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Sometimes we breeze past an “Author’s Note” because we’re so anxious to get to the meat of a book. Don’t do that with Thomas Mallon’s new 337-page tome. “UP WITH THE SUN,” he wrote, “is a fictionalized rendering of Dick Kallman’s life and death. It is inspired by actual events that have been considerably altered […]

Is KPOP the first cast album in which the booklet’s lyrics are printed in Korean? No. With all the American musicals that have proliferated and profited in South Korea – EVITA and MAN OF LA MANCHA among them – their cast albums have long had bi-lingual liner notes and lyrics. But yes, this two-language set […]

And now for a very different homage to a 50th anniversary. Much has been made here in recent weeks of some great 1973 events in musical theater. Two involved a certain composer-lyricist whose first name is Stephen. His A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC opened 50 years ago last month, and SONDHEIM: A MUSICAL TRIBUTE was celebrated […]

I don’t remember exactly where I was on March 11, 1973, but I certainly know where I wasn’t. Alas, you wouldn’t have found me at the Shubert Theatre in New York where SONDHEIM: A MUSICAL TRIBUTE was happening. That Sunday night, I was probably in my suburban Boston home watching M*A*S*H and Mannix when I […]

My turntable is spinning again. Recent vinyl reissues of some vintage cast albums and vinyl debuts of some new ones have me dropping a tone arm and stylus – the fancy term for needle – on one black platter after another. No – not every one of these cast albums is on black vinyl. Because […]