Both Curtains and Shade hit stores June 5. Curtains (by Peter Stone, Rupert Holmes, John Kander and Fred Ebb) — released on the Broadway Angel/Manhattan label — placed at No. 3 with the revival of 110 in the Shade (by Harvey Schmidt, Tom Jones and N. Richard Nash) — on PS Classics — jumped into the countdown at No. 6.
Holding steady in the top two slots on the chart are Decca Broadway's Wicked and Rhino's Jersey Boys. The 2007 Tony Award-winning musical Spring Awakening and Mamma Mia! (both Decca Broadway) round out the top five.
Of last season's offerings not already mentioned, only Walt Disney's Mary Poppins and PS Classic's Grey Gardens place on the countdown amid other currently-running Broadway shows.
Along with Wicked and Mamma Mia!, the cast recordings of Monty Python's Spamalot and Avenue Q have remained on Billboard's Top Cast Album Chart for the full 76 weeks since the chart's inception.
Disney enjoys three other spots on the list with the original Broadway cast albums of The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast and Tarzan. (Disney and Decca Broadway chart the most, with four albums each.) The release of Stephen Schwartz's Wicked has topped the chart for 70 of the 76 weeks the chart has been published. The recording has dominated the top spot, only being toppled by the Columbia Records two-disc "Harry On Broadway" release (with Broadway's The Pajama Game revival and selections of Connick, Jr.'s Thou Shalt Not) and The Color Purple for one week each. Jersey Boys also had a four-week run at No. 1 following its big Tony win and reclaimed the top spot the week of Feb. 8.
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Billboard added the Top Cast Albums chart to its listings Jan. 12, 2006. The chart measures sales of albums from stage musicals. Broadway recordings mostly fill the 15-slot table, but cast albums from other locales are also eligible. The addition of the chart to Billboard's 112 charts generates exposure for the genre which does not often chart on the Billboard 200. The Schwartz musical — which opened on Broadway in October 2003 (album released Dec. 16, 2003) — appeared at the top of the first chart.
Billboard can be found on the web at www.billboard.com. Full charts are available by subscription at www.billboard.biz.
