Imagine Stephen Sondheim’s music and lyrics pumping through the magical haze of a discotheque. Adapted and expanded from a 2018 concert, this studio recording conceived and created by Joshua Hinck and Scott Wasserman places Sondheim's work into the popular music of the 1970's and 80's, fusing the master of musical theatre with various styles of disco.
Celebrate Stephen Sondheim’s 90th birthday with this unique and imaginative reinterpretation. Inspired by musical theatre/disco crossovers such as The Ethel Merman Disco Album and Gordon Grody’s “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd,” the 12-track album combines over forty of the master’s songs and features the talents of Alison Luff (Waitress, Wicked), Blaine Krauss (Pose, Great Comet), Aneesa Folds (Freestyle Love Supreme), Charity Angél Dawson (Waitress), Vishal Vaidya (Groundhog Day), Brittnie Price (Postmodern Jukebox), Juwan Crawley (Aladdin), Deonté L. Warren (Aladdin), Joshua Hinck (Hail Oblivion), Aili Venho (50 Shades! The Musical), and Onyie Nwachukwu (Rent Natl Tour), as well as a special cameo from Chip Zien. The singers are backed by a thirteen-piece orchestra, and the album features liner notes by David Levy.
Digital Release Date: March 20, 2020 Physical Release Date: April 17, 2020
The disco 'Ballad of Sweeney Todd' was such camp in 1979, when the OCR of the Broadway show hit the Billboard top 100 albums, a first for a cast recording in a decade. Disco was already dying by then, but that recording was too campy to have succeeded.
"I never had theatre producers run after me. Some people want to make more Broadway shows out of movies. But Elliot and I aren't going to do Batman: The Musical." - Julie Taymor 1999