Original Cast Recording For ALICE BY HEART is Available Today

Ghostlight Records has announced that the new musical cast album Alice By Heart is available for digital download and streaming today Friday, June 28. The CD release is planned for later this year. The album is based on the show's recent New York premiere production from MCC Theater (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director). Alice By Heart has a book by Steven Sater and Jessie Nelson; music by Duncan Sheik, lyrics by Steven Sater, and direction by Jessie Nelson. The album is produced by Duncan Sheik and Kurt Deutsch, with Craig Balsam and Cody Lassen serving as executive producers. To stream or download the album, please visit ghostlightrecords.lnk.to/alicebyheart

Tracklist:

1. West of Words
2. Down the Hole
3. Still
4. Chillin' the Regrets
5. The Key Is
6. Those Long Eyes
7. Manage Your Flamingo
8. Sick to Death of Alice-ness
9. Brillig Braelig
10. Some Things Fall Away
11. Your Shell of Grief
12. Another Room in Your Head
13. Isn't It a Trial?
14. Do You Think We Think You're Alice?
15. I've Shrunk Enough
16. Afternoon
17. Winter Blooms

Duncan Sheik is currently represented on the New York stage with the Atlantic Theater Company's hit Off Broadway production of The Secret Life of Bees, which was recently extended through July 21.

Alice By Heart features Molly Gordon (Life of the Party, "Animal Kingdom") as Alice and Colton Ryan (Girl From the North Country, "The Americans") as Alfred/The White Rabbit, along with Kim Blanck (Twelfth Night at Shakespeare in the Park), Mia DiLena (Disney's The Music Man), Zachary Downer (Hello, Dolly!, Cats), Noah Galvin (Dear Evan Hansen, "The Real O'Neals"), Zachary Infante (A Midsummer Night's Dream, dir. Julie Taymor), Andrew Kober (School of Rock, Hair), Grace McLean (Great Comet), Catherine Ricafort (SpongeBob Squarepants, Honeymoon in Vegas), Heath Saunders (Great Comet, "Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert"), and Wesley Taylor (Spongebob Squarepants, The Addams Family).

When the MCC Theater production of Alice By Heart opened Off Broadway, it was praised as "A fantastical, magical mystery tour with ingenious costumes, Noel Coward-ish wit, and dreamy songs which suggest The Beatles' hallucinogenic period with echoes of music from Spring Awakening" by The New York Times. Deadline heralded the score's "hit-ready tunes" and called "Sater's wordplay vivid and imaginative, an effective replication of Carroll's prose." Variety raved about the show's "dreamy melodies" which "have that haunting ache of young dreamers."It was hailed as "bewitching" by The New Yorker, "gorgeous" by Newsday, and "imaginative" by TheaterMania. According to the Observer, "the team crafted a rich, haunting score: raw, bruised ballads of longing and losing."

Alice By Heart won two 2019 Lucille Lortel Awards ("Outstanding Choreographer" and "Outstanding Costume Design"), two 2019 Chita Rivera Awards ("Outstanding Choreography," "Outstanding Male Dancer"), and was nominated for two 2019 Drama Desk Awards ("Outstanding Choreography," "Outstanding Costume Design").

The creative team for Alice By Heart includes scenic design by Edward Pierce, costume design by Paloma Young, lighting design by Bradley King, sound design by Dan Moses Schreier, hair, wig and makeup design by J. Jared Janas, orchestrations by Duncan Sheik, additional orchestrations by Simon Hale, music direction and vocal arrangements by Jason Hart.

When the madness of the world is too much to bear, we take refuge in the stories we love. Tony and Grammy Award-winning creators of Spring Awakening, Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik, reunite for their new musical Alice By Heart, inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and directed and co-written by Jessie Nelson (Waitress). In the rubble of the London Blitz of World War II, Alice Spencer's budding teen life is turned upside down, and she and her dear friend Alfred are forced to take shelter in an underground tube station. When the ailing Alfred is quarantined, Alice encourages him to escape with her into their cherished book and journey down the rabbit hole to Wonderland. As they travel through the tale, Alice By Heart explores the poignancy of first love, coming to terms with loss, and finding the courage to move forward. This world premiere musical encourages us all to celebrate the transformational power of the imagination, even in the harshest of times.

Alice By Heart was performed January 30 through April 7 as the first show in the Newman Mills Theater at The Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space (511 West 52nd Street). A workshop production was presented by New York Stage and Film & Vassar at the Powerhouse Theater, Summer 2018. The show was developed at Theatre Aspen's New Work Development Program.