Today we are listening to the Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording of The Public Theater's Broadway-bound punk rock musical BLOODY, BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON which is, without question, the very best Broadway score to blaze upon the boards in years. It's bloody, bloody brilliant. It's everything SPRING AWAKENING tried to be (and sporadically succeeded in showing, but not singing) but it effortless evokes the passion, fire, drive and earthy bite of the early eighteenth century combined with the apathetic overtures masking a cowering fear which defines the plight of the twenty-first century generation, Gen Y. A meta-musical and a concept musical but an effective and engaging one. This musical is x to the nth degree. It's everything every Broadway show should be: innovative, provocative, exciting, original and featuring a score with not one weak link! Conceive yourselves quite lucky and Say, 'Yea! Yea!'

Today we have a super-special bonus in honor of the most smashing debut album so far this year, Stuart Matthew Price's ALL THINGS IN TIME in addition to the full rundown! To access this new landmark BWW Exclusive Premiere Player - featuring a sparkling, shiny new Jason Robert Brown anthem - simply activate the window embedded inside the review! Here - only at BWW - you can hear the stupendous title track which was written especially for this album by JRB, 'All Things In Time', as well as two songs from the Pulitzer Prize-winning NEXT TO NORMAL, 'There‘s A World' and 'I'm Alive' by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt, in addition to an impossibly addictive pop confection called 'The Touch Of Love' from a new West End musical titled IN TOUCH by Dougal Irvine. Hopefully this sample will compel you to further partake in this treasure trove and pick up a copy of the complete album which also features songs by a number of new, up-and-coming composers personally accompanying the astounding leading man on many tracks! These three tracks are available to enjoy for only a limited time, so the time for all good things is undeniably right now! Catch a star on the rise and take a rocket ride to the SimG universe!

Today we are taking a listen to the Original London Cast Recording of Jerry Mitchell's sexily studious stunner of a show, LEGALLY BLONDE, and the remarkable score by Laurence O'Keefe (of BAT BOY fame) along with his wife, an accomplished and gifted lyricist in her own right, Neil Benjamin. They are the strongest male/female composing team since Betty Comden and Adolph Green and LEGALLY BLONDE possesses one of the most sharply satirical, witty and effortlessly enjoyable and winning scores in decades, surely as good if not better than any score on Broadway right now. While critics and audiences were less than enraptured with it on Broadway, the MTV telecast and subsequent reality show casting the next Elle Woods - alongside the smash-hit national tours - bodes well for its future in the States. The West End production is ten times the success the show was on Broadway so Elle & Crew have finally arrived - and in style. It's the age of Elle! Plus, A BONUS: A review and link to a new song by another blonde bombshell in her own right, but a bit brainier one than Elle Woods: Nellie McKay! And a link to a download of her new single 'Caribbean Time'! Top hats off and a salutatory Dickensian 'ello' to Elle and Nellie!

Today we are taking a listen to the Original Broadway Cast Recording of SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM starring Barbra Cook, Tom Wopat, Vanessa Williams, Leslie Kritzer, Euan Morton and Norm Lewis and also taking a critical look back at his incredible, incomparable career. While the show onstage at Studio 54 as directed by James Lapine failed to catch fire or leave a big impression on critics or audiences, PS Classics went to the trouble to record a cast album preserving most of the show as it was seen so they deserve praise if only for that. There are some obscurities here - some college ditties, cut COMPANY finales, an abandoned GYPSY number - plus brand new, candid interviews with Sondheim himself as well as a shiny new Sondheim patter song written expressly for this revue titled 'God'. Never a more applicable song title could have come from Sondheim's pen when discussing - and poking fun at - his own career as the Brains Behind Broadway. Let's see how Sondheim in general, as well as this show, stack up on (the) record!

Today, we are reveling in last night's simply sensational presentation of the multi-Tony Award-winning Lincoln Center revival of SOUTH PACIFIC as it was broadcast on PBS stations across the country in a special LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER simulcast commemorating the final performance of the lauded revival of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical. Starring returning revival role originators Kelli O'Hara and Paulo Szot, this stunning capture of Bartlett Sher's exquisite production is something to truly treasure and devour. I hope you set your DVRs, this was a one-shot deal - but thank Aristophanes for YouTube! You certainly do not want to miss this if you didn't catch it last night. It's a tropical Hawaiian sunset on an overcast grey, New York day. See why here. And there, soon thereafter.

Today, we have a SOUND OFF: Special Interview with the founding member of the Beach Boys himself, legendary performer, composer, arranger and producer Brian Wilson. In our candid conversation we discuss Disney approaching him to create an album of Gershwin music - some old, some new - using the inimitable sound created by Wilson for the verifiable rock n roll bible of the 60s, the album PET SOUNDS. We discuss the process of creating four new songs taking a cue from Gershwin's unfinished compositions - two of over a hundred left languishing! We also briefly talk about the Beach Boys songs that will be used on GLEE this season, what Broadway shows he has seen and liked, what the difference is between composing a score and writing a song, as well as much, much more. Start feeling these good vibrations in our chat and if you are so inclined be sure to pick up the album discussed that was released this week!

This week, we are taking a look at Sunday evening's starry West End salute to Stephen Sondheim which was broadcast in the UK on TV and everywhere on the BBC website, BBC PROMS: SONDHEIM AT 80. This unforgettable event stars Dame Judi Dench, Maria Friedman, Bryn Terfel, Caroline O'Conner, Julian Ovenden, Daniel Evans, Jenna Russell and Simon Russell Beale singing selections from Sondheim's entire oeuvre - among them: 'Send In The Clowns', 'Broadway Baby', 'Children Will Listen', 'Move On' and 'Side By Side'. Dame Dench's recreation of her Desiree Armfeldt - a role currently essayed by Bernadette Peters who opened this week in the replacement cast of the Broadway revival of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, replacing Tony-winner Catherine Zeta-Jones - is merely impossibly elegant decoration on a decadently rich, rewarding, fulfilling and entertaining gateau of celebratory Sondheimian greatness. A piece of birthday cake like few others. Come along and hear it for yourself if you haven‘t already!

Today we are taking a listen to the new Sony Masterworks & Arkiv Music re-release of Marc Blitzstein's half-musical/half-opera REGINA, based on THE LITTLE FOXES by Lillian Hellman. A little bit like Adam Guettel's THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA or Michael John LaChiusa's MARIE CHRISTINE in that it defies any traditional definition or classification, it is a true masterpiece and a marvel of craftsmanship and creativity, whatever it is. Leonard Bernstein once called REGINA his favorite theatre score of all time and perhaps no other score of the period comes closest to the classical aspirations - actual accomplishment, actually - as much as Bernstein's own CANDIDE which he wrote with Lillian Hellman and John LaTouche seven years later, inspired by this show. This score virtually has it all: opera, jazz, Dixieland, blues, gospel spirituals, Victorian parlour songs, stirring symphonic sequences, stunning arias, glorious choral swell-ups, biting satirical anthems, cakewalks, recitative and some serious - seriously innovative - dialogue/song centerpiece scenes to all three acts of this operamusical. Whatever you want to call it: a triple-decker treat awaits!

Children Will Listen On Monday night, the Obamas hosted a starry event at the White House that was streamed live on the White House Official Website and right here on Broadway World that featured the top talents of the Great White Way singing the very best songs by (mostly) American composers. Among the participants were Elaine Stritch, Nathan Lane, Tonya Pinkins, Brian D'Arcy James, Audra McDonald, Chad Kimball, Karen Olivo and Idina Menzel. Additionally, the concert featured Marvin Hamlisch, who accompanied Idina Menzel on his song from A CHORUS LINE, 'What I Did For Love', who I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing yesterday and whose InDepth InterView will be going live tomorrow. First, a review of the Washingtonian events that were online only until the concert premieres on PBS on October 20. Free

This week, we are taking a listen to the premiere solo album from Tony Award-winning stage star Jane Krakowski who can be seen every week on NBC's 30 ROCK as well as having appeared in countless musicals, television shows and movies over the years. A live recording of her cabaret show, THE LAZIEST GAL IN TOWN is everything we love about Ms. Krakowski and more: the sex kitten with the whip, the saucy siren, the bombshell blonde belter and the bawdiest broad this side of Mae West. All this and more is ready and waiting to be examined, ravished and explored for our sheer enjoyment courtesy of Jane & Co.…

This week, we are taking a listen to two wonderful West End-related winners featuring the stars of two witch-related West End musicals - THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK and WICKED - courtesy of SimG Records: Caroline Sheen's RAISE THE CURTAIN and Annalene Beechey's CLOSE YOUR EYES. These two delicious divas-in-training have proven that they have the talent, skill and technique to entertain us for many years to come onstage, but just how well do their first solo album efforts showcase their considerable abilities? Singing everything from Sondheim, William Finn and Stephen Schwartz to Adam Guettel, Jason Robert Brown, David Yazbeck and Stiles & Drewe, as well as some Joni Mitchell and Tracy Chapman thrown in for good measure, there's surely enough to satisfy all with much more than mere morsels to enjoy. All of this appreciable merriment (and even a small sampling of 'Away In A Manger' courtesy of Mitchell) and formidable entertainment comes with mostly unadorned accompaniment, as well, giving these ladies a true chance to shine their clearest and brightest in a solo spotlight all their own!

Today, in honor of centennial of Frank Loesser, we are taking an exclusive First Listen to the Masterworks Broadway release of HEART & SOUL: Celebrating The Unforgettable Songs Of Frank Loesser and taking a look at some memorable clips and cast albums and soundtracks from his illustrious career in Hollywood and on Broadway. Though in the sweaty summer haze it's hard to warm too much to "Baby, It's Cold Outside", nothing could be hotter than "Havana" from GUYS & DOLLS and the more we look at Loesser, it becomes quite crystal clear that sometimes less is truly much, much more…

Today, we are taking a listen to five of the greatest and most deservedly classic-status cast albums of all time, with all five selections also being Tony-winning Best Musicals recently remastered, repackaged and re-released by Masterworks Broadway in time for Tony Award season which this week is finally coming to a close. In salute of Broadway now - and as it was fifty years ago when the first of these scores premiered - we take stock of what we have got, for better or worse. Surely, the strength of these shows' scores speak and sing out loud for themselves: 42nd Street, 1776, HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING, MAME and CITY OF ANGELS. From Herman to Coleman to Loesser and beyond we go, with a glance to the future and the all-to-recent past...

Today, we are taking a First Listen to the forthcoming collection of opening numbers from the many spectacular Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS benefits packaged together and titled in an expectedly suggestive and sexy manner - BROADWAY BARES OPENINGS. A cavalcade of dazzling casts, these tantalizing and titillating themes are led by the likes of Jane Krakowski, Sara Gettelfinger, Debbie Gravitte, Julia Murney, Shoshana Bean, Mary Birdsong, Heidi Blickenstaff, Tituss Burgess, Leslie Kritzer, Anika Larsen, Andrew Lippa, Euan Morton, Mo Rocca, Christopher Sieber, and Lillias White! Even with bottoms on display, this cast is tops!

Today, I am recapping the 2010 Tony Awards as it was broadcast on CBS last night - and on NY1 for the first hour. I was particularly privileged to have my interviews conducted for BWW and TonyAwards.com used throughout both telecasts and was quite moved by the evening in general. But, first: let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start - as Ted Chapin, President of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization and the first presenter of the evening would surely recall from his friend Oscar Hammerstein - who, of course, also mentored Stephen Sondheim who personally selected last night's Best Actress winner Catherine Zeta-Jones for the revival of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC.

Today, in honor of the Tony Awards on Sunday, we close out the season with the last two recordings related to the 2009-2010 Broadway season with an exclusive First Listen to the PROMISES, PROMISES Broadway Revival Recording starring Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth courtesy of the kind folks at Sony, as well as the Original Broadway Cast Recording of THE ADDAMS FAMILY starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth. These recordings certainly offer strong proof of the best - and worst - that Broadway has to offer in the modern age. Everything old may be new again in the case of PROMISES, but everything new is tired old-hat as far as ADDAMS goes as we will soon see.

Today, following this week's sold out run of GLEE: LIVE! At Radio City Music Hall, and in honor of next week's season finale, as well as the just released 4th album of soundtrack songs, we are taking a listen to the four soundtracks of the hit Golden-Globe-winning Fox TV musical dramedy series GLEE starring Broadway veterans Matthew Morrison and Lea Michele, with additional featured performances by Kristin Chenoweth, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris and Idina Menzel.

This week, we are taking a listen to the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Green Day's rock opera AMERICAN IDIOT. The show was met with appreciative reviews, yet it seems audiences and the Tony committee are slightly less enthusiastic. So is it an American Classic, An Idiotic Delight or a 21st Century Breakdown? Let's see...

Today, with a BWW Exclusive First Listen is a critique of Broadway's most highly-praised and most Tony-nominated new show of the year, the smash-hit Afrobeat musical by Bill T. Jones and Jim Lewis, FELA! So, is it as electrifying and exciting as the critics found the show to be onstage? Let's find out...

Today, we are taking a look at multi-Tony-nominated Broadway leading lady Sherie Rene Scott and the original cast recording of her (mostly) one-woman show EVERYDAY RAPTURE, currently on Broadway. In addition to being nominated this season for Best Actress, Ms. Scott is also nominated in the Best Book of A Musical category (along with collaborator Dick Scanlan) for this autobiographical musical tracing her conversion from Mormonism to Mermanism (as in Ethel) and detailing her time spent on Broadway from TOMMY until now. From Sally Simpson to the stage version of herself, Sherie Rene Scott can hold an audience‘s attention like few other performers, evident everywhere on this album. But is that enough?

This week, we are taking a look and a listen to one of the foremost interpreters of song - whether originating from the stage, film, the Great American songbook, world music, tailor-made-music and virtually everything else - the legendary Barbra Streisand. Nothing can be said that hasn't been said about Ms. Streisand, she is a star unlike any other, but her recent intimate concert before 120 lucky audience members on September 26 of last year - marking her fortieth anniversary in show business - is perhaps her most arresting concert ever preserved on home video, a feat in itself considering her past pitch-perfect television specials. Let's not focus on the way we were, but more how we are today: in the case of Ms. Streisand, simply irresistible.

Today, we are continuing where we left off last week in our complete overview of Stephen Sondheim's career in honor of his 80th birthday, as well as the opening of his new musical SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM, by taking a listen to all the Sondheim-related soundtracks available on CD and MP3...

Today, we present the final section of the Sondheim Palooza for this week with a discussion of Sondheim's work in the last two decades. The shows themselves stand as solid proof that this is a composer/lyricist still at the absolute height of his abilities and at the top of his game, as we can very clearly hear in the scores for ASSASSINS, PASSION, THE FROGS and ROAD SHOW...

Today we are taking a listen to Stephen Sondheim's musicals of the 1980s, each a striking artistic achievement attempting to do something never done before in Broadway history and improving the very genre of musical theatre itself with his work on these three very different shows. MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE and INTO THE WOODS...

Today we are taking a look at the extended streak of genius exhibited by Stephen Sondheim, along with director/producer Hal Prince, following the resounding success of COMPANY in 1970. Throughout the rest of the 70s they would continue to change the form of theatre itself with four momentous musicals tackling every topic from aging showgirls singing one last tune to Ingmar Bergman sunsets and a topic for a concept musical no less epic than the westernization of Japan in the wake of Commodore Perry - plus, who could forget the remorseful Barber and his knife (or should that be “wife“?). Without question, these are four richly-encrusted crowning achievements of a legendary career and these musical jewels are still sparkling and shining, as glistening and beautiful as ever dazzling us and enticing us to inspect them closer...