973 stories by "Michael Portantiere"
Original Broadway Cast, 2026 (Sony Masterworks Broadway) The Queen of Versailles was the most high-profile failure of the 2025/2026 Broadway season, abruptly closing after a very brief and t…
Original Off-Broadway Cast, 2026 (Center Stage Records) Listeners looking for a standard, story-driven musical theatre score will instead find here one that values dreamlike atmosphere ove…
Original Off Broadway Cast, 2026 (JAY Records) The whimsical premise of this musical is that Romeo Montague, of Shakespearean fame, does not die at the end of the play in which he’s one of…
Original Broadway Cast, 2011 (Ghostlight) The presence of leading men Aaron Tveit and Norbert Leo Butz guaranteed high expectations for this stage musical adaptation of Steven Spielberg’s …
Despite his highly distinctive physical appearance, Jesse Tyler Ferguson's versatility as an actor has allowed him to triumph in roles as disparate as a naïve young sailor in On the Town,…
Opera North Cast, 2025 (Capriccio) Since its 1948 Broadway premiere, Love Life has existed primarily as a legend in musical theater history, a famously unrecorded collaboration between Kurt …
Original Off-Broadway Cast, 1979 (DRG) Â When anthropologists set out to decode the raw, unvarnished theater scene of late-1970s New York, their fieldwork should probably start with this …
Original London Cast, 2024 (If I Believed Ltd) This recording of Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) showcases the score of a charming, two-character show, but it struggles to maint…
Film Soundtrack, 1997 (Walt Disney Records) Â Hercules is plausibly one of the Disney studio's wittiest animated musicals, leaning heavily on meta-humor and pop-culture riffs " especially …
Original Broadway Cast, 2025 (Audible and Yellow Sound Label) One of Broadway's most versatile composers, David Yazbek collaborated with Erik Della Penna in creating the music and lyrics for…
Original Broadway Cast, 2013 (Shout! Broadway) Carolee Carmello was tasked with carrying this show in the role of charismatic evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, playing the character from ag…
Original Broadway Cast, 2025 (Concord Theatricals) Smash was a short-lived TV series about a group of people trying to put together a Broadway musical based on the life and career of Marilyn…
Original Off-Broadway Cast, 2010 (Ghostlight) Composer and lyricist Adam Gwon crafted this four-person musical as a celebration of the ordinary, everyday facets of the human experience. The …
Original Broadway Cast, 2025 (Atlantic Records) One sign of a true star is that the performer in question can triumph in a role in which they're arguably miscast. A famous example of this is…
Original Broadway Cast, 2019 (Warner Bros. Records) For many people, Cher " pop goddess, ageless wonder, beloved survivor in gold lamé " is more than an icon, she's practically part of our …
Original Broadway Cast, 2012 (Ghostlight) Leap of Faith endured a critical drubbing when it opened on Broadway in 2012, receiving multiple pans for the music by Alan Menken, the lyrics by Gl…
Original Broadway Cast, 2007 (Ghostlight) When this show was announced, Broadway purists everywhere clutched their pearls and groaned "Not another film-to-stage adaptation!" But there it was…
Original Broadway Cast, 2025 (World Circuit Records) This cast album is full of Cuban music, a genre that has rarely if ever been showcased on Broadway. The title of the show, Buena Vista So…
Original Broadway Cast, 2025 (Ghostlight) "Refreshing" is an apt choice of word to describe this album. The snappy opening number, "Make It Work," draws listeners in, and the score has sever…
Original Broadway Cast, 2025 (Melody Place Theatrical) Â Boop! invites listeners into a vibrant and whimsical world, guided by music from 16-time Grammy Award winner David Foster and lyri…
Original Broadway Cast, 2025 (Sony Masterworks Broadway) Â Redwood, which lasted only 127 performances on Broadway, has a score that exposes several of the musical's inherent weaknesses e…
Original London Cast, 2023 (Sony Masterworks Broadway) Â This show was a smash hit in London, winning the Olivier Award for Best New Musical, and its original company of five actors trans…
Original Broadway Cast, 2025 (Concord Theatricals) Would anyone really want to live forever? Only if it's with Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard. These two leading ladies are the crown jewels …
Original Broadway Cast, 2014 (Masterworks Broadway) At the time of its opening, If/Then was hailed as Idina Menzel's return to the Broadway stage after starring in Wicked almost a decade ear…
Original Broadway Cast, 2007 (Ghostlight) This show is based on the 1995 novel of the same title, written by Nick Hornby, and the film version of the property that was produced in 2000 to a …
