, the new award-winning musical that has wowed critics and audiences in Chicago and (currently) Off-Broadway, is in stores June 3.

The PS Classics release boasts the New York City cast, which features some members of the earlier Chicago world premiere. The street date of the disc coincides with the 100th Off-Broadway performance of the dark, fantastical musical by Joshua Schmidt (composer and co-librettist) and Jason Loewith (co-librettist). Performances play to Aug. 31 at the Minetta Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village.

Everyone in the audience June 3 will receive a free cast album. A CD signing opportunity will take place following the June 3 performance at the Minetta Lane. Fans without tickets are welcome to attend the post-show signing.

David Cromer, lauded for creating arresting stage pictures for the show, directs the musical inspired by the 1923 expressionist play The Adding Machine by Elmer Rice.

PS Classics, the label dedicated to the heritage of Broadway and American popular song, began web sales for the disc of Adding Machine May 9 (the same date of web sales for its other spring releases: the original cast recording of Broadway's A Catered Affair and solo discs by Broadway's Kerry Butler and Capathia Jenkins).

The Adding Machine cast album's booklet includes the complete lyrics, production photos, plot synopsis and an essay. Tommy Krasker produced the album; Philip Chaffin is executive producer.

Adding Machine won the 2008 Lucille Lortel Award as Outstanding Musical.

In the show Mr. Zero's life changes (explosively) when, after 25 years of service to his company, he's replaced by a mechanical adding machine.

The track listing for the CD of Adding Machine includes:

1. Prelude
2. Something to Be Proud Of
3. Harmony, Not Discord
4. Office Reverie
5. Movin' Up/In Numbers
6. In Numbers (reprise)
7. I’d Rather Watch You
8. The Party
9. Zero's Confession
10. Ham and Eggs
11. Didn't We?
12. I Was a Fool
13. The Gospel According to Shrdlu
14. Death March
15. A Pleasant Place 16. Shrdlu's Blues
17. Daisy's Confession
18. I’d Rather Watch You (reprise)
19. Freedom
20. Freedom! (reprise)
21. The Music of the Machine

Adding Machine is produced Off-Broadway by Scott Morfee, Tom Wirtshafter and Margaret Cotter. It features scenic design by Takeshi Kata, lighting design by Keith Parham, costume design by Kristine Knanishu, sound design by Tony Smolenski, projection design by Peter Flaherty, properties design by Michele Spadaro and musical direction by J. Oconer Navarro. The hard-working, non-stop musicians are Andy Boroson (piano/assistant musical director), Brad "Gorilla" Carbone (percussion) and Timothy Splain (synthesizer).

For more information about PS Classics, visit www.psclassics.com.

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Direct from a world premiere by Chicago's Next Theatre Company last season (winning the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Musical), Adding Machine features Cyrilla Baer as Mrs. Zero, Joel Hatch as Mr. Zero and Amy Warren as Daisy (all reprising their acclaimed performances from the original production). The cast includes Joe Farrell as Shrdlu, Jeff Still as the Boss, Adinah Alexander as Mrs. Two, Niffer Clarke as Mrs. One, Roger E. DeWitt as Mr. Two and Daniel Marcus as Mr. One.

Here's how the producers characterize it: "Darkly comic and heartbreakingly beautiful, Adding Machine…tells the story of Mr. Zero, who after 25 years of service to his company is replaced by a mechanical adding machine. In a vengeful rage, he murders his boss. An eclectic score gives passionate and memorable voice to this stylish and stylized production, which follows Zero's journey to the afterlife in the Elysian Fields where he is met with one last chance for romance and redemption."

For more information, visit www.addingmachineamusical.com.