'Gardens' and 'Drowsy' Recordings

Last night I was listening to PS Classics' excellent new recording of Grey Gardens on in the iPod, switching back and forth between the off-Broadway recording and the new one. It was really a delight to have the ability to compare the two. While I imagine that most people have probably heard about the fact that, after the company has sold out of the first cast recording, it will go out-of-print, I thought it would be a good idea to do a quick reminder about the two recordings.

Normally, this would not be a big deal, but in the case of Grey Gardens, where the creatives (Doug Wright, book; Scott Frankel, music; and Michael Korie, lyrics) have done such a masterful job in reshaping their material from the off-Broadway incarnation of the musical to the Broadway version, it's sort of imperative, in my humble opinion, to have both discs. Even if you're not a diehard fan of the show, the changes really do give what I think should be a textbook case of how to revise a musical. To make the case even stronger, PS Classics is selling the older version of the Grey Gardens disc for a mere $4.95.

In a similar – but not quite - dual release, Ghostlight Records has done a second pressing of the vinyl recording of The Drowsy Chaperone and it's available through their website. I've not had a chance to play the LP, but have become very fond of the CD that comes with the vinyl disc. As great as it is to have the commentary from Bob Martin as "Man in Chair" on the original CD, I find just zipping between the "Chaperone" songs proper is a real treat. If this ease of listen factor isn't enough to convince you, let me also mention that there's some fun dialogue on here that's not on the original cast "Chaperone" disc, and the packaging for the album is a witty treat.

Until next time,

Andy Propst