Witness Uganda (a.k.a Invisible Thread) Cast Album

[JBroadway]

Posted: 12/19/15 at 12:06pm

Has anyone heard anything about a cast album being made for Invisible Thread? Would really love to hear that score again. I suppose if they're hoping to transfer they'll want to wait, like Hamilton did, but I don't know if that's still in the cards for them. 

Updated On: 2/11/22 at 12:06 PM

[haterobics]

Posted: 12/19/15 at 2:04pm

JBroadway said: "I suppose if they're hoping to transfer they'll want to wait, like Hamilton did, but I don't know if that's still in the cards for them. "

 

Depends. Lin waited because he still wanted time to tweak the show a bit. If their show is done, no reason to hold necessarily... it doesn't seem likely, but that doesn't mean they won't. It was a fun show, although I only saw the first preview, so not sure how it has changed since then.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 6/3/16 at 11:08am

BUMPing my own thread to see if anyone has heard anything through the grapevine about this possibly happening? At this point it strikes me as unlikely, but a late announcement would not be unprecedented. This show had problems but I'll be damned if it wasn't one of my favorite scores this season. Really hoping they record the score. 

[Mr. Musical]

Posted: 6/3/16 at 11:09am

I've heard that there are no current plans to record

[Kad]

Posted: 6/3/16 at 11:09am

I have heard absolutely nothing about a recording, or even the show as a whole. I wonder if they're going back to the drawing board on it.

[MadonnaMusical]

Posted: 6/3/16 at 12:23pm

I heard from a friend in the cast that a cast album was in talks, but everything was on hold because supposedly there were still investors interested in transferring. If it doesn't transfer it sounds like a cast album will definitely happen. The buzz on this has completely died so I personally don't think a transfer will happen without a HUGE star attached. I also think they killed a lot of the buzz and goodwill that was attached to the show when they changed the name from Witness Uganda (the show people had been following for a couple of years) to Invisible Thread. Supposedly Witness Uganda was not marketable... but honestly neither is Invisible Thread.

[steven22]

Posted: 9/8/17 at 10:04pm

Emma Hunton posted on her instagram a picture of what looks like a script for a reading and it's dated Sept. 2017. It also looks like the production is back to the title Witness Uganda. I didn't know this was being worked on again. I loved the show at Second Stage. Any news about this new reading?

[JBroadway]

Posted: 9/9/17 at 2:39am

Oh man, I hope so! A little confused though...I don't recall there being any roles for white women in Invisible Thread. Theoretically they could have written one since Second Stage (not sure why they would need to), but she says she's going "back" to the piece, implying that she's already worked on it. Maybe it's not the same project as Invisible Thread?

I hope they're working on it though! I think the piece had a ton of potential but suffered from serious book issues - particularly in the 2nd act. What a dynamite score though! I mean I've already made it pretty clear (as the OP of this thread), that a cast recording is what I really have my hopes set on.

[JVJ93]

Posted: 9/9/17 at 4:20am

Emma Hunton was a part of the Witness Uganda run at ART. Her character was written out when the show was going through re-writes in preparation for the Second Stage run, and they changed her whole character into the boyfriend of the lead character. But now it appears to be going back to the way it was originally. 

[SomeOtherMe]

Posted: 2/19/18 at 4:30pm

I'm still hoping for this. The show wasn't perfect, but it was one of my favorite new scores of recent years.

[SomeOtherMe]

Posted: 2/19/18 at 5:22pm

By the way, for anyone who is interested, the title song of the show was released as a single on iTunes. It's actually a very beautiful version. Not much, but better than nothing.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 11/12/21 at 10:41am

After 6+ years, my wish has finally come true! This show had its problems, but I LOVED the score, and I'm so excited to listen to this album! February can't come soon enough! 

I've considered this one of the greatest "lost" scores from my years as a theatre-goer - as in, scores I was most disappointed never received a cast album. It's almost surreal to think that it's finally happening! 

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Cynthia-Erivo-Nicolette-Robinson-More-Will-Lend-Voices-to-WITNESS-UGANDA-Cast-Recording-20211112

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 11/12/21 at 6:54pm

Interesting that it's something of a concept album with big names rather than a way of preserving the cast of a specific production. I honestly don't remember the score that well but I did enjoy the show. Glad they found the backing to put together an album like this.

[charles91]

Posted: 2/11/22 at 12:22am

The full album was just released. Wow... am I happy this incredible score has been preserved. 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 2/11/22 at 6:10pm

What a fun full-circle moment, to be posting about this album, a full 6 years after creating this thread. 

It made me so happy to listen to this beautiful score again, and I'm grateful to finally have it preserved.

There were a lot of additional songs, most of which I thought were good-not-great, but it seemed like the storytelling impulses behind them made sense. Really interesting that Matt Gould was written INTO the show, then back OUT of the show. But whatever! It makes sense, but it's hard to tell whether the character of Ryan makes for a good replacement, without seeing it onstage. 

I respect that they put a lot of contextual story details on the album, but it also reminded how weak some components of this book are lol. 

Maybe it's just my bias, but my favorite tracks on the album remain the ones that I remember most from the Second Stage Production: "Beautiful," "Put it All on the Line," "New World," "Be The Light," "I'd Cross the Blue," the finale "Njakuwangula," and the previous title-number "Invisible Thread" (though the song has an entirely new -- and much better -- context) 

I do think the polished studio feel has made certain songs/moments lose their raw emotional potency. For example, in the solo toward the end of "Beautiful" ("Is there a way we can see, oh lord?" etc.) I have a distinct memory of the actor delivering it with such passion that his voice seemed to crack. On the album it's more polished and muted. But that's the beauty of live theatre, I guess! I'll always have that memory! 

[LaneBryant]

Posted: 2/13/22 at 3:33pm

VintageSnarker said: "Interesting that it's something of a concept album with big names rather than a way of preserving the cast of a specific production. 

This actually is the majority of the LA 2019 cast. Cynthia is the only addition. That's the cast where all the new material came from. 

 

[conealpetterson]

Posted: 2/13/22 at 5:35pm

I saw the production twice in LA and I thought this had the same songs as that production.  It seems to have some actors from the Second Stage production and some from the LA productions + Cynthia Erivo.  Kristolyn Lloyd and Nicolette Robinson were from Off-Broadway.  Ledisi, Emma Hunton, Kameron Richardson and Jai-Len Josey were in the LA production. I am so happy to finally have this recording.

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 11/4/23 at 2:17pm

This score is fabulous.  Does this have Broadway ambitions?