The rat-tat-tat of Meredith's Willson's beloved score for The Music Man will get a new cast recording when Q Records commits the Broadway revival company's work to disc May 1.
Q Records, which previously released an original Broadway cast album of Footloose, will record the new Broadway Music Man, with Craig Bierko as Prof. Harold Hill and Rebecca Luker as Marian Paroo, four days after the April 27 opening for a quick-turnaround release of June 6. Hugh Fordin, known for his DRG cast albums, serves as free-lance producer on this project (he memorably free-lanced on St. Louis Woman for Mercury).
The cast likely to be high-energy in the studio: They are flying on the fumes of solid reviews that assure the show a healthy run.
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The new Susan Stroman-directed (and -choreographed) revival opened April 27 at the Neil Simon Theatre, 250 W. 52nd Street, in Manhattan. The cast also features Max Casella as Marcellus Washburn, Paul Benedict as Mayor Shinn and Ruth Williamson as his wife, Eulalie MacKechnie Shinn.
The creative team includes Thomas Lynch (sets), William Ivey Long (costumes), Peter Kaczorowski (lighting), Jonathan Deans (sound) and David Chase (musical direction), Doug Besterman (orchestrations) and David Krane (dance and incidental music arrangements).
The 1957 musical includes songs that have sunk into the American consciousness: "Trouble," "Seventy-Six Trombones," "Gary, Indiana," "Goodnight My Someone," "Till There Was You," "The Wells Fargo Wagon" and more. No appendix material is expected to be recorded, Fordin said.
For Music Man mavens who can't wait for June 6, the original cast recording, the film soundtrack and a studio recording on the Telarc label (representing film and stage songs, with dance music) are in stores now.
For ticket information, call (212) 307-4100 or (800) 755-4000.
