With music by Brad Alexander and book and lyrics by Adam Mathias, See Rock City & Other Destinations won the 2011 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical and was nominated for Outstanding Lyrics, Outstanding Music, Outstanding Direction (Jack Cummings III), Outstanding Lighting (R. Lee Kennedy) and Outstanding Musical. The musical also received the 2007 Jerry Bock Award and 2008 Richard Rodgers Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre Writing.
The Off-Broadway cast included Stanley Bahorek (Queen of the Mist, February House, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Donna Lynne Champlin (Billy Elliot, Sweeney Todd), Jonathan Hammond (Ragtime), Bryce Ryness (Hair, Leap of Faith), Mamie Parris (Ragtime) and Sally Wilfert (Make Me a Song, Assassins).
The album includes all of the songs from the Transport Group production, with music direction, vocal arrangements and orchestrations by Justin Hatchimonji, and an a cappella bonus track performed by Jeremy Jordan. The musicians on the album, under the direction of Hatchimonji (piano), include Chris Biesterfeldt (guitar), Rob Jost (bass) and Garo Yellin (cello).
See Rock City & Other Destinations, according to press notes, "is a contemporary musical about connections missed and made at tourist destinations across America: a wanderer believes his destiny is written on rooftops along the North Carolina Interstate; a young man yearns to connect with intelligent life in Roswell, New Mexico; a woman at the Alamo steps out of the shadow of her grandparents' idealized romance to take a chance on love; three estranged sisters cruise to Glacier Bay to scatter their father's ashes; two high school boys face unexpected fears in the Coney Island Spook House; a terrified bride-to-be ponders taking the leap...over Niagara Falls. With a score that incorporates rock, folk, pop and more, each story builds on the last to create a vivid travelogue of Americans learning to overcome their fears and expectations in order to connect."
For more information on the musical, visit SeeRockCityMusical.com.
