Ghostlight Records is proud to announce that it will record the Cast Album of the critically acclaimed new musical Next to Normal. Recording dates are set for February 11th and 12th in New York City, with a release date this spring to be announced soon. Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight Records President Kurt Deutsch and Grammy Award-winner Joel Moss will produce the album.
Next to Normal has been described as a contemporary musical that explores how one suburban household copes with crisis. With provocative lyrics and an electrifying score of more than 30 original songs, Next to Normal shows how far two parents will go to keep themselves sane and their family's world intact.
In his Washington Post review, Peter Marks said that "Next to Normal is a moving, blisteringly honest, and inordinately powerful new musical, sung with a wallop by a six-member cast that includes the astonishing Alice Ripley, and dexterously directed by Michael Grief. Writers Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey have stocked the musical with beautiful songs that get to the heart of the story - and simply get to the heart."
Next to Normal features music by Tom Kitt and book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey. Next to Normal was most recently seen at the Arena Stage in Washington D.C., following its production at 2nd Stage Theatre in New York City. The productions were directed by Michael Grief.
The Next to Normal recording will feature the Arena Stage cast: Alice Ripley, J. Robert Spencer, Aaron Tveit, Jennifer Damiano, Adam Chanler-Berat and Louis Hobson.
GHOSTLIGHT RECORDS:
Ghostlight has emerged as the standard bearer on the Broadway music scene. Their team is relentless in their efforts to promote the music of the most innovative new voices on Broadway, and to preserve the music of past productions. Ghostlight's recent releases of the OCRs for Tony winners In The Heights and Passing Strange, as well as their single release featuring the winner of MTV's Legally Blonde The Musical competition, have brought the label acclaim for their innovative marketing techniques and their efforts to reach the next generation of Broadway music fans via iTunes, music videos and more. Coverage has ranged from Rolling Stone to USA TODAY to The New York Times, from Blender Magazine to Playbill to Billboard, from AP Radio to NY-1 TV, and much more. Other current releases include the OCR for '13 - The New Broadway Musical,' and a double CD collector's edition of 'Reefer Madness.'
Ghostlight Records capped a dominant year with recent news of a Grammy nomination for their double-CD release of 'In The Heights' (already a Tony Award Winner for Best Musical and Best Score).
The label has seen its release of 'Patti LuPone at Les Mouches' garner significant coverage in recent weeks. USA TODAY ran a 'Listen Up - Playlist Music Pick'; Entertainment Weekly ran a review in their recent double-issue; New York Magazine included the CD in their 'Approval Matrix'; The NY Times conducted a TIMESTALKS Event; The NY Post ran a 'My New York' feature; Tina Brown's The Daily Beast ran a 'Buzz Board' Pick of the Day; Time Out NY's Adam Feldman weighed in, and the magazine included the CD in their Holiday Gift Guide; Newsday ran a review...and there's much more, ranging from The Advocate to Paper Mag, from Playbill to Associated Press, from NY Blade to Gay City News, from NY-1 TV to TheaterMania, and so on. The CD reached #25 on the BILLBOARD HEATSEEKERS CHART, marking the first time in Ms. LuPone's storied career that she's charted on Billboard under her own name, and it making it Ghostlight's highest Heatseeker chart debut-to-date.
