Featuring Olivier Award winners Stiles & Drewe themselves, alongside fellow Olivier recipients Joanna Riding, Clive Rowe and Leanne Jones (currently in to be seen as Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray), pop star Gareth Gates (soon to take over in the lead role of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Adelphi), the album also includes performances by musical theatre stars Julie Atherton, Helena Blackman, Daniel Boys, Richard Dempsey, James Gillan, Alison Jiear, Shona Lindsay, Claire Moore, Lisa O'Hare, Caroline Sheen, Scarlett Strallen, Rebecca Thornhill and Oliver Tompsett.
In the liner notes, Stiles and Drewe comment, "The CD features songs from all of the musicals we have written, as well as a sneak preview of some of the new shows we're writing. There are six tracks from our forthcoming Soho Cinders featuring the wonderful Gareth Gates with the full company, as well as some of our cabaret songs — so there are many world premiere recordings to enjoy."
The shows represented include Tutankhamun (1984), Just So (1985), Honk! (1993), The Shakespeare Revue (1994), Peter Pan (1996), Mary Poppins (2004), A Private Function (2008) and Soho Cinders (2008). Soho Cinders is described as an urban twist on the classic fairytale, in which Cinderella is running for his Prince while his Prince is running for Mayor of London.
A Spoonful of Stiles & Drewe was produced by Neil Eckersley and Paul Spicer for Speckulation Entertainment with creative direction by Paul Spicer, musical supervision by George Stiles and artistic supervision by Anthony Drewe. Recorded live at Her Majesty's Theatre on July 6, 2008, the recording is released by Speckulation Entertainment and produced by George Stiles. All profits from the recording will go to Mercury Musical Developments, a British charity nurturing new musical theatre writing.
The full track listing appears below. Track Listing
1. "Flowers for a King" (Helena Blackman & Ensemble)
2. "There's No Harm in Asking" (Richard Dempsey & Clive Rowe)
3. "Wait a Bit" (Julie Atherton)
4. "Joy of Motherhood" (Joanna Riding, Claire Moore & Rebecca Thornhill)
5. "Never Land" (James Gillan, Helena Blackman & Ensemble)
6. "There's Always Tomorrow" (James Gillan & Ensemble)
7. "Practically Perfect" (Lisa O'Hare, Scarlett Strallen & Caroline Sheen)
8. "Magic Fingers" (Joanna Riding, Claire Moore, Shona Lindsay & Richard Dempsey)
9. "Carrying a Torch" (Joanna Riding)
10. "A Little Bit of Nothing" (George Stiles & Anthony Drewe)
11. "Diva" (Alison Jiear)
12. "Wishing for the Normal" (Leanne Jones & Gareth Gates)
13. "I'm So Over Men" (Joanna Riding & Claire Moore)
14. "Gypsies of the Ether" (Gareth Gates & Oliver Tompsett)
15. "It's Hard to Tell" (Gareth Gates, Leanne Jones & Ensemble)
16. "They Don't Make Glass Slippers" (Gareth Gates)
17. "You Shall Go to the Ball" (Company)
18. "Does the Moment Ever Come?" (George Stiles & Anthony Drewe)
For further details and to purchase the CD, visit www.spoonfulcd.com or www.dresscircle.co.uk.
