Road Show

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Release Date
DescriptionExcerpt

Road Show reunites Stephen Sondheim (music, lyrics) and John Weidman (book), the creative team behind 2003's Bounce, and re-examines its tale of the real-life Mizner brothers, Addison (Alexander Gemignani) and Wilson (Michael Cerveris). New York called Road Show “a boisterous picaresque about two brothers flimflamming their way from the Yukon to Boca Raton at the turn of the 20th century.”

Description

“A boisterous picaresque about two brothers flimflamming their way from the Yukon to Boca Raton at the turn of the twentieth century.” —New York

Nonesuch Records and PS Classics released the original cast recording of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Road Show—from 2008's Public Theater production—on June 30, 2009. The play was directed by John Doyle, the score conducted by Mary-Mitchell Campbell and orchestrated by Jonathan Tunick. Recorded in New York City in 2009, Road Show features Alexander Gemignani (Addison Mizner), Michael Cerveris (Wilson Mizner), Claybourne Elder (Hollis Bessemer), Alma Cuervo (Mama Mizner), and William Parry (Papa Mizner) and was produced by Tommy Krasker. Nonesuch released the cast recording of an earlier incarnation of Road ShowBounce, also created by Sondheim and Weidman—in 2004.

Spanning 40 years, from the Alaskan Gold Rush to the Florida real estate boom in the 1930s, Road Show is the story of two brothers whose quest for the American dream turns into a test of morality and judgment that changes their lives in unexpected ways. Director John Doyle (Sweeney Todd and Company on Broadway), acclaimed for re-imagining Sondheim’s works, joins Weidman and Sondheim in exploring two of America’s great issues: capitalism and crooks.

John Weidman (book) also wrote the book for Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures and Assassins. He co-authored, with Timothy Crouse, the new book for Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes. Additionally, he wrote the book for Big and co-created Contact with Susan Stroman. His musical Happiness, written with Michael Korie and Scott Frankel and directed by Susan Stroman, opened at Lincoln Center Theater in the spring of 2009.

ProductionCredits

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Recording produced by Tommy Krasker
Recorded February 23, 2009, at Avatar Studios, New York, NY
Recorded and mixed by Tom Lazarus
Edited by Bart Migal
Assistant engineers: Bob Mallory, Brian Montgomery
Mastered by Bart Migal
 
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by John Weidman
Directed and Set Designed by John Doyle
 
Design by Barbara deWilde
Stage photography by Joan Marcus
Recording session photography by Shaun Mader
Cover photography: El Mirasol, Historical Society of Palm Beach County; Times Square in New York City, © Museum of History and Industry/CORBIS; Man Singing to Elephant, Miami Beach, Fla., 1924 April 21, Claude Matlack Collection, Historical Museum of Southern Florida; Prospectors in Tent Settlement at Chilkoot Pass, © Bettmann/CORBIS

Recording Executive Producer: Sean Patrick Flahaven

Nonesuch Selection Number

518940

Number of Discs in Set
1disc
Album Status
Artist Name
Stephen Sondheim
MusicianDetails

MUSICIANS
Cast:
Wilson Mizner: Michael Cerveris (1, 3-7, 13-17)
Mama Mizner: Alma Cuervo (1, 3, 5-8, 14, 15, 17)
Hollis Bessemer: Claybourne Elder (1, 3, 5-7, 10-12, 14, 15, 17)
Addison Mizner: Alexander Gemignani (1, 3-6, 11, 12, 14-17)
Papa Mizner: William Parry (1-3, 5-7, 14, 15, 17)
Ensemble: Aisha De Haas, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Mylinda Hull, Mel Johnson, Jr., Orville Mendoza, Anne L. Nathan, Tom Nelis, Matthew Stocke, William Youmans, Kristine Zbornik
 
Orchestra:
Mary-Mitchell Campbell, conductor, keyboard
Reeds: James Ercole, Steven Lyon, Les Scott
Brass: Stu Satalof, Dave Gale, trumpets; Vincent Fanuele, trombone
Drums, percussion: Billy Miller
Strings: Victor Heifets, Elizabeth Lim-Dutton, violin; Ken Burward Hoy, viola; Deborah Sepe, cello; Raymond Kilday, bass
Music Preparation: Katharine Edmonds/Emily Grishman
Orchestra contractor: Seymour Red Press

Cover Art
UPC/Price
Label
CD+MP3
UPC
075597982497BUN
Label
MP3
Price
9.00
UPC
075597982480
Label
CD+MP3 (SALE)
Price
0.00
UPC
075597982497
  • 518940

News & Reviews

  • Composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim died at his home in Connecticut today at the age of 91. "An intellectually rigorous artist who perpetually sought new creative paths, Mr. Sondheim was the theater’s most revered and influential composer-lyricist of the last half of the 20th century," writes the New York Times in its obituary. Several Broadway, film, and original cast productions of his works have been recorded for Nonesuch Records, including A Little Night Music, Road Show, Sweeney Todd, Company, Bounce, Into the Woods, The Frogs, Evening Primrose, Saturday Night, and Gypsy. His songs have also been featured on Nonesuch albums by Mandy Patinkin, Audra McDonald, and Dawn Upshaw.

  • Steve Reich will publish Conversations, a new book, via HarperCollins' Hanover Square Press, on March 8, 2022. In the book, the composer speaks with collaborators, fellow composers, musicians, and visual artists influenced by his work—including Nonesuch Records Chairman Emeritus Robert Hurwitz, Jonny Greenwood, Kronos Quartet's David Harrington, Stephen Sondheim, Nico Muhly, Brian Eno, Michael Gordon, and others—to reflect on his prolific career as a composer as well as the music that inspired him and that has been inspired by him. The New York Times calls it "a surprising, enlightening series of conversations that shed new light on the music and career of 'our greatest living composer.'" The New Yorker says: "Through this series of insightful, wide-ranging conversations starting from his student days to the present pandemic, we gain a compelling glimpse into the mind of 'the most original musical thinker of our time.'"

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  • About This Album

    “A boisterous picaresque about two brothers flimflamming their way from the Yukon to Boca Raton at the turn of the twentieth century.” —New York

    Nonesuch Records and PS Classics released the original cast recording of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Road Show—from 2008's Public Theater production—on June 30, 2009. The play was directed by John Doyle, the score conducted by Mary-Mitchell Campbell and orchestrated by Jonathan Tunick. Recorded in New York City in 2009, Road Show features Alexander Gemignani (Addison Mizner), Michael Cerveris (Wilson Mizner), Claybourne Elder (Hollis Bessemer), Alma Cuervo (Mama Mizner), and William Parry (Papa Mizner) and was produced by Tommy Krasker. Nonesuch released the cast recording of an earlier incarnation of Road ShowBounce, also created by Sondheim and Weidman—in 2004.

    Spanning 40 years, from the Alaskan Gold Rush to the Florida real estate boom in the 1930s, Road Show is the story of two brothers whose quest for the American dream turns into a test of morality and judgment that changes their lives in unexpected ways. Director John Doyle (Sweeney Todd and Company on Broadway), acclaimed for re-imagining Sondheim’s works, joins Weidman and Sondheim in exploring two of America’s great issues: capitalism and crooks.

    John Weidman (book) also wrote the book for Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures and Assassins. He co-authored, with Timothy Crouse, the new book for Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes. Additionally, he wrote the book for Big and co-created Contact with Susan Stroman. His musical Happiness, written with Michael Korie and Scott Frankel and directed by Susan Stroman, opened at Lincoln Center Theater in the spring of 2009.

    Credits

    MUSICIANS
    Cast:
    Wilson Mizner: Michael Cerveris (1, 3-7, 13-17)
    Mama Mizner: Alma Cuervo (1, 3, 5-8, 14, 15, 17)
    Hollis Bessemer: Claybourne Elder (1, 3, 5-7, 10-12, 14, 15, 17)
    Addison Mizner: Alexander Gemignani (1, 3-6, 11, 12, 14-17)
    Papa Mizner: William Parry (1-3, 5-7, 14, 15, 17)
    Ensemble: Aisha De Haas, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Mylinda Hull, Mel Johnson, Jr., Orville Mendoza, Anne L. Nathan, Tom Nelis, Matthew Stocke, William Youmans, Kristine Zbornik
     
    Orchestra:
    Mary-Mitchell Campbell, conductor, keyboard
    Reeds: James Ercole, Steven Lyon, Les Scott
    Brass: Stu Satalof, Dave Gale, trumpets; Vincent Fanuele, trombone
    Drums, percussion: Billy Miller
    Strings: Victor Heifets, Elizabeth Lim-Dutton, violin; Ken Burward Hoy, viola; Deborah Sepe, cello; Raymond Kilday, bass
    Music Preparation: Katharine Edmonds/Emily Grishman
    Orchestra contractor: Seymour Red Press

    PRODUCTION CREDITS
    Recording produced by Tommy Krasker
    Recorded February 23, 2009, at Avatar Studios, New York, NY
    Recorded and mixed by Tom Lazarus
    Edited by Bart Migal
    Assistant engineers: Bob Mallory, Brian Montgomery
    Mastered by Bart Migal
     
    Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
    Book by John Weidman
    Directed and Set Designed by John Doyle
     
    Design by Barbara deWilde
    Stage photography by Joan Marcus
    Recording session photography by Shaun Mader
    Cover photography: El Mirasol, Historical Society of Palm Beach County; Times Square in New York City, © Museum of History and Industry/CORBIS; Man Singing to Elephant, Miami Beach, Fla., 1924 April 21, Claude Matlack Collection, Historical Museum of Southern Florida; Prospectors in Tent Settlement at Chilkoot Pass, © Bettmann/CORBIS

    Recording Executive Producer: Sean Patrick Flahaven