Broadway Cast Recordings Released

Fans of the new musical Next To Normal, with a score by Tom Kitt (High Fidelity) and Brian Yorkey will be pleased to know that the original Broadway cast recording is now available for purchase. With 30 songs, the recording is a 2-disc set and features vocals by Alice Ripley and J. Robert Spencer. The Broadway cast album for the new revival of West Side Story, starring newcomer Josefina Scaglione and Karen Olivo (In the Heights), is on the verge of release, set to come out on June 2. (The extremely short-lived new musical The Story of My Life, starring Will Chase and Malcolm Gets, will also have its cast CD released on that day.) Fans of that classic Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim score, featuring songs like "Maria" and "Tonight," will want to get the new recording, especially since it has something prior incarnations don't - Spanish language versions of "I Feel Pretty" and "A Boy Like That". Another Broadway revival, the new production of Hair, also has a recording soon to be released. The Hair CD, boasting the talents of Will Swenson and Gavin Creel, will be out on June 23.

Starry Line-Up To Host Tony Awards

The presenters for the 63rd Annual Tony Awards ceremony have been announced, and it's quite a starry line-up, full of theater celebrities (many who are currently appearing in Broadway shows) and well-known personalities from film and TV too. The stars currently scheduled to present awards and introduce the evening's performances on the telecast are: Will Ferrell, Nicole Kidman, Jane Fonda, Kristin Chenoweth, Anne Hathaway (upcoming Twelfth Night in Central Park), Angela Lansbury (Blithe Spirit), Kevin Spacey, Lauren Graham and Oliver Platt (Guys and Dolls), Jessica Lange, Audra McDonald, Susan Sarandon (Exit the King), Carrie Fisher (upcoming Wishful Drinking), Piper Perabo (Reasons To Be Pretty), Lucie Arnaz, Kate Burton, Edie Falco, Hallie Foote, Colin Hanks, Frank Langella, David Hyde Pierce (Accent on Youth), John Stamos, Chandra Wilson, James Gandolfini, Marcia Gay Harden, Jeff Daniels and Hope Davis (God of Carnage). Neil Patrick Harris will host the ceremony, which will air on June 7, broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall in New York City.