SH-K-BUZZ from Sh-K-Boom & Ghostlight Records

“A surge of oxygen pours through the original cast albums of “In the Heights” and “Passing Strange,” two musicals that have shown Broadway how to revitalize a somnolent form this season…”

So begins the glowing new New York Times article that focuses on our two recent cast album releases, In the Heights and Passing Strange. (I have to admit that I squealed a little when I saw our gorgeous recording session photos in print!)

Read it here!

- Katie (The Sh-K-Marketing Guru)

Congrats go to all the nominees and winners at last night’s Tony Awards, but we want to send big sh-k-shout-outs to the winners who we’ve been lucky enough to work with to create their original cast recordings and solo albums:

IN THE HEIGHTS
Best Musical
Best Score
Best Orchestrations
Best Choreography

PASSING STRANGE
Best Book

PATTI LUPONE
Best Actress in a Musical (Gypsy)

Now it’s on to a new season…stay tuned for what’s next!

USA Today has chosen Passing Strange’s “Work the Wound” as one of the best tracks to download this week! They say:

“Who knew that an indie rocker would come closest to channeling Stephen Sondheim’s spirit this Broadway season? With the piercing Wound and other tracks on the Tony-nominated Passing Strange’s original cast recording Stew and co-composer Heidi Rodewald deliver sophisticated, melodic songs, delightfully witty and painfully poignant. Stew thinks with his heart as well as his head, and that makes all the difference.”

Download “Work the Wound” now on iTunes or pre-order the full CD from our site and get it shipped first.

Pre-Order Here.

Plus! COMBO SALE! Buy In the Heights & Passing Strange Together for Just $27.99

The live Original Broadway Cast Recording of Passing Strange is now available for download on iTunes! to be taken to the Passing Strange page in Apple’s online store to get the full album or to download your favorite tracks. (But truly, we don’t know how you could choose!)

Or are you already listening to it on a loop like us?! If so, make sure to leave a review on iTunes and let others know how wonderful it is.

We decided to release the album to iTunes first to get the music out to you faster, but CDs are on their way! If you’d prefer to have the album in your hands, the release date has been set for July 15. Stay tuned and we’ll let you know when it’s available to pre-order through Sh-K-Boom.com.

Could it be that MTV has finally caught on to how good Broadway can be? Check out the MTV news article on Passing Strange and In the Heights.

Rock seems to have had an easier transition to the Broadway stage than hip-hop, but that’s changing with “In the Heights,” which led the 2008 Tony Award nominations with 13 nods. “It surprises me that no one has put hip-hop and Latin music into a Broadway musical before me,” “Heights” composer/narrator Lin-Manuel Miranda said. “We really tried to use the music of Washington Heights — salsa, reggaeton, hip-hop — and we use it to tell a story.”

“I think the theater needs rappers and rock bands and techno and everything,” Stew said. “The theater needs every actual music that’s actually happening in the world, you know? Because the audience for the new musical, they’re out there. They listen to music all the time. We live in a music-obsessed society, you know? Stuff like us or ‘Spring Awakening,’ it shouldn’t be an aberration. It shouldn’t be strange. It should be normal.”

Bravo to the Passing Strange ensemble!

“Passing Strange was named Outstanding Musical at the 53rd Annual Drama Desk Awards, which were presented May 18 in the F.H. LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center.” - Playbill

Also, congratulations to Stew and Heidi Rodewald for their Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics for Passing Strange!

On May 27, the Passing Strange cast album will be released on iTunes, making it the first Broadway album ever to be released via Apple. The cast CD will hit stores in July.

Three cheers for In the Heights and Passing Strange, which both pulled in several Tony nominations this morning, including both being recognized for their original musical scores!

We’re so proud to be releasing both cast albums in the next few weeks on Ghostlight Records. You can pre-order your In the Heights CD now and Passing Strange will be available for digital download on iTunes on May 27.

Check out each show’s total list of nominations:

IN THE HEIGHTS - 13 nominations
Best Musical
Best Original Score
Best Direction
Best Book
Best Orchestrations
Best Choreography
Best Scenic, Lighting & Costume Design
Best Sound Design
Best Lead Actor, Lin-Manuel Miranda
Best Featured Actress, Olga Merediz
Best Featured Actor, Robin de Jesus

PASSING STRANGE - 7 nominations
Best Musical
Best Original Score
Best Book
Best Orchestrations
Best Lead Actor, Stew
Best Featured Actress, de’Adre Aziza
Best Featured Actor, Daniel Breaker

Congrats also to Ghostlight solo artists Kelli O’Hara and Patti Lupone, who were both nominated in the Best Leading Actress in a Musical category for their performances in South Pacific and Gypsy.

For a full list of nominees, check out Broadway.com.

You can get your hands on the live cast album of Passing Strange on May 27th exclusively on iTunes, weeks before the CD will be available in stores in July! This is a first for both Broadway and Apple and we think there’s no better show and no better fans to test the waters on helping the Great White Way go digital.

Ghostlight President and Passing Strange album producer Kurt Deutsch says, “”We finished mastering the album yesterday, and wanted to get the music to fans as quickly as we could. With the technology that exists today, we’re able to do that.”

In case you missed it, the Original Cast Album of this celebrated production was recorded in front of a live audience, in a dynamic session on stage at the Belasco Theatre. Variety has more on this Broadway first, including more from Kurt.

Send us an email to be reminded when the full Passing Strange recording is available for download.