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All-Female JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR Album With Cynthia Erivo, Shoshana Bean & More Sets Release

Listen to Both Albums Here

By: Apr. 20, 2022
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All-Female JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR Album With Cynthia Erivo, Shoshana Bean & More Sets Release  Image

Jesus Christ Superstar: Highlights From The All-Female Studio Cast Recording, which features Grammy and Tony Award winner Cynthia Erivo as Mary Magdalene; Broadway veteran Shoshana Bean as Judas Iscariot; and critically acclaimed soul singer Morgan James as Jesus Christ, will be available as a full collection of songs at all digital music services on April 29. It is available for pre-save now here.

The album, which follows the release of two EPs, "She Is Risen (Vol. 1)" and "She Is Risen (Vol. 2)," marks the final and full culmination of music to be released from the original sessions in 2018, which included an all-female orchestra and all female recording engineers led by producer/musician Meg Toohey (Waitress).

In addition to Erivo, Bean, and James, the recording features Grammy Award winner Ledisi, comedian Bridget Everett as King Herod, Tony and Grammy Award nominee Orfeh, and Tony Award winner Debbie Gravitte.

The idea for the project came to James in a dream several years ago and led her to stage a one-night-only performance of the musical with Bean at New York City's Highline Ballroom the day prior to the Women's March in January 2017.

The production spawned such an incredible reaction that James was compelled to preserve the performances in a studio recording and appropriately decided upon an all-female team including the orchestra, chorus, musicians, and engineers. After a series of multiple setbacks which led a handful of songs to be released in previous EPs, Jesus Christ Superstar: Highlights From The All-Female Studio Cast Recording marks the final chapter for the project. A full tracklist is included below.

"Jesus Christ Superstar has always been one of my favorite scores and shows of all time," said James. "I grew up on the original concept recording, and to me, it is essential listening. I want this all-female version to be a love letter and homage to the score, and to serve as its own essential listening for a new generation of musical theater lovers. Working on this project was perhaps the most challenging and rewarding experience of my career. I am so honored that all of these superstar women said 'yes' and came to the studio with such graciousness and sense of collaboration. When women come together, incredible things happen."

Called "a phenomenal talent whose feel for classic soul music is bone deep" by The New York Times, Morgan James released Memphis Magnetic in 2020, and its holiday companion, A Very Magnetic Christmas, in 2021.

After training at the Juilliard School, James performed in five original Broadway companies, has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras around the world, and now makes records and tours full-time with her own band. With Postmodern Jukebox and with her own YouTube channel, Morgan's music videos have accumulated more than 250 million views.

Cynthia Erivo won the 2016 Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Theatre World Awards for her portrayal of Celie Harris Johnson in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple. She also won the 2017 Grammy Award for her performance on the Cast Recording, and a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Musical Performance on "Today." In 2018, she ventured into film, taking roles in Widows and Bad Times at the El Royale.

The following year, she received two Academy Award nominations for her performance as Harriet Tubman in the biopic Harriet as well as her song "Stand Up" in the Original Song category. Cynthia earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress for her portrayal of Aretha Franklin in the series "Genius: Aretha," and was recently cast as Elphaba, the Witch of the West in the highly anticipated film version of the musical Wicked.

Shoshana Bean's three independent solo albums have all topped the iTunes R&B and Blues charts in the US and UK, with her fourth and most recent project, SPECTRUM, debuting at #1 on the Billboard Jazz charts.

Bean has sold out solo concerts around the globe, lent her voice to countless films and television shows, amassed millions of views on YouTube, and performed alongside Ariana Grande, David Foster, Postmodern Jukebox, Brian McKnight, and Michael Jackson. Shoshana is a veteran of the Broadway stage having made her debut in the original cast of Hairspray, starring as the very first replacement for Elphaba in Wicked and most recently as Jenna in Waitress.

Bean won a IRNE Award for her performance as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl and earned a Jeff Award nomination for her portrayal of CeeCee Bloom in the pre-Broadway musical production of Beaches.

Jesus Christ Superstar: Highlights From The All-Female Studio Cast Recording Track List

1. Heaven On Their Minds
2. Everything's Alright
3. This Jesus Must Die
4. Simon Zealotes/Poor Jerusalem
5. Pilate's Dream
6. The Temple*
7. I Don't Know How to Love Him
8. Damned For All Time*
9. The Last Supper*
10. Gethsemane
11. Pilate and Christ*
12. King Herod's Song*
13. Could We Start Again Please?
14. Trial Before Pilate*
15. Superstar

*denotes newly released track

Listen to Volume One of the recording here:

Listen to Volume Two here:




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