Listen: BORDELLO: THE MUSICAL Concept Album Featuring Tovah Feldshuh, Julie Benko, and More

Award-winning lyricists and librettists Barbara Bellman and Joan Ross Sorkin, together with Latin Grammy-nominated composer, pianist, orchestrator, and arranger Emiliano Messiez, have released the concept album for Bordello, The Musical, featuring an all-star cast led by Tony Award nominee Tovah Feldshuh (Funny Girl, Golda's Balcony), Broadway favorite Julie Benko (Funny Girl, Harmony), Pablo Torres (The Bodyguard, Welcome to the Big Dipper), Shereen Pimentel (West Side Story), Omar Lopez-Cepero (On Your Feet!, American Idiot), and fellow acclaimed performers Dana Aber, Emily Brockway, Jillian Louis, Trevor Martin, and Ellie Biron.

The 15-song concept album, with music by Emiliano Messiez, lyrics by Barbara Bellman and additional lyrics by Joan Ross Sorkin, orchestrations and arrangements by Messiez and Steven Gross, and vocal arrangements by Gross, is out now and marks a major milestone in the development of the new musical.

Set in 1920s Buenos Aires, Bordello is inspired by the remarkable true story of Raquel Liberman, a Jewish immigrant from Poland whose courage helped expose one of the largest sex-trafficking organizations in history. Raquel arrives in Argentina with her young daughter, hoping to be reunited with her husband who had come before her, only to find herself widowed, penniless, and unable to navigate a foreign country where she doesn't know the language or the culture. With few options available, Raquel becomes trapped within the infamous Zvi Migdal, a Jewish sex-trafficking organization that preyed upon Eastern European immigrant women. Refusing to remain silent, she risks everything to expose the organization and reclaim her freedom, ultimately helping to bring down this notorious criminal enterprise.

The musical is also inspired by the work of poet César Tiempo, who, as a young man, published under a female pseudonym that gave voice to women exploited in Buenos Aires brothels. In Bordello, his story intersects with Raquel's as their relationship vacillates as they face danger, but ultimately, they are one in their determination to bring the Zvi Migdal to justice.

At its center, the musical is a powerful female-driven story of resistance, survival, and love, and it is especially relevant today. By condemning the exploitation and inhumanity of sex-trafficking, Bordello connects a little-known chapter of history to contemporary conversations about human dignity, resilience, and freedom.

Bordello is driven by a lush and emotionally charged score that blends Argentine tango and Jewish klezmer into a distinctive theatrical soundscape. The result is a musical world as sweeping, passionate, and unforgettable as the remarkable true story at its core.

Composer Emiliano Messiez is originally from Argentina and now based in New York City. His work fuses tango, musical theatre, classical music, jazz, and Latin American traditions into a unique musical voice, and his compositions have been performed internationally. Messiez is the founder and director of Típica Messiez, a member of the Romo-Agri-Messiez Trio, and pianist for the internationally acclaimed production Forever Tango.

Barbara Bellman is an award-winning playwright, librettist, producer, and arts advocate based in Philadelphia. She is the co-founder and former Producing Artistic Director of MusiCoLab and a member of the Dramatists Guild and the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop.

Joan Ross Sorkin is an award-winning musical theatre writer, opera librettist, and playwright whose work has been produced in New York City and across the country. She has been a long-standing member of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, Dramatists Guild, and is the Past President of the York Theatre Company, where she was recently honored with the 2025 York Theatre Founders' Award.

Recorded at Reservoir Studios in Manhattan and Bacqué Recording in New Jersey, the album features an exceptional ensemble of musicians including Messiez and Gross on piano, Horacio Romo on bandoneon, Sam Sadigursky on flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, and soprano saxophone, Robert Jost on double bass, and Joshua Samuelson on drums and percussion.

Since its inception, Bordello has received industry readings, concert presentations, and a fully staged workshop production in London. The musical has also been developed at the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and in the York Developmental Reading Series at Theatre Row. It has been recognized by the Pipeline Arts Foundation (Semi-Finalist), the O'Neill National Musical Theatre Conference (Semi-Finalist/2 yrs.), National Alliance for Musical Theatre through an 11th Hour Theatre Company development grant, and the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival (Official Selection).

"At its heart, Bordello is the story of a woman who refused to be defined by what was done to her. Raquel Liberman's courage, determination, and pursuit of justice transformed not only her own life, but the lives of countless others. We are honored to share her story through music and hope this recording inspires audiences to discover her extraordinary legacy." - Barbara Bellman, Joan Ross Sorkin, and Emiliano Messiez

The Bordello concept album is available on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and all worldwide streaming platforms - listen now!

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