Alan Menken & Howard Ashman's GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER Cast Recording Out Today

Ghostlight Records has released the premiere cast recording of the musical Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater - based on the recent production by the New York City Center's Encores! Off-Center musical theater series - in digital and physical formats today, Friday, July 28.

Adapted from Vonnegut's 1965 novel, this was the first musical written by the blockbuster team of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, before their theater success with Little Shop of Horrors and their animated Disney hits The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. The production was directed by Michael Mayer and choreographed by Lorin Latarro. Chris Fenwick serves as Music Director.

The CD's 28-page full-color booklet includes complete lyrics, production photography, a synopsis and essays from director Michael Mayer and Thomas Schumacher, President of Disney Theatrical Group. The album is produced by Alan Menken and Michael Kosarin, with Rick Kunis serving as executive producer. For more information on the recording, visit sh-k-boom.com/god-bless-you-mr-rosewater.

The recent Encores! Off-Center production starred Skylar Astin, Derrick Baskin, Jeff Blumenkrantz, Nick Choksi, Eddie Cooper, Kevin Del Aguila, Santino Fontana, ClarkJohnson, James Earl Jones, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Kevin Ligon, Marla Louissaint, Liz McCartney, Bonnie Milligan, Brynn O'Malley, and Kate Wetherhead.

The 1979 musical God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater tells the story of Eliot Rosewater (Santino Fontana), a millionaire who drunkenly decides to blow his fortune on the inhabitants of an impoverished town after being inspired by the utopian vision of novelist Kilgore Trout (James Earl Jones). But there are forces who want to put the kibosh on Eliot's philanthropy-like Norman Mushari (Skylar Astin), a lawyer plotting to have Eliot declared insane. With an irresistible crazy-quilt score that volleys between pop, ragtime, Gilbert & Sullivan, and proto-Disney ballads, the Encores! Off-Center production featured never-before heard orchestrations by Danny Troob.

Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater features book and lyrics by Howard Ashman, music by Alan Menken, and additional lyrics by Dennis Green. It was originally presented by The WPA Theatre, where it was directed by Howard Ashman.

Alan Menken is also represented on Ghostlight Records with the cast recordings of A Bronx Tale, Newsies, Sister Act, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Leap of Faith and The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. The label served as executive producer for Aladdin.

"GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER" TRACK LIST:

ACT I

1. Overture

2. The Rosewater Foundation

3. The Rosewater Foundation (Reprise)

4. Dear Ophelia

5. Thank God for the Volunteer Fire Brigade

6. Mushari's Waltz (Magical Moment)

7. Thirty Miles from the Banks of the Ohio / Look Who's Here

8. Cheese Nips

9. The Rosewater Foundation (Reprise II)

10. Since You Came to This Town

ACT II

11. A Poem by William Blake

12. The Rhode Island Tango

13. Eliot / Sylvia

14. Plain Clean Average Americans

15. A Firestorm Consuming Indianapolis

16. Dear Ophelia (Reprise)

17. I, Eliot Rosewater

Ghostlight Records has become the leading independent force in Original Broadway Cast Recordings - building a library of over 150 records in the last 17 years, featuring some of the most successful Broadway musicals and solo albums by Broadway's brightest stars. Founded by Grammy Award winner Kurt Deutsch, Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight has won three Grammy Awards (for The Book of Mormon, In the Heights and Beautiful - The Carole King Musical) and is a frequent nominee, most recently for the OBCR of the 2016 "Best Musical" Tony Award nominee Bright Star by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. Other notable recent releases include the 2017 "Best Musical Revival" Tony Award nominee Falsettos, the 2016 "Best Musical Revival" Tony Award nominee She Loves Me, the 2015 "Best Musical" Tony Award nominee Something Rotten! andDisney's Newsies. The label has also released solo albums from Patti LuPone, Billy Porter, Sutton Foster, Adam Pascal, Lea DeLaria, Kelli O'Hara, Ben Vereen, Christine Ebersole and more. The label continues to support the new generation of musical theatre composers with their extensive relationships with Michael John LaChiusa and Michael Friedman, as well as Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tom Kitt, Pasek & Paul, Joe Iconis, Ryan Scott Oliver, Shaina Taub, Dave Malloy, Kerrigan & Lowdermilk and Adam Gwon. The label recently created a new joint publishing venture with Razor & Tie to represent songwriters that fuse theatrical and pop music. Sh-K-Boom Entertainment is a producer of the acclaimed film version of The Last Five Years, written and directed by Richard LaGravenese and starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan. Visit www.sh-k-boom.com for more.