Dirty Rotten Scoundrels to Record Cast Album March 14

Written by Maya Cantu

A cast album of David Yazbek's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels score will be recorded on March 14th, when the cast heads into an unspecified Manhatten recording studio.

The release date and the label that will produce the CD are also as of yet unknown, but Ghostlight seems a good possibility for the latter. Ghostlight is a subdivision of Sh-K-Boom records and deals in more traditional-sounding Broadway music. Sh-K-Boom was founded in 2000 by producer Kurt Deutsch (who is married to Scoundrels leading lady Sherie Rene Scott) with the mission of "bridging the gap between pop music and theatre." Marty Bell, the producer of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, has been in talks with Deutsch, among others.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels opened on March 3rd at the Imperial Theatre. Based on the 1988 film of the same name, the show concerns the exploits of two con men on the French Riviera, both of whom make their living by ensnaring the hearts of unhappy rich women. The show is directed by Jack O'Brien (who collaborated with David Yazbek on 2000's The Full Monty), is choreographed by Jerry Mitchell and features a book by Jeffrey Lane. Yazbek's songs, for which he wrote both music and lyrics, are musically eclectic, and range in tone from Coward and Porter to Bacharach and Mancini.

The show stars Norbert Leo Butz, John Lithgow (as the two lovable crooks of the title), Sherie Rene Scott, Joanna Gleason, Gregory Jbara and Sara Gettelfinger.

More info about the show can be found at http://www.dirtyrottenscoundrelsthemusical.com

Ghostlight Records will release cast albums of Little Women and the Actor's Fund Benefit concert recording of Hair in 2005. Sh-k-Boom will come out with the studio recording of Paul Scott Goodman's 80's rock opera Bright Lights, Big City this year as well. Other current and upcoming Sh-K-Boom releases include Billy Porter's "At the Corner of Broadway and Soul," the cast album of Altar Boyz, and the new "Broadway and Soul" album which features songs by musical theatre writers such as Jason Robert Brown and Jeanine Tesori. "Broadway and Soul" is not yet available for online ordering, but Altar Boyz and "At the Corner of Broadway and Soul" (as well as many others) can be pre-ordered at http://www.sk-k.boom.com.