Christopher McGovern is musical director and producer of the solo disc by the chocolate-voiced Egan, who can be sultry or belty, depending on her mood. Egan's Broadway credits also include Beauty and the Beast (she was Tony Award-nominated as Belle) and Triumph of Love.
She'll perform songs from the disc Nov. 7 at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater.
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"It was a wonderfully rich reunion for me, since I first met Susan over a decade ago, when she was first cast as Belle," McGovern told Playbill On-Line. "[At the time], we were doing a workshop of Jeff Lunden and Art Perelman's beautiful version of The Little Prince for Theatreworks/USA. We've kept in touch over the years, and I have marveled at her ability not only to be fearless in her choices of roles, but also in how she manages her career. I doubt there's anything she can't do."
McGovern has produced and arranged CDs for Gilles Chiasson, Alison Fraser and Rebecca Luker. "What I especially love is exploring different sides of a singer — collaborating with them to turn standards (in whatever genre) on their heads, and exploring different interpretations," McGovern said. "'Coffee House' is really a fun blend of theatre music and pop music. Genre lines don't interest me at all...I believe good music well-sung is good music period. When we were selecting songs it was about making them live comfortably together on the same 'set list' as well as me challenging myself as the arranger/orchestrator and musical director to place them in the same musical world."
The disc includes a duet with Terrence Mann, Egan's Beast in the original staging of the Disney smash; a cut Alan Menken-David Zippel song from the animated film, "Hercules," for which Egan supplied the voice of Megara; the specialty cabaret piece, "Taylor the Latte Boy," by Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich, as well as one of their newer previously unrecorded songs, "Oh How I Loved You"; a Jerry Herman number, "Where in the World Is My Prince?," from the Vegas-aimed musical, Miss Spectacular; plus a Kate Bush number.
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