The street date for the disc is May 23. The musical has music by Ricky Ian Gordon, book and lyrics by Tina Landau, with additional lyrics by Ricky Ian Gordon.
The cast includes Broadway notables Brian d'Arcy James, Jason Danieley, Kelli O'Hara, Jessica Molaskey, Jeff McCarthy and Victoria Clark, plus Harrison Chad, William Ullrich, Michael McElroy, James Moye and Clarke Thorell. The orchestra is conducted by Ted Sperling; the orchestrations are by Jonathan Tunick.
Winner of the Richard Rodgers Production Award given by The American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1999, Dream True, inspired by the novel "Peter Ibbetson" by George du Maurier, had its origins in the nonprofit realm. It was originally produced by the Vineyard Theatre in June 1998, then in an extended run in spring 1999.
It was subsequently produced in concert on March 8, 2004, at CooperArts, a contemporary music series produced by Howard Stokar. This new CD, recorded at Avatar Studios in April 2004, is drawn from the concert performance. Tommy Krasker produces the disc.
Since the show's initial run, several of its songs — including "Finding Home" and "We Will Always Walk Together" — have been performed on recordings and in concert. Ricky Ian Gordon's credits include My Life With Albertine, with Richard Nelson at Playwrights Horizons; Only Heaven, his setting of Langston Hughes poetry premiered by Encompass Opera; and The Tibetan Book of the Dead, with Jean Claude Van Itallie at Houston Grand Opera.
On March 13, 2001, at Lincoln Center, he was presented as part of the American Songbook Series.
His songs have been performed and recorded by internationally known singers including Renee Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Audra McDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Harolyn Blackwell, and Betty Buckley.
PS Classics Inc. is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2002 by Philip Chaffin and Tommy Krasker, who also run the Grammy-nominated commercial record label PS Classics LLC. Its mission includes "working with composers and their estates to bring their forgotten and neglected repertoire to light."
The not-for-profit company's first CD, the first-ever recording of Kay Swift and Paul James' 1930 musical Fine and Dandy, was released in May 2004; its 2005 releases were "Sondheim Sings (Volume I: 1962-72)" and "Sondheim Sings (Volume II: 1946-60)," drawn from demo tapes held in the composer-lyricist's private archives. In January 2006, it joined forces with the Library of Congress in releasing "Hugh Sings Martin," the continuation of the Library's acclaimed Songwriter Series.
On May 23, in celebration of Jule Styne's centenary, PS Classics Inc. will release "Jule Styne in Hollywood," with a cast that includes Leslie Uggams, Audra McDonald, Marin Mazzie and Brent Barrett, and — from Dream True — Kelli O'Hara, Victoria Clark and Jason Danieley. For more information, visit www.psclassics.org.
