Broadway Records Founder Van Dean To Launch New Label, Center Stage Records

Grammy Award and Tony Award-winning producer Van Dean is launching his new record label, Center Stage Records.  The new label already has over two dozen albums scheduled for the coming year, including exciting titles from Broadway, Off-Broadway, London's West End, concept recordings and major Broadway solo artist recordings. 

In addition to its New York headquarters, Center Stage Records is deeply committed to the West End/London theatre and is establishing a London office which will be led by Executive Director, London producer/GM, Jamie Chapman Dixon.

Broadway Records' Robbie Rozelle will also be joining Center Stage Records as its A&R Director and will design the artwork/packaging for its new releases. He will also continue to conceive and produce albums with key artists. 

Most recently, Van Dean has been running Broadway Records under the ownership of Cutting Edge Group, which acquired the premier label from Dean in early 2020. The intention is for Center Stage to collaborate with Broadway Records on selected releases in the future and for Dean to consult for Broadway Records/Cutting Edge to aid in the transition. As part of Dean's new venture, Center Stage will take over the management and distribution of nearly two thirds of the Broadway Records back-catalog with the remaining one third of titles staying with Broadway Records. 

Under Cutting Edge, Broadway Records will continue as a leader in the musical theater album space, supporting its valuable retained catalog of titles, and releasing select new frontline cast albums including with its existing production partners such as The National Theatre in London.  

For more info on Center Stage Records please visit: www.centerstagerecords.com 

Van Dean (President and Founder) is a Tony Award and Grammy Award winning producer.  He co-founded Broadway Records which released nearly 300 albums during his leadership. Van earned his Grammy Award for helping to produce the Broadway Records' release of the 2015 Broadway revival of The Color Purple.  His Grammy nominations were earned for his work on Matilda the Musical, My Fair Lady and Caroline, or Change.  Van also executive produced well over 200 other albums including 9 that were Grammy Award nominated.

His theatrical production credits include The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess (Tony Award), Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (Tony Award nomination), Anastasia, Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette and Diablo Cody  (Tony Award nomination), How to Dance In Ohio, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, Matilda (Tony Award nomination), Evita (Tony Award nomination), Gore Vidal's The Best Man (Tony Award nomination), Catch Me If You Can (Tony Award nomination), The Velocity of Autumn, Big Fish, Bonnie & Clyde, Chinglish, the Off-Broadway production of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown (2016) and ROOMS a rock romance and the national tours of Anastasia, Matilda, Cinderella, The Lightning Thief and more. He was also a producer of Master Class with Tyne Daly and the 2022 and 2023 productions of Bonnie & Clyde in London's West End.  Upcoming: Death Note, Wild, Goodbye New York, SMASH, Figaro, Little Dancer, Song of Bernadette.

He co-produced Broadway For Orlando's “What The World Needs Now Is Love” to raise funds for the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida. The charity single was featured on NBC's “Maya and Marty” and at the Democratic National Convention in 2016.  He co-conceived and co-Executive Produced the anti-bullying single “I Have A Voice” featuring 70 Broadway kids from Matilda, School of Rock and more and co-produced the new Broadway United music video of “We Are The World”. He also co-conceived and produced From Broadway With Love: A Benefit Concert For Sandy Hook featuring 100 Broadway stars, a 40 piece orchestra and 300+ children from Newtown and From Broadway With Love: A Benefit Concert for Parkland, USA at the BB&T Center Arena in Sunrise, FL and co-produced the Emmy Award winning From Broadway With Love: A Benefit Concert For Orlando.  He is also a co-producer of the feature film documentary “Midsummer in Newtown” which premiered as a Spotlight selection at Tribeca Film Festival. Van has several major film and television musicals in pre-production. 

Jamie Chapman Dixon (Executive Director, London office) is the co-founder of Olivier nominated Carter Dixon McGill Productions and has previously held the roles of CEO at the prestigious Oxford Playhouse and was the founding Executive Director at the Barn Theatre, Cirencester which he co-led to the 2019 Stage Fringe Theatre of the Year Award. His work within venues and operations has seen him general manage productions in house for a wide range of organizations including Royal & Derngate, Smart Entertainment, Hartshorn Hook and Immersive Everywhere. His commercial work has led him to produce the recent West End productions of Death Note, Blippi the Musical (Olivier Nominated), Treason, Chess, Kinky Boots and Wonderville whilst general managing the immersive productions of Peaky Blinders: The Rise and Doctor Who: Time Fracture for HHE. 

Jamie's work during the Covid pandemic saw him recognized as one of fifteen West End producers named as the Rising Stars of the Future by Nimax Theatres and the Guardian paper and has since produced eleven west end productions. He is also the co-owner of the Wonderville bar and cabaret theatre in Piccadilly Circus, London which has recently taken up residency on board MSC Meraviglia out of NYC. This work coincides with his recent tours of Treason the Musical and Blippi's Wonderful World Tour.   Additionally, he was the in-house producer for Fulham's London Theatre Workshop and part of the producing team for the regional and world productions of An Improbable Musical, Madagascar, Spamalot, Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, Hair and The 39 Steps.

Robbie Rozelle (A&R Director) has worked with boutique labels to preserve theatre music for nearly 25 years. Starting with Fynsworth Alley in 2000, he then spent a decade at the multi-Grammy Award nominated label PS Classics (home of legendary composer Stephen Sondheim and Maury Yeston), before moving to Grammy Award-winning label Broadway Records in 2016. Prior to joining Center Stage Records, he served as the A&R Director for Broadway Records. He has worked in every facet of the recording process, but is most known as a producer and package designer. His producing work includes Jessica Vosk's debut album “Wild and Free", which debuted on four Billboard charts, the debut album of Broadway's golden couple Patti Murin (Frozen) and Colin Donnell (Anything Goes), YouTube sensation Robert Bannon, multiple singles for BroadwayWorld's “Next On Stage” series, and three Tony Award Season compilations, with upcoming albums for Emmy Award-winner Mauricio Martínez, and songwriter Michael Finke. He is also a heralded performer, with an acclaimed live album “Songs From Inside My Locker – Live at Feinstein's/54 Below”. As a designer, he has designed over 200 cast and solo albums, including multiple Grammy Award-nominated cast recordings.

Broadway Records is the Grammy winning record label dedicated to preserving legacy musical theatre and theatre vocalists' repertoire. Recent releases include the 2023 Broadway Revival of Camelot, Bridge Theatre's Guys & Dolls (London), the Grammy-nominated New Broadway Cast Recording of Caroline, Or Change,  If The Fates Allow: The Hadestown Holiday Album,   Grammy-nominated Randy Rainbow's A Little Brains, A Little Talent, Legacy: Two Song Cycles by Ahrens and Flaherty, the Grammy and Tony Award-winning revival of The Color Purple, the Tony Award-winning and Grammy-nominated revival of Once On This Island, the Grammy-nominated Matilda The Musical, Fiddler on the Roof (2015 revival) and My Fair Lady (2018 revival), Anastasia, Bandstand, The Lightning Thief  as well as solo albums from Lea Salonga, Jessica Vosk, Kyle Taylor Parker, Aaron Tveit and many more. http://www.broadwayrecords.com  @bwayrecords

Cutting Edge Group is the expert in music for media – film, television, video games, advertising, Broadway - across its publishing, label, services, and marketing verticals and owns and controls the music IP in some of the most popular media properties and franchises in the world.

Cutting Edge operates as a financier, publisher, record label and has provided a range of music services to over 1,000 feature films, television shows, musical theatre productions and video games, including such films and television shows as: Stranger Things, Bridgerton, The King's Speech, Moonlight, Drive, Star Trek: Discovery, Fury, John Wick, Sicario, Whiplash, Hacksaw Ridge, and The Walking Dead; Broadway shows Matilda, The Color Purple, Anastasia, and My Fair Lady; and triple AAA video games as: Sunset Overdrive, Assassins Creed Valhalla, Red Dead Redemption and Cyberpunk 2077.

Cutting Edge's divisions include Lakeshore Records (Soundtrack Label), Music.Film (Film & TV Music Licensing Platform), Broadway Records (Musical Theatre Label), Cutting Edge Music Publishing (Music Publisher), White Stork (Custom Music House) and CEG Analytics (Royalty Tracking & Analysis).