977 stories by "Michael Portantiere"
Original Off-Broadway Cast, 2008 (P.S. Classics) You might think The Adding Machine, Elmer Rice's 1923 expressionist drama, an unlikely candidate for musical adaptation. It's a bleak tale of…
Film Soundtrack, 1951 (MGM/Rhino-Turner/Watertower Music) In the 1990s, Turner Entertainment restored one of MGM's greatest musicals, An American In Paris. The restoration turned up the stud…
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1992 (Walt Disney) Listening to the soundtrack recording of this 1992 movie that starred a young Christian Bale (well before his days headlining much …
The program for the Mint Theater Company's production of N.C. Hunter's A Day by the Sea tells us that the author "took his place among the leading British dramatists of the 1950s," but it's …
Original Broadway Cast, 2006 (Masterworks Broadway) Antipathy towards screen-to-stage adaptations influenced a great many reactions to this tuner that musicalized the 1998 Adam Sandler movie…
Original London Cast, 2016 (Concord Records) Duncan Sheik's score for this musical adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' savage (in all senses of the word), satiric novel marvelously captures the…
Original Broadway Cast, 2005 (Rhino) Jersey Boys tells the true story of the rise of the phenomenally successful 1960s pop singing group The Four Seasons " or, at least, true to whoever is i…
Original Broadway Cast, 2014 (Ghostlight) Based on a novel by Roy Horniman that also inspired the film Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder is pure wit…
Original Broadway Cast, 2006 (Verve) Even with the success of such shows as Hair and Rent, the original pop/rock musical theater score has had a spotty history on Broadway, but it saw a majo…
Film Soundtrack, 1989 (Disney) After a decades-long dry spell, Disney film animation finally sprang to life again with The Little Mermaid, a musical adaptation of the children's story by Han…
Original London Cast, 2006 (Decca Broadway) Based on the film written by Lee Hall, who did double duty for the stage musical as librettist and lyricist, Billy Elliot tells of a Northern Engl…
Original Broadway Cast, 2009 (Sh-K-Boom) If Spring Awakening marked the successful comeback of the original pop/rock musical theater score, then Next to Normal helped insure its future. Part…
“The Sound of Musicals,” is a monthly podcast devoted to musical theatre recordings of all types, including Broadway cast albums, London cast albums, studio cast albums, and soun…
The 72nd annual Theatre World Awards, honoring "outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway significant, reviewable debut performances," were presented last evening in a ceremony at Circle in the S…
Original Broadway Cast, 2006 (Ghostlight) This might be the first Broadway musical with commentary written into the script. Alone in his apartment, a musical theater devotee anonymously name…
Original Broadway Cast, 2005 (Nonesuch) The Light in the Piazza seemed to re-open the door for lush scores and musicals of honest sentiment of the type not seen since Rodgers and Hammers…
Original Broadway Cast, 2009 (Rhino) Winner of 2010 Tony Awards for Best Musical, Book, Original Score, and Orchestrations, Memphis charts an enjoyable journey through the pioneering days of…
Guards at the Taj (Outstanding Play), FUTURITY (Outstanding Musical), and The Robber Bridegroom (Outstanding Revival) were among the big winners at the 2016 Lucille Lortel Awards honoring ex…
Original Off-Broadway Cast, 2013 (Ghostlight) Some musical theater writers have had great difficulty adapting epic, classic novels for the stage: Doctor Zhivago, Jane Eyre, East of Eden, etc…
“The Sound of Musicals,” is a monthly podcast devoted to musical theatre recordings of all types, including Broadway cast albums, London cast albums, studio cast albums, and soun…
Original Broadway Cast, 2011 (Ghostlight) When it was announced that the creators of South Park were writing a Broadway musical, with one of the songwriters of Avenue Q, no less, everyone ex…
Original Broadway Cast, 2013 (Sony Masterworks Broadway) Kinky Boots marked 80's pop icon Cyndi Lauper's debut as a Broadway songwriter. Based on the film of the same title, the musical is a…
Original London Cast, 2013 (RSC) This recording reflects the Royal Shakespeare Company's world premiere production of the musical Matilda, based on Roald Dahl's book about a precocious, five…
Original Broadway Cast, 2014 (Ghostlight) Robert James Waller's novel about an Italian war bride's brief affair with a photographer who passes through her Iowa town became a cultural phenome…
Original Broadway Cast, 2008 (Ghostlight, 2CDs) Winner of 2008 Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Orchestrations, In the Heights was the first Broadway musical hit t…
