Tag Archives: Ghostlight Records

Music and Lyrics: William Finn Reviewer: Bryony Luther Falsettos is a groundbreaking musical that explores what makes a modern family. It focuses on Marvin, a neurotic gay man who has left his wife and child to start a relationship with his partner Whizzer but wants everyone to get along as a family. The first act focuses on the domestic dramas ...

Music and Lyrics: Michael John LaChiusa Reviewer: Emily Garside Michael John LaChiusa is a challenging and often divisive composer and the recording of his latest work First Daughter Suite following its staging at the Public Theatre (New York) highlights why LaChiusa is simultaneously critically praised but also seen as a challenging composer. The work is clever, intriguing and musically brilliant, ...

Reviewer: Holly Spanner At just 19 years old, Rachmaninoff gained instant fame with his Prelude in C-Sharp Major. Five years later in 1897, after devoting two years to his first symphony, Symphony No 1 in D Minor, was appallingly received. Partly due to the conductor at the premiere, Alexander Glazunov, being so drunk he conducted like a zombie and partly ...

Music: Barbara Anselmi Book &Lyrics: Brian Hargrove Reviewer: Mark Clegg Many times in the past perfectly good musicals have failed for no discernible reason. It Shoulda Been You sadly only lasted 135 performances (after previews) but the probable source of its downfall is extremely apparent on this original soundtrack recording that has just been released. However let’s start with the ...

Book: Itamar Moses Music and lyrics: Michael Friedman Reviewer: John Roberts Based on Jonathan Lethem’s cult novel of the same name, The Fortress of Solitude is a fresh and vibrant mix of musical styles and modern beats by the composer of rock musical Bloody Bloody Angry Jackson, blending together sounds of the past with more recent musical theatre styles to ...

Music &Lyrics: Matt Sax Book &Lyrics: Eric Rosen Additional Music: Curtis Moore Reviewer: May Mellstrom Taking initial inspiration from Shakespeare’s Othello, Matt Sax and Eric Rosen presented their contemporary musical Venice at New York’s Public Theater in 2013. With its fusion of musical styles including hip-hop, rock, techno and R&B much of the score would not sound out of place ...

Book, Music &Lyrics: Ted Shen Reviewer: Holly Spanner There is something comforting in knowing you can start over. But when change is forced upon you through circumstances beyond your control, how do you find the mindset to embrace this change? A Second Chance begins when dreamy eyed divorcee Jenna meets grieving widower Dan at a dinner party. The pair hit ...

Reviewer: Ray Taylor Who among us of a certain age does not regard Carôle King as one of the most gifted songwriter/performers of her or any generation? She is up there with the best of them, writing and performing some of rock history’s most iconic songs that defined an era and still speak to a contemporary audience. Her songs blend ...