Our 25 Favorite Cast Recordings of 2025

As the year draws to a close, we’re feeling grateful for all the great cast recordings released in 2025.

From Broadway to the West End and beyond, there are plenty of fresh cast recordings to enjoy.

In a fitting tribute to the year, here are 25 of our favorites to update your playlists with!

The Book Thief

Two years after its world premiere, the cast recording of The Book Thief arrived in March. The stage adaptation of Markus Zusak’s much-loved novel has music and lyrics by Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson. Now, we don’t want to assume, but we hope this means another chapter for this five-star new musical, which has had regional tryouts in the UK, especially after its recent West End concerts!

Boop!

The classic cartoon character was brought to vivid technicolour on Broadway! David Foster and Susan Birkenhead’s zippy tunes are sung gorgeously by Jasmine Amy Rogers, who Boop-oop-a-doop’d herself a Tony nomination for her Broadway debut.

Bronco Billy

New musical Bronco Billy (based on the hit Clint Eastwood film) rolled into London in 2024 with an impressive cast including Emily Benjamin, Tarinn Callender and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt! You can hear them, and all of the other Wild West roustabouts on the album.

Buena Vista Social Club

The Buena Vista Social Club band received a special Tony Award this year, and with one listen of the cast recording, it’s easy to understand why. The hit show made history as the first musical on Broadway featuring an entire score sung in Spanish, and is, of course, inspired by the artists who recorded the original album.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

It was only a “Matter of Time” before The Curious Case of Benjamin Button allowed us a taste of the Pickled Crab at home. In the West End, the show became a firm fan favorite this year, even picking up the Olivier for Best New Musical.

Death Becomes Her

Tell me, Ernest, how obsessed with Death Becomes Her are you? Like so many, we can’t get enough of Megan Hilty, Jennifer Simard, and co on the cast recording – filled with snappy tunes that wiggle into the subconscious.

The Devil Wears Prada

If you want to know how to survive at Runway or how to dress your way up, you should tune in to the new cast recording from the original West End cast of The Devil Wears Prada! Featuring a score by Elton John and Shaina Taub, you can hear performances from the likes of Vanessa Williams, who stars in the updated UK staging. That’s all.

Drag: The Musical Live

Alaska Thunderfuck’s sequin-studded musical comedy has played in Hollywood and New York City with a rotating cast of Drag Race faves. It follows two rival drag clubs owned by former lovers. Reportedly, a London production is in the works, so you should practice your lip-sync! Did I forget to mention that Liza Minnelli features?

Evita

Keep on that “Rainbow High” from Evita summer with the West End cast recording, led by Rachel Zegler. Featuring ten tracks and recorded live at The London Palladium, fans can expect a full album next year, too. The treats keep rollin’ in!

Floyd Collins

Adam Guettel’s Floyd Collins was revived on Broadway earlier this year, with Jeremy Jordan, Taylor Trensch and Lizzy McAlpine among the cast. So you can only imagine how gorgeously haunting this folksy recording about a trapped cave explorer is…

Gypsy

Audra McDonald’s performance at the Tony Awards was one of our highlights of the year! The most recent Broadway revival saw an all-star cast take on some of musical theatre’s best numbers. May they entertain you!

Heathers the Musical: Deluxe Edition

This summer, Heathers returned home to New World Stages! To celebrate that and the tenth anniversary, a deluxe edition of the original world premiere cast recording has been released. Expect all of your favorites as well as bonus tracks of the tunes added to the London premiere, and a brand-new song, “One by One,” performed by Ingrid Michaelson and Gizel Jiménez. “Big Fun!”

Hercules

Bless your soul with these vocal assassins from Athens! Hercules has gone the distance in the West End, and their performances have been immortalised on record. And that’s the gospel truth!

The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical

Attention, demigods! The London premiere cast recording features “the updated orchestrations and arrangements first introduced on tour and Broadway but never previously recorded”, as well as “cut material restored for the London run, expanded vocal moments, and a larger ensemble”.

Maybe Happy Ending

The story of two retired service robots who embark on a cross-country trip and fall in love bagged this year’s Tony winner for Best Musical. Darren Criss (who also picked up a Tony) and Helen J Shen feature in the charming new musical.

Next to Normal

Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s much-loved musical has its UK premiere in 2023, and the new production made us all feel oh so alive. Starring Caissie Levy and Jack Wolfe, who are both now gracing Broadway stages, the cast recording arrived earlier this year alongside the filmed performance.

Oliver!

Just when we thought we couldn’t get much more from the WhatsOnStage Award-winning show after its West End transfer, the new production released a cast recording! Now we’ll be “Oom-Pah-Pah”-ing seven days a week!

Once Upon a Mattress

Sutton Foster, Michael Urie, and more famously un-Shy talented theatre royalty lend their voices to the 2024 Broadway cast recording, which arrived earlier this year.

Real Women Have Curves

Despite being a fan hit on the Great White Way, the new musical was short-lived. Luckily for those who didn’t get a chance to see it, there’s a brilliant cast recording (produced by Julio Reyes Copello) to enjoy. It’s no wonder the show received a Tony nomination for its score, with a Latin American flavour. Meet dreamer Ana, who’s ready to pursue a life in New York City, much to her parents’ dismay.

Redwood

Idina Menzel’s anticipated return to Broadway was the central point of this new musical about grief and letting go. While it was praised for its visual effects, the album contains some solid rock musical theatre bangers, delivered by one of the world’s most distinctive voices.

Smash

Fans of the TV show will likely recognise at least a few of the Marc Shaiman/Scott Wittman numbers featured in the musical about staging a musical about Marilyn Monroe. Meanwhile, newcomers will delight in the syrupy tunes.

Starlight Express Deluxe

Despite what the number may say, we don’t think you can have “One Rock ‘N’ Roll Too Many” when it comes to the multi-WhatsOnStage Award-winning Starlight Express and its cast recording. On the deluxe edition, fans can find eight new remixes to play while they’re “Pumping Iron”!

Swept Away

Americana band the Avett Brothers provided the music for the tale of a 19th-century shipwreck and its survivors. The Prologue sets out the intention: to tell our story, tell it true, and tell it full.

Why Am I So Single?

The meta-musical from the writers of Six, Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, is full of clever puns, catchy tunes, fresh lyrics, and viral moments. Chock-a-block with lengthy, story-telling numbers, you can catch up (and possibly relate) with the dating woes of two besties pretty quickly.

The Witches

The National Theatre’s stage adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Witches enchanted audiences a couple of years ago, and a cast recording has finally landed! We wonder what this means for the future of the production…

Your Lie in April

Manga musical Your Lie in April arrived in London first in an English-language concert, before a full-blown production with some show-stopping moments. They made history by bringing the first manga musical to play in the West End and to have a full Asian and Southeast Asian cast in a West End musical.