Monthly Update - June 05

Well, you've done it again. May was another record breaking month for Maximum Broadway Radio with well over 20,000 total hours of listening. If we all work together, I know we can make it 25,000 for June.

All 4 Tony nominees for Best Musical are now playing on the station - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Spamalot, The Light in the Piazza, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Other new recordings this month include the recent revival of Pacific Overtures and Sondheim Sings which features the composer himself performing his songs. I've also added listener requests Children of Eden, The Rothschilds, and Ballroom along with a new solo album from Tres Hanley.

The Album of the Month for June is the Actors' Fund Benefit Recording of Hair. Read more about it here. This month's edition of Lunch at the Theatre is the second annual Tony Preview Show. It will run Wednesday, June 1 at 1 pm Eastern and Sunday, June 5 at 4 pm Eastern right before the Tony Awards broadcast on CBS.

As always, thanks for listening and making Maximum Broadway Radio Live365's #1 station for show tunes.

Zack

Tony Preview Show delayed

I've delayed the Second Annual Tony Preview Show until next week (Wednesday at 1 pm Eastern). I'm waiting on one more recording so that all Best Musical nominees can be included. The show will go on next week with or without them. Keep your fingers crossed.

This week I'll run last year's Tony wrap up show one more time.

Zack

She won't grow up

I spent this afternoon in the presence of greatness. Her name is Cathy Rigby. I headed downtown to The Hobby Center all ready to not be impressed by the touring edition of Peter Pan that is wrapping up the 04-05 TUTS season. I figured this was another case of a famous name being used to sell a show. I expected that she'd be good, but I had no idea she would give one of the best performances I've ever seen on stage.

Rigby literally owns every inch of the stage. She jumps, bounces, twirls, and, of course, flies everywhere. More importantly, she can act and sing. I honestly forgot I was watching a middle-aged woman pretending to be a boy. Having Howard McGillin leading the strong supporting cast certainly helps too. The tour is winding down, but if it's headed your way, don't miss it. A list of dates is available here.

This season has been the best for TUTS I can remember. The weakest show was Singin' in the Rain, and even it was a good production. The King and I tour along with TUTS own Anything Goes were solid renditions of classics, and HAIR was a jolt to open the season back in September. The highlight, though, was definitely A Chorus Line. I doubt there has been a stronger musical produced in Houston in years. Of course, they were starting with great material, but it was executed flawlessly from top to bottom.

TUTS is facing significant financial hurdles. If you're in Houston, but some tickets and get yourself to The Hobby Center to see a TUTS show.

Zack

Sondheim Sings! Well, sort of

PS Classics Inc. (the non-profit cousin of PS Classics) has released their second album, Sondheim Sings, Volume 1. It features 19 demo recordings performed by Sondheim himself between the years 1962 and 1974.

Let's get one thing straight - Stephen Sondheim is not a good singer. Lucky for him he can write. In fact, he's quoted in the liner notes as saying, "For those of you who have not had the pleasure of hearing my voice before, I tend to sing very loud, usually off-pitch and always write in keys that are just out of my range." Great performance is not the point of these recordings. Instead, they give us a glimpse into the growth and development of some of the great music of the last century, kind of like reading a rough draft from Steinbeck or Hemingway.

PS Classics (the for-profit one) is also shipping their recording of the recent revival of Pacific Overtures.

Tracks from both of these new albums are on the station now.

Zack

Give me Hair, Long Beautiful Hair

"What's in your CD player right now?" you ask. Well, I'll tell you. It's the Actors' Fund Benefit recording of Hair. The album features a Who's Who of current Broadway stars like Gavin Creel, Raul Esparza, Adam Pascal, Lillias White, Sherie Rene Scott, Harvey Fierstein, and Eden Espinosa. Following the September 20 benefit concert performance, there was so much demand for a recording that director Seth Rudetsky and the folks at Sh-K-Boom records got the concert cast into a studio on October 1 to preserve their performances.

The result is stunning. Purists might say something is lost by having different singers perform songs from the same character in the show, but I don't care. The performances on this recording are incredible, and I would hate to miss out on hearing any of them. Despite the large and varied cast, the album still maintains a consistent tone throughout probably owing to Rudetsky and the band.

I saw the Theatre Under the Stars production of Hair back in September, and I was not overly impressed. I could see why the show was important in the development of musical theatre, but I didn't enjoy it as much as many other shows. On stage a lot of the songs and dialogue came across sort of half-baked (pardon the pun). They weren't bad, just slightly lacking. On this recording though, you can really focus on the music and lyrics and the meaning is enhanced.

As an added bonus proceeds from the CD benefit the Actor's Fund, a great cause.

Zack

Do blogs have overtures?

I always get irritated at the theatre when people talk during the overture. To me the show starts when the orchestra plays the first note, but apparently many people think the overture is like the Coming Attractions at the movies - just something to pass the time while everyone settles down.

Well, I guess this post is kind of my overture. I just launched the Maximum Broadway Radio blog about 10 minutes ago, and this post is the first of what I hope will be many interesting and informative notes. So sit back, relax, and stop talking!

Zack