SOMETHING ROTTEN! Climbs to Top 100 in Billboard 200 Chart; Tonys Cause Broadway Album Sales Increase

The Tony Awards have spurred a significant increase in Broadway cast recording sales this week.

According to Billboard's Top 200 chart, the original cast recording of Broadway's Something Rotten! is No. 94 overall. In addition, the Tony Awards seem to have spurred a 78% rise, in Broadway cast album sales from the current season.

Besides being on the Top 200 chart, the SOMETHING ROTTEN! album was also #1 on the Broadway albums chart earlier this week, with 6,000 copies sold. Best Musical-winner FUN HOME saw a 107% increase in album sales this week, and it has reached 2,000 albums sold, though it is still #3 on the Broadway albums chart, behind SOMETHING ROTTEN! and AN AMERICAN IN PARIS.

In addition, Billboard reports that the album, released digitally by Ghostlight Records on June 2nd, also debuted at No. 94 on the Top 200 chart, No. 45 on the Billboard Top Current Albums chart and No. 22 on the Billboard Overall Digital Albums chart. The album will be released on CD on July 17th. Click here to pre-order.

Something Rotten!, from the co-director of The Book of Mormon and the producer of Avenue Q, received 10 Tony Award nominations. Christian Borle picked up his second Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for his hilarious portrayal of bard William Shakespeare.

About the show:

The completely original new musical comedy Something Rotten!, directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon, Aladdin), with music and lyrics by Grammy Award winner Wayne Kirkpatrick and Golden Globe Award nominee Karey Kirkpatrick and a book by Karey Kirkpatrick and best-selling author John O'Farrell, officially opened on April 22nd at the St. James Theatre (246 West 44th Street) on Broadway.

Something Rotten! stars Tony Award nominee Brian d'Arcy James (Shrek), Tony Award winner Christian Borle (Peter and the Starcatcher), Tony Award nominee John Cariani (Fiddler on the Roof),Heidi Blickenstaff ([title of show]), Tony Award nominee Brad Oscar (The Producers), Kate Reinders(Wicked), Tony Award nominee Brooks Ashmanskas (Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me), Peter Bartlett(Cinderella), Gerry Vichi (The Drowsy Chaperone) and Michael James Scott (The Book of Mormon).

From the co-director of The Book of Mormon and the producer of Avenue Q comes something original... something fresh... Something Rotten!, a world-premiere musical comedy about the musical comedy that started it all. Welcome to the '90s - the 1590s - long before the dawn of premium tickets, star casting and reminders to turn off your cell phones. Brothers Nick (d'Arcy James) and Nigel Bottom (Cariani) are desperate to write a hit play but are stuck in the shadow of that Renaissance rockstar known as "The Bard" (Borle). When a local soothsayer foretells that the future of theatre involves singing, dancing and acting at the same time, Nick and Nigel set out to write the world's very first MUSICAL! But amidst the scandalous excitement of Opening Night, the Bottom Brothers realize that reaching the top means being true to thine own self... and all that jazz.

With its heart on its ruffled sleeve and sequins in its soul, Something Rotten! is an uproarious dose of pure Broadway fun and an irresistible ode to musicals - those dazzling creations that entertain us, inspire us, and remind us that everything's better with an exclamation point!

Source: Billboard