Benanti, Butz, Callaway, Gunn, McDonald, Sondheim, Wilson, et al. Set for New Allegro CD

Sony Masterworks Broadway will release a special studio recording of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1947 musical Allegro
, which tells the story of an earnest country doctor from cradle to adulthood, on Tuesday, February 3. The CD is produced by David Lai, Bruce Pomahac, and Ted Chapin.

The CD will feature Patrick Wilson as Joe Taylor, Jr.; Nathan Gunn and Audra McDonald as Joe’s parents; Marni Nixon as Joe’s Grandma; Judy Kuhn as Beulah; Liz Callaway as Emily; Laura Benanti as Jennie; and Norbert Leo Butz as Charlie. It also features solos by Judith Blazer, Maureen Brennan, Ashley Brown, Danny Burstein, and Kathy Morath, as well as a full chorus and a children’s chorus.

The CD features a host of noteworthy cameos including former New York City Cultural Affairs Commissioner Schuyler Chapin; Senior Minister of All Souls Unitarian Church Galen Guengerich; Lincoln Center Theater Executive Producer Bernard Gersten; theater scribes Howard Kissel and John Simon; Broadway veterans Ray DeMattis, Harvey Evans, and Kurt Peterson; and the musical’s original production assistant, Stephen Sondheim.

Larry Blank conducts the 50-piece Istropolis Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring the original orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett and dance arrangements by Trude Rittmann. Bruce Pomahac is the musical director and Ben Whiteley is the choral director (with choral arrangements by Crane Calder).

On February 3, the company will also release digital recordings of the 1965 Music Theatre of Lincoln Center production of Carousel, starring Robert Merrill and Patrice Munsel; the 1952 studio recording of Oklahoma, with a cast led by Nelson Eddy; and the New York Philharmonic’s performances of Rodgers’ music, conducted by the composer. In addition, the company announced it will release a special 50th Anniversary edition of the original cast recording of The Sound of Music in 1959.

For more information, visit www.sonybmgmasterworks.com.