SONY MASTERWORKS partners with Tony®-nominated composer/producer Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll & Hyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Civil War, Dracula and Victor/Victoria) and Soul Bear Records on the marketing, promotion, and distribution of Wildhorn's national and interNational Theatre recordings. Within this partnership, SONY MASTERWORKS and Wildhorn will create a home to find, nurture, develop, and market new talent. Wonderland: Alice's New Musical Adventure, the first recording to be released through this partnership, will be available through all major digital service providers on March 30.
To sample the tracks off of the cast album, click here.
"I am so excited, honored, and grateful to begin what I hope will be a wonderful, longtime musical adventure with SONY MASTERWORKS," says Wildhorn. "I hope we will be able to create and bring out exciting new works from the new shows and the artists that come from them, both in the U.S. and just as important, internationally."
Alex Miller, General Manager of SONY MASTERWORKS comments, "As the home of world's largest and greatest catalog of Broadway cast albums it brings me great pleasure to announce MASTERWORKS' association with Frank Wildhorn. Frank's talents as composer and producer are well known, respected, and admired. We all look forward to the new productions that he'll create, discover and develop, joining the legacy of this venerable label."
Wonderland: Alice's New Musical Adventure with music by Wildhorn and lyrics by Jack Murphy (The Civil War, The Count of Monte Cristo, Carmen), and a book by Murphy and Gregory Boyd (The Civil War) will be the first new release of the partnership. Like Jekyll & Hyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and The Civil War, Wonderland: Alice's New Musical Adventure is a concept recording of the Broadway-bound work in progress. Wonderland: Alice's New Musical Adventure was commissioned and produced by Judy Lisi, president of the David A. Stratz Center for the Performing Arts (formerly the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center), in partnership with the Alley Theatre in Houston, TX, where Wildhorn is an Associate Artist. The production is directed by Gregory Boyd.
Wonderland: Alice's New Musical Adventure is produced by Wildhorn and longtime partner Jeremy Roberts, who also created the arrangements for the recording. The concept album contains 15 tracks featuring original cast members Janet Dacal, Jose Llana, Karen Mason, Darren Ritchie, Nikki Snelson, Tad Wilson, Julie Brooks, Ed Staudenmayer, among others. Janet Dacal, currently starring on Broadway in In The Heights, creates the role of Alice. Songs include "Worst Day of My Life," "Once More I Can See" and "Finding Wonderland," sung by Dacal; "One Knight," sung by Ritchie; and "Off With Their Heads," sung by Mason. The recording also contains a bonus track of the original demo of "Go With the Flow," sung by Rob Evan (Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Jekyll & Hyde, Les Miserables).
Wildhorn became the first American composer in 22 years to have three shows running simultaneously on Broadway in 1999: Jekyll & Hyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and The Civil War. From 1994 to 2003, Wildhorn ran Atlantic Theatre, the division he created at Atlantic Records with Ahmet Ertegan, Doug Morris, and Craig Kallman. He produced Harlem Song, the first open-ended theatrical run at the famed Apollo Theatre, and his music enjoys a special relationship with the sports world and has been recently heard at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and every Olympics since 1998, in addition to Superbowls, World Series, World Cup Soccer and other major sporting events.
For more info on Frank Wildhorn, please visit: www.frankwildhorn.com. For interviews, video clips and future performance dates, please visit www.wonderlandthemusical.org.
