Grammy Award Musical Theater Album — Page 2

You can find the Harry Potter music on YouTube or stream it on Spotify. I'd highly recommend it. What Imogen Heap does is incredible.

I love the incredible cast albums of ''Moulin Rouge!'' and ''Hadestown'' and in my ideal world, they would tie for the Grammy.

But in recent history, the Tony-winning Best Musical has often won this Grammy. Which might give ''Hadestown'' the edge. In the past decade, the Grammys have gone to ''Once,'' ''The Book of Mormon,'' ''Kinky Boots,'' ''Dear Evan Hansen'' and ''The Band's Visit.''

''Moulin Rouge!'' just made the last Grammy deadline with a day to spare, but I wonder if they should've waited for the next Grammy season. It's rare to win the Grammy so early in its run. (''Hamilton'' was an exception; opening on B'way in Aug. 2015 & winning the Grammy in Feb. 2016. It didn't win Best Musical until that June.)

That said, the Best Musical doesn't always win the Grammy. ''A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder'' lost to ''Beautiful.'' ''''Avenue Q'' lost to ''Wicked.'' And ''Rent'' lost to ''Riverdance'' (!).

Updated On: 11/21/19 at 12:48 PM

Historically, this Grammy has always gone to a musical, and practically all the nominees have been musicals, except for the first 2 years of its life (1959-60). This category has gone through about 10 different names: from Best Original Cast Album (Broadway or TV) in 1959, when ''The Music Man'' beat out ''Flower Drum Song,'' ''Music From Peter Gunn,'' ''Sound of Jazz'' and ''Victory at Sea.'' The next year, it was called Best Broadway Show Album, and ''Gypsy'' and ''Redhead'' tied. One of the other nominees, John Gielgud's ''Ages of Man,'' was a rare non-musical entry. Far as I can tell, Imogen Heap's suites from ''Harry Potter'' appear to be the first time music from a play has been nominated in this category.

Updated On: 11/21/19 at 09:07 PM

Truly, Imogen Heap is a genius.



https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eeSTCiouLEI&list=PLWB4F1LjwPF56BmQgPCdMcuEXWSnIf9Ct&index=2&t=0s

I think this is a rather weak year for this category. Two jukebox musicals, one revival and the underscoring music for a play? Hadestown is the only original work in this category and, while I'm not enamored with its score, I expect it will win due to the best musical Tony and the sellout B.O. business. Moulin Rouge is its only real competition, but my personal preference is for Oklahoma! Not a stellar group of nominees, though.

I'll add a contrary view. I own (and like) the Hadestown and Oklahoma! cast recordings quite a bit. I don't agree with all of the complaints about the Hadestown cast recording, and I've seen more than a few. It's not perfect but it's quite good in my opinion and makes me want to see the musical again. The reworked, countrified Oklahoma! score is a terrific example of taking something wonderful and doing a memorable cover.

I haven't seen Harry Potter so can't comment there. I've listened to a bit of Moulin Rouge! - haven't seen it - and, to be honest, the cast recording has discouraged me from doing so. The show may be terrific fun in person but I was underwhelmed by what I heard.

It's never been quite clear to me who is doing the nominating or what they're voting for. The best sound recording? The best audio representation of the show? The album that they enjoy listening to most? Maybe "Hadestown'' has an edge because it represents the only new musical with an original score, but if the Grammys wanted to recognize original scores, they also could've nominated ''Beetlejuice,'' ''Be More Chill,'' ''The Prom,'' ''Tootsie,'' etc. Instead, they chose two compilation shows (''Ain't Too Proud,'' ''Moulin Rouge!'' ) and a Rodgers & Hammerstein (''Oklahoma!'' ) - which represented exciting new versions of older songs.

Updated On: 11/25/19 at 01:32 AM