Joe Iconis' 'A(aaagh!)lbum' Is Out Today

A new Halloween compilation A(aaagh!)lbum by musical theater virtuoso Joe Iconis, is available in digital and streaming formats starting today, Friday, October 21.

A(aaagh!)lbum features 10 selections from Album, Iconis' sprawling new 44-track collection released earlier this year. In addition, the release includes one previously-unissued track, "Haddonfield, 15 Years Later (For Judith) Alternative Version." The new compilation features performances by Liz Lark Brown, Lauren Marcus, Jeremy Morse, Lorinda Lisitza, Andrew Rannells, Lance Rubin, George Salazar, Taylor Trensch, Jared Weiss, and Jason SweetTooth Williams. A(aaagh!)lbum was produced by Iconis, Ian Kagey, and Charlie Rosen, executive produced by Randi Zuckerberg, features music direction by Danielle Gimbal, and choir arrangements by Joel Waggoner. Download or stream A(aaagh!)lbum at JoeIconis.lnk.to/A_AAAGH_LBUM

"The spirit of Halloween has always managed to find its way into my work," Joe explains, "either on the surface or bubbling just below. Many of my standalone songs have a certain ghoulish quality and even more are inspired by films of the horror genre. It only made sense to compile the most macabre tunes off my recently released Album into a new collection entitled A(Aaagh!)lbum. Songs featured are inspired by films such as Death Becomes Her ('Helen Sharp'), Psycho ('Norman'), Beetlejuice ('Lydia's Song'), Misery ('The Nurse and the Addict') and deal with seasonally-appropriate subjects like domesticated werewolves, murderous Brooklynites, and skeleton besties."

"The centerpiece of the collection is 'Haddonfield, 15 Years Later (For Judith),'" he continues. "The song is heard in both its original version and in a brand new alternative mix by Ian Kagey that allows the listener to hear the stunning choir arrangement by Joel Waggoner with new clarity. The song is an homage to John Carpenter's masterpiece Halloween, reimagining Michael Myers (aka The Shape) as a man coming back to his hometown after many years away. John Carpenter's film and score have inspired me in countless ways over the years, most explicitly in the songs and underscore of Be More Chill (which I originally pitched as John Hughes meets John Carpenter!) Jamie Lee Curtis's legendary performance as Halloween's Final Girl Laurie Strode was a massive influence on my writing of Broadway Bounty Hunter, Love in Hate Nation, and the upcoming The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson. Laurie Strode is a character who symbolizes persistence, ingenuity and, above all, survival. I hope that my song does her, and the holiday she's most closely associated with, bloody justice."

Album - featuring over 70 members of Iconis' vast family of collaborators including Aaron Tveit, Andrew Rannells, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Krysta Rodriguez, Kerry Butler, Danny Burstein, Annie Golden, George Salazar, Will Roland, Andrew Barth Feldman and many more - hurtles through a cocktail of musical genres as its rogue's gallery of misfit children, reckless adults, and various assorted creatures sing their stories of love, hope, murder, resilience, and connection. Sprawling in its scope and intimate in its subject matter, the songs are a showcase of Iconis's singular ability to find moments of drama in the seemingly mundane. Gentle acoustic love ballads sit next to indie-rock stadium shout-alongs on an album that is both sweetly nostalgic and explosively contemporary. Featuring never-before-heard songs as well as Iconis classics recorded for the first time, this is a rowdy, erudite, epic record made for a world on fire.

Joe Iconis is a musical theater writer and performer. He has been nominated for a Tony Award, four Drama Desk Awards, two Lucille Lortel Awards, two Outer Critics' Circle Awards, and is the recipient of an Ed Kleban Award, a Jonathan Larson Award, and a Richard Rodgers Award. Joe's musical Be More Chill (with Joe Tracz) played Broadway and London after a premiere at Two River Theater. Its cast albums have been streamed over 500 million times. Joe is also the author of Love in Hate Nation and Broadway Bounty Hunter (with Lance Rubin and Jason SweetTooth Williams) and many more. His music appeared on Season 2 of NBC's "Smash," with his song "Broadway, Here I Come!" hailed by The New York Times as a new entry in The Great American Songbook.

A(aaagh!)lbum Tracklist:

1) Haddonfield, 15 Years Later (For Judith) - Jared Weiss

2) Helen Sharp - Lorinda Lisitza

3) Kevin - Andrew Rannells

4) (Run Away from You) - Jason SweetTooth Williams

5) Sympathy for the Killer - Liz Lark Brown

6) The Nurse and the Addict - Taylor Trensch

7) Lydia's Song - Lauren Marcus

8) Norman - Lance Rubin

9) My Best Friend's a Skeleton - George Salazar, Jeremy Morse

10) Haddonfield, 15 Years Later (For Judith) - Jared Weiss (Alternative Version)