Ghostlight Releases Bernarda Alba OCR, July 11

Ghostlight Records, a division of Sh-K-Boom Records, will release the premiere recording of Bernarda Alba on Tuesday, July 11th.

With words & music by Michael John LaChiusa , the musical based on Federico Garcia Lorca's play The House of Bernarda Alba was directed by Graciela Daniele in its premiere at Lincoln Center Theater in March 2006.  The CD is produced by Grammy Award winner and Academy Award nominee Joel Moss and Sh-K-Boom / Ghostlight Records President Kurt Deutsch.

"Inspired by the rhythms of flamenco, the explosive score is infused with passion and reveals a tale of desire and despair," according to press notes.  The recording features Tony-winner Phylicia Rashad, Tony-nominee Daphne Rubin-Vega , Yolande Bavan, Drama Desk Award nominee Judith Blazer, Candy Buckley, Nikki M. James, Sally Murphy, Saundra Santiago, Laura Shoop and Nancy Ticotin.

"Set in rural Spain in the 1930s, Bernarda Alba tells the story of a matriarch who isolates herself and her five adult daughters from the outside world while mourning the death of her second husband. Believing that the men in town are beneath them in class, Bernarda keeps her daughters under close watch, shielding them from the men's advances.  Smothered by their mother's attempts to suppress their desires, the young women yearn to break free."

Michael John LaChiusa wrote the music, libretti and lyrics for Hello Again (OBIE 1994), Marie Christine (Tony nominations 2000, Best Score, Best Book) and provided additional material for Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Tony nominations 1997, Best Musical, Best Book with Graciela Daniele and Jim Lewis).  See What I Wanna See (previously recorded by Ghostlight Records) premiered at the Joseph Papp Public Theatre in 2005 as did the new opera, Send (who are you? I love you), written for Audra McDonald at Houston Grand Opera. 

Other work includes The Wild Party (Grammy nomination, Best Original Cast Album, & Tony nominations, Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book, with George C. Wolfe), The Highest Yellow (Signature Theatre, two Helen Hayes Awards), Little Fish, First Lady Suite (OBIE Award) and Break/Agnes/Eulogy for Mister Hamm.  As the Brena and Lee Freeman Composer-in-Residence at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, his musical, Lovers and Friends (Chautauqua Variations), premiered in 2001.  He is currently on the faculty at both New York University and Yale School of Drama. A concert performance of Little Fish was recently seen at Joe's Pub.

The Bernarda Alba tracklist follows:

Act I

1. Prologue
2. The Funeral
3. On the Day That I Marry / Bernarda's Prayer
4. Love, Let Me Sing You
5. Let Me Go To the Sea

Act II

6. Magdalena
7. Angustias
8. Amelia
9. Martirio
10. Adela
11. I Will Dream of What I Saw
12. Poncia
13. Limbrada's Daughter

Act III

14. One Moorish Girl/The Smallest Stream
15. The Mare and the Stallion
16. Lullaby
17. Open the Door
18. Finale

To order, visit www.ghostlightrecords.com or www.sh-k-boom.com.