"Musical Show Album" is the category of interest to hardcore theatregoers who follow The Grammy Awards, which honor the best of the recording industry.
At the 2002 Grammys Feb. 27, cast albums of The Producers, The Full Monty, Mamma Mia!, Seussical the Musical and Sweeney Todd: Live at the Philharmonic are all up for the Gramophone-shaped statue.
The 44th Annual Grammy Awards will originate from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and the show will be broadcast live on CBS 8 PM (ET) Feb. 27. The Recording Academy announced the nominees Jan. 4. The Musical Show Album winner is announced in a ceremony prior to the main event.
Seussical was a Broadway flop but fans treasure its album, with songs by Ragtime writers Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. A revised version of the show goes on tour in the fall starring Cathy Rigby.
Observers suggest the high-profile Producers, winner of 12 Tony Awards, will scoop up the Grammy as well, but members of the academy, saturated with ABBA music over the years, might just choose Mamma Mia! (which has an all-ABBA score) as a sentimental favorite (this is the London cast recording). The awards are presented to the album's producer(s) and to the composers and lyricist of 51 percent of a new score. Billy Straus, David Yazbek & Ted Sperling produced the Broadway cast album of The Full Monty on the RCA Victor label (music and lyrics by David Yazbek); Nicholas Gilpin & Martin Koch produced the London cast album of Mamma Mia! on the Decca Broadway label (music and lyrics by Benny Andersson & Bjorn Ulvaeus); Hugh Fordin produced the Broadway cast album of The Producers on the Sony Classical label (music and lyrics by Mel Brooks); Phil Ramone produced the Broadway cast album of Seussical the Musical on the Decca Broadway label (music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens); and Tommy Krasker & Lawrence L. Rock produced the concert cast album of Sweeney Todd: Live at the New York Philharmonic on the New York Philharmonic Special Editions label (music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim).
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Other theatre-related Grammy noms this year include Betty Buckley for "Stars And the Moon: Live at the Donmar" and Michael Feinstein for "Romance on Film, Romance on Broadway" (both in the category of Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album), Margaret Cho for "I'm the One I Want," her standup act seen Off-Broadway and on tour (in the category of Best Spoken Comedy Album), Vanessa Redgrave & Stephen Fry for "Oscar Wilde: The Selfish Giant & The Nightingale and the Rose" (in the category of Best Spoken Word Album for Children).
