Broadway Records (https://www.broadwayrecords.
For 16 STORIES, The Australian Discovery Orchestra (ADO) , regarded by many as the world’s most innovative professional symphony orchestra, sought out 16 renowned musical theatre creators from around the world, each contributing a song from a musical they have written that has never previously been released publicly.
16 STORIES features 16 performers from around the world, discovered via a global vocal competition who appear on the album. The featured vocalists are Stephanie Adams (Camelot at Bay Street), Mariana Bravo (Rio Uphill, York Theatre), Chris Dwan (2019 Off-Broadway Little Shop Of Horrors), Claire DeJean (“The Voice”), Michael D’Elia (Dorian’s Descent), Scott Dreier (Doris and Me), Michael J. Farina (Seussical, Fiddler on the Roof), Madeleine Featherby (Electric Dreams, Melbourne), Sarah Krauss (Women of Broadway), Adrian Li Donni (Muriel’s Wedding Australia), Jenni Little (Kinky Boots Australia), Marc Mackinnon (Peer Gynt, London National Theatre), Michael McCorry Rose (A Gentleman’s Guide To Love and Murder, Wicked, National Tour: Anastasia), Anouska Taylor (BBC Proms) and Clayton Walker.
ADO Principal Conductor Kevin Purcell says, “16 STORIES is an album that sets out to showcase the extraordinary influence that American Musical Theatre has globally. The audience for contemporary musical theatre is huge when you look at the numbers across the combined streaming services. Listeners also love singing the songs from contemporary musicals as they often relate directly to the experience of their own lives – and that is true of the songs on this record.”
16 STORIES Track List:
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16 Bars – Vocal: Mariana Bravo. Music & Lyrics by Peter Mills. From The Taxi Cabaret
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The Spark – Vocal: Michael McCorry Rose. Music by Michael Kooman; Lyrics by Christopher Dimond. From The Enlightenment of Percival Von Schmootz
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Long Way Home – Vocal: Michael D’Elia. Music & Lyrics by Nikko Benson. From Start Again
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Listen (Duet version) – Vocals: Madeleine Featherby (featuring Michael D’Elia). Music & Lyrics by Greg Nabours. From The Trouble With Words
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My World – Vocal: Marc Mackinnon. Music & Lyrics by Andre Catrini. From The Astonishing Times of Timothy Cratchit
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Out On A Limb – Vocal: Scott Dreier. Music by Joel Evans; Lyrics by Adryan Russ. From Marryin’ Marian
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Real Adventure – Vocal: Jenni Little. Music by Sam Willmott; Lyrics by Marcus Stevens. From Yo, Vikings!
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I Didn’t Know – Vocal: Adrian Li Donni. Music & Lyrics by Oliver Houser. From Where Were We?
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When I Slay My Rival – Vocal: Chris Dwan. Music by Stephen Weiner; Lyrics by Peter Kellogg. From The Rivals
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It Starts Again – Vocal: Stephanie Adams. Music & Lyrics by Jess Newman. From Einstein
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El Amor – Vocal: Michael J. Farina. Music by Kevin Purcell; Lyrics by Victor Kazan. From The Stranger from Seville
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Tuscany – Vocal: Sarah Krauss. Music & Lyrics by Alan Schmuckler. From Days Like Today
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Good Enough For Me – Vocal: Anne Gasko. Music & Lyrics by Adam Gwon. From Scotland, PA
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Somebody Else – Vocal: Clayton Walker. Music & Lyrics by Craig Christie. From Connected
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You Were There – Vocal: Claire DeJean. Music & Lyrics by Drew Lane. From Electric Dreams: The Musical
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Pretty Little Thing – Vocal: Anouska Taylor. Music by Joe Chindamo; Lyrics by Steve Vizard. From Vigil
ABOUT THE WRITERS
Nikko Benson (Music and Lyrics for ‘Long Way Home’ from Start Again) is an NYC-based writer and performer, a recipient of a 2016 Jonathan Larson grant, and an O’Neill Music Theater Conference Finalist. Projects include Nikola Tesla Drops The Beat (w/ Benjamin Halstead, Adirondack Theater Festival); Start Again (Musical Theater Factory); and In Pursuit of Magic (Kennedy Center Millennium Stage). He has received development residencies with Village Theater Festival, Pace New Musicals, the Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project, Catwalk, and Goodspeed Writers Colony.
Andre Catrini (Music and Lyrics for ‘My World’ from The Astonishing Times of Timothy Cratchit) is a proud ASCAP member and the recipient of the 2014 ASCAP Foundation Cole Porter Award, given “in recognition for his outstanding talent as a musical theatre composer and lyricist”. Stage works include The Astonishing Times of Timothy Cratchit, A Game Called Life (book by Laura Zlatos) and The Wolf (book by Joe Calarco).
Joe Chindamo & Steve Vizard (‘Pretty Little Thing’ from Vigil, Music by Joe Chindamo, Lyrics by Steve Vizard) – A collaboration between renowned jazz pianist Joe Chindamo and writer Steve Vizard, Vigil premiered at the 2017 Adelaide Cabaret festival and was nominated for 5 Green Room Awards and a 2018 Writers Guild Award for Best New Musical.
Craig Christie (Music and Lyrics for ‘Somebody Else’ from Connected) has worked for twenty-eight years as the principal of No Mates Productions, creating original musicals in educational, community and commercial settings. Craig’s theatre works include Crusade and Eurobeat, which won Best Musical at the Edinburgh Fringe and enjoyed an acclaimed London, West End season. His annual children’s book tours have been seen by over 2.5 million school children internationally.
Joel Evans (Music for ‘Out On A Limb’ from Marryin’ Marian) Joel’s credits include more than 90 movies and 400 television episodes, including Wedding Crashers, Friends, Life in Pieces, Glenn Close’s The Wife, and the 2014 Daytime Emmy Award-winning special “The Young & the Restless – Tribute to Jeanne Cooper.”
Adam Gwon (Music and Lyrics for ‘Good Enough for Me’ from Scotland, PA) is an award-winning composer and lyricist whose credits include Ordinary Days (Roundabout, Off-Broadway; Trafalgar Studios, West End), Old Jews Telling Jokes (Westside Theatre Off Broadway); String (Village Theatre, WA), Cake Off (Signature Theatre, VA Helen Hayes Award nomination; Bucks County Playhouse), Cloudlands (South Coast Repertory), The Boy Detective Fails (Signature Theatre, VA), and Bernice Bobs Her Hair (Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma).
Oliver Houser (Music and Lyrics for ‘I Didn’t Know’ from Where Were We?) Oliver’s work has been performed at The Other Palace Theatre, The Kennedy Center, The New York Musical Festival, the New York Fringe Festival and The SoHo Playhouse. He has developed work at Goodspeed Musicals, the ASCAP and BMI Musical Theatre Workshops and the Ucross Foundation. Oliver is a 2017 Dramatists Guild Fellow and winner of the ASCAP Foundation Sammy Cahn Award for songwriting.
Victor Kazan (Lyrics for ‘El Amor’ from The Stranger from Seville) has worked in the entertainment industry for fifty years. Born in London, he carved a distinguished reputation as a writer and director in British theatre and television before taking up residence in Australia in the early 1980s. Since then, his major work has been in film and musical theatre. Among his Australian screenplays is the popular, feel-good movie ‘Dalkeith’.
Peter Kellogg (Lyrics for ‘When I Slay My Rival’ from The Rivals) has two Tony nominations for book & lyrics to a musical of Anna Karenina (composer Dan Levine). Anna Karenina has had 3 tours in Japan. With David Friedman: Chasing Nicolette, based on Aucassin and Nicolette produced at Westport Playhouse, the Prince and Village Theatre; Stunt Girl, about Nellie Bly, New York City’s first female reporter; and Desperate Measures, a western, loosely based on Measure for Measure.
Kooman and Dimond (‘The Spark’, Music by Michael Kooman, Lyrics by Christopher Dimond) received the Fred Ebb Award, a Jonathan Larson Grant, and are the first recipients of the Mary Rodgers/Lorenz Hart Award and the Samuel French Next Step Award. Their most recent musical, Romantics Anonymous, debuted to rave reviews at Shakespeare’s Globe in 2017. They also serve as songwriters for Vampirina an animated Disney TV series, which has reached over 49 million viewers in 115 countries. Other projects include The Noteworthy Life Of Howard Barnes (Village Theater), Orphie & The Book Of Heroes (The Kennedy Center), The Enlightenment Of Percival Von Schmootz (commissioned by the Canadian Music Theatre Project), Judge Jackie Justice (Pittsburgh CLO), Dani Girl (licensed by Samuel French), Golden Gate (Williamstown Theatre Festival), and Junior Claus (licensed by Dramatic Publishing).
Drew Lane (Music and Lyrics for ‘You Were There’ from Electric Dreams: The Musical) – A producer, arranger and award-winning composer from Australia, Drew’s musicals have been performed throughout Australia, and have had seasons in the UK and USA.
Peter Mills (Music and Lyrics for Sixteen Bars’ from The Taxi Cabaret) is a recipient of the Kleban Prize, the Ebb Award, the Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award, the Cole Porter Award, and a Jonathan Larson grant. He received two Drama Desk Award nominations for The Pursuit of Persephone, and his other shows include Illyria, The Flood, Golden Boy of The Blue Ridge, and most recently, he wrote lyrics for The Honeymooners (Paper Mill Playhouse).
Greg Nabours (Music and Lyrics for ’Listen’ from The Trouble With Words) Greg’s award-winning song cycle The Trouble With Words debuted in 2011. In 2013, Gregory was selected to join the Johnny Mercer Songwriter’s Project, and in 2015 an evening of his work was performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. His new musical Marilyn! (The Official Marilyn Monroe Musical) is now playing an open-ended run at Paris Casino in Las Vegas.
Jess Newman (Music and Lyrics for ‘It Starts Again’ from Einstein) – An award-winning Australian composer, lyricist and performer, Jess was a winner of the 2017 New York City Center Encores songwriting competition, for which he performed an original song for Stephen Sondheim. Einstein had its premiere in Melbourne, Australia in 2016 and was selected by The Age newspaper as one of the year’s theatrical highlights. A resident of NYC, he is currently completing a Masters of Musical Theatre Writing at Tisch, NYU.
Kevin Purcell (Music for ‘El Amor’ from The Stranger from Seville) is a multi-award-winning international opera and orchestra conductor, musical director for theatre and songwriter/arranger. He is the Principal Conductor of Australia’s national symphony, the Australian Discovery Orchestra (ADO). Most recently, Kevin was the initial Musical Director for the first UK/Eire national tour of Wicked. He has worked extensively over the years for the Really Useful Group and Cameron Mackintosh as musical director in London’s West End and Southeast Asia, most notably with the original London production of Cats.
Adryan Russ (Lyrics for ‘Out On A Limb’ from Marryin’ Marian) Adryan’s Off-Broadway musical Inside Out, co-written with Doug Haverty, has played across the U.S. and Europe. She has received ASCAP Awards for Popular Music, is a member of The Dramatists Guild, and serves on the Board of the Society of Composers & Lyricists.
Alan Schmuckler (Music and Lyrics for ‘Tuscany’ from Days Like Today) Alan’s work has been performed across the US and internationally, and has also created work for television, podcasts and digital formats. Winner, 2018 Kleban Prize in Musical Theater; 2017 Webby Award; 2017 Sarah Lawrence International Audio Fiction Award. His work is published by R&H.
Marcus Stevens (Lyrics for ‘Real Adventure’ from Yo, Vikings!) is a Richard Rodgers Award winner and a member of the BMI Workshop, ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild. Yo, Vikings! is published by Samuel French, Inc.
Stephen Weiner (Music for ‘When I Slay My Rival’ from The Rivals) won two Richard Rodgers Awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Jonathan Larson Grant, Global Search for New Musicals Award and the ASCAP Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award for Musical Theatre. Latest works include The Rivals and The Honeymooners. He has written numerous musicals Off-Broadway, regionally and overseas. Steve is a graduate of the renowned BMI Musical Theatre Workshop and proud member of The Dramatists Guild and ASCAP.
Sam Willmott (Music for ‘Real Adventure’ from Yo, Vikings!) is the recipient of the Kleban Prize, Fred Ebb Award, Jonathan Larson Grant, and ASCAP Foundation Harold Adamson and Cole Porter Awards.
ABOUT THE AUSTRALIAN DISCOVERY ORCHESTRA (ADO)
The Australian Discovery Orchestra, (Kevin Purcell, Principal Conductor) provides 68 exceptional professional musicians from across the to perform repertoire embracing classic masterworks, the catalogue of extraordinary orchestral music rarely heard live in-concert, and, premiering new Australian music. ADO events are live as well as captured in multi-camera HD for both streaming and Pay-per-View. The orchestra is committed to seeking new ways of engaging viewers and listeners by making the music it performs a catalyst for interaction with its Internet-wide audience. In 2021, the ADO will undertake the premiere recording of Sir Malcolm Arnold’s only musical, Parasol, commissioned by the BBC for EMI. In 2022, the orchestra will give the first concert performance of Stephen Schwartz’s new musical, Magic Makers, directed by Sir Trevor Nunn. www.
ABOUT BROADWAY RECORDS
Broadway Records is the leading, Grammy® winning record label dedicated to releasing the most popular and current Broadway cast recordings, as well as preserving legacy musical theatre and theatre vocalists’ repertoire. Under the leadership of Broadway Records’ president and founder Van Dean, recent releases include: If The Fates Allow: The Hadestown Holiday Album, Grammy® Nominated Burt Bacharach & Stephen Sater’s Some Lovers, Grammy® Nominated Stephen Schwartz’s Snapshots, The Lehman Trilogy, Randy Rainbow’s A Little Brains, A Little Talent, Legacy: Two Song Cycles by Ahrens and Flaherty, the Grammy® and Tony Award-winning revival of The Color Purple, the Tony Award® winning and Grammy® nominated revival of Once On This Island, the Grammy® nominated Matilda The Musical, Fiddler on the Roof (2015 revival) and My Fair Lady (2018 revival), Anastasia, Bandstand, Groundhog Day, The Lightning Thief and NBC’s television events, “The Wiz Live!” and “Peter Pan Live!” as well as solo albums from Patti LuPone, Lea Salonga, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jessica Vosk, Kyle Taylor Parker, and many more. The label’s critically-acclaimed “Live at Feinstein’s/54 Below” series features top Broadway stars including Aaron Tveit, Annaleigh Ashford, Norbert Leo Butz, Sierra Boggess, Laura Benanti, Robbie Rozelle, Adam Pascal & Anthony Rapp, Micky Dolenz, and many others. Broadway Records philanthropic endeavors also include the “Broadway For Orlando: What The World Needs Now is Love”, “We Are The World” by Broadway United and “Broadway Kids Against Bullying: I Have a Voice” music videos and From Broadway With Love benefit concerts for Sandy Hook, Orlando (Emmy Award for Sound) and Parkland. www.BroadwayRecords.com
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