BURNT PART BOYS Cast Album Gets 12/6 Release

After a run in Spring 2010 as a co-production between Playwrights Horizons (Artistic Director, Tim Sanford; Managing Director, Leslie Marcus) and Vineyard Theatre (Artistic Director, Douglas Aibel; Executive Director, Jennifer Garvey-Blackwell), the critically-acclaimed score of THE BURNT PART BOYS has been recorded by Yellow Sound Label, produced by Michael Croiter in conjunction with Playwrights Horizons, to be released in digital and CD formats on December 6, 2011. The album may be purchased at www.yellowsoundlabel.com and www.playwrightshorizons.org (at which one may also watch an exclusive making-of video), as well as through online outlets such as iTunes and in stores nationwide.

With music by Chris Miller, lyrics by Nathan Tysen and a book by Mariana Elder, THE BURNT PART BOYS (under the direction of Joe Calarco) was nominated for a 2010 Lucille Lortel Award for Best New Musical and received 4 stars in Time Out New York. The musical was described as "a warm-hearted coming-of-age story with a stirring score" (Daily News) with "excellent bluegrass-pop songs: tuneful, catchy and moving" (The New York Observer).

The album features performances by original cast members Michael Park ("As The World Turns," Daytime Emmy Award Winner; How to Succeed...), Charlie Brady (South Pacific), Al Calderon (13), Andrew Durand (Spring Awakening), Noah Galvin (Our Town, Lortel nomination for The Burnt Part Boys), Steve French (In Transit), Molly Ranson (August: Osage County, the upcoming Carrie), and Randy Redd (Million Dollar Quartet). Evan Harrington (Broadway's Avenue Q, Phantom) joins the cast for the recording. Orchestrations are by Tony Award winner Bruce Coughlin (The Light in the Piazza) and Musical Direction is by Vadim Feichtner.

The musicians on the album, under the direction of Mr. Feichtner (also Piano), include Matt Hinkley (Associate Conductor, Guitar), Maxim Moston (Violin/Mandolin), Todd Low (Viola), Mark Vanderpoel (Bass), and Frank Pagano (Drums). The music coordinator for the production and the album is John Miller, with Music Copying by Emily Grishman and Music Preparation by Ms. Grishman and Katharine Edmonds.

The CD release will include a 24-page color booklet featuring complete lyrics, production photos by Joan Marcus, show credits, and a synopsis by Playwrights Horizons Director of Musical Theater Kent Nicholson.

Set in rurAl West Virginia in 1962, THE BURNT PART BOYS follows fourteen year-old Pete (Mr. Calderon), who is fighting to claim his past. His older brother Jake (Mr. Brady) is hoping to forge a future. With an eclectic band of friends teetering on the brink of adulthood, the youngsters embark on a life-altering journey to the coal mine that took their father's life. With its soaring, elegiac bluegrass and pop-inspired score, this inspirational new musical finds both the streaks of light and the heart of darkness within us all.

Tony Award-winning author and composer William Finn (Falsettos; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) has praised Mr. Miller and Mr. Tysen as "enormously talented young writers scoping out difficult territory, trying to find a new and amazing world." Since THE BURNT PART BOYS, the pair has written tunes for "Sesame Street" and "The Electric Company" as well as an adaptation of the popular novel Tuck Everlasting (book by Claudia Shear). Upcoming: the album release of their 2008 Drama Desk nominated song cycle, Fugitive Songs. Their website: www.millerandtysen.com.

Leadership support of the Playwrights Horizons Musicals in Partnership Initiative and partial funding of the developmental lab production of THE BURNT PART BOYS at Vineyard Theatre was generously provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Funding for the development of THE BURNT PART BOYS at Vineyard Theatre was also provided by The National Endowment for the Arts and The Maurer Family Foundation.