The current Broadway company of “Funny Girl” will release a cast recording. The digital album will be available as of Nov. 18 at 12:01a.m. ET. The CD will be released Jan. 20 and will be available for pre-order beginning Nov. 18.
The 22-track album will be released by Sony Masterworks Broadway, in partnership with Accident Jacket Entertainment and Gemini Theatrical. Produced by David Caddick and David Lai, the cast album features the score by Jule Styne (music) and Bob Merrill (lyrics). The album is co-produced by Sonia Friedman, Scott Landis, David Babani, Michael Mayer, Brian Gillet, Huck Walton, Sean Keller and Marc Levine.
Lea Michele, currently starring as Fanny Brice, shared preliminary news of a cast album at Wednesday night’s curtain call, which was live-streamed on the show’s official Instagram.
“Everyone here is working so incredibly hard every night and also worked so hard in the studio to make such an incredible album,” Michele said during her onstage announcement.
She and Tovah Feldshuh, in the role of Mrs. Brice, joined the company on Sept. 6 and are both featured on the new recording. They replaced Beanie Feldstein and Jane Lynch, respectively.
In addition to Michele and Feldshuh, the current cast of “Funny Girl” also features Ramin Karimloo as Nick Arnstein, Jared Grimes as Eddie Ryan, Peter Francis James as Florenz Ziegfeld, Ephie Aardema as Emma/Mrs. Nadler, Debra Cardona as Mrs. Meeker, Toni diBuono as Mrs. Strakosh and Martin Moran as Tom Keeney. The company also includes Miriam Ali, Amber Ardolino, Daniel Beeman, Colin Bradbury, Kurt Csolak, John Michael Fiumara, Leslie Donna Flesner, Afra Hines, Masumi Iwai, Aliah James, Jeremiah James, Danielle Kelsey, Stephen Mark Lukas, Alicia Lundgren, John Manzari, Liz McCartney, Connor McRory, Katie Mitchell, Justin Prescott, Mariah Reives, Barbara Tirrell, Leslie Blake Walker and Fanny Brice alternate Julie Benko.
Historically, Broadway shows have rarely released albums with replacement casts. The 1994 revival of “Grease” released a second Broadway cast album featuring Brooke Shields, who replaced as Rizzo. The 2003 revival of “Wonderful Town” released a second cast recording, also featuring Shields, who replaced as Ruth. Famously, the original production of “Hello, Dolly!” released a second album when Pearl Bailey replaced as Dolly Gallagher Levi — to name a few. This “Funny Girl” album, featuring Michele and Feldshuh, is the production’s first.
“Funny Girl” began previews at the August Wilson Theatre on March 26 before officially opening on April 24. The revival is produced by Sonia Friedman, Scott Landis and David Babani.
