On Friday August 6th at 4 PM ET, Broadway Records will host a virtual release and listening party to celebrate the release of EDGE OF THE WORLD: A Concept Album. The party will feature the musical’s writers Tony nominee Ethan Slater (SpongeBob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical, Who’s Your Baghdaddy) and Drama Desk nominee Nick Blaemire (tick, tick…BOOM!, Glory Days) and vocalists featured on the album. The writing team will discuss the genesis of the show, the recording of the album and the development of new musicals in these times, as well as answering questions from the viewing audience. The event will be hosted by Broadway Records Media Strategist Grace Aki and may be watched live HERE (link to https://www.youtube.com/watch?
The world premiere concept recording of EDGE OF THE WORLD: A Concept Album is written by Ethan Slater and Nick Blaemire. The recording stars Slater, Blaemire, Norbert Leo Butz and Lilli Cooper. The album is available this Friday, August 6th wherever digital music is sold and on BroadwayRecords.com
The album is available on Friday, August 6th wherever digital music is sold and on BroadwayRecords.com
To sign up for alerts on EDGE OF THE WORLD: A Concept Album (and an email reminder on the day of the release), go to www.broadwayrecords.com/edge-
In EDGE OF THE WORLD, when young Ben (Ethan Slater) and his father Henry (Norbert Leo Butz) move to a remote patch of land in rural Alaska, Ben uses his imagination to cope with his new surroundings. But as he learns more about the circumstances that brought him into isolation (Lilli Cooper), the line between lie and reality begins to blur. It’s a sweeping, handmade fable about the world we’re given, and the one we make for ourselves.
“While EDGE OF THE WORLD isn’t autobiographical, it is personal in so many ways,” said Ethan Slater. “It’s the story of a father doing his best to protect his kid, and that kid doing his best to understand his father. And both of them are coping with unimaginable loss, which is something my family went through. So while the album is fun and energetic, for me at its core, it’s about wanting to escape your grief, represented here by the vast wilderness. As Henry sings, there’s solace in the knowing that ‘something as old as loss is young in comparison to rocks’.”
“Nature doesn’t have the problems society does,” said Nick Blaemire. “That’s why I think we all fantasize about escaping it all. Living off the land. Being ‘free.’ The problem is, we bring ourselves with us wherever we go. I think that’s what draws me to this story — the tension between what we know to be true and what we wish to be true, and how they obscure each other. That tension feels uniquely juxtaposed in the expanse of Alaska.”
EDGE OF THE WORLD is produced by Bonnie Comley and Stewart Lane (Broadway HD, War Horse, Gentleman’s Guide), mixed by Aaron Ankrum and mastered by Hans Dekline. The recording features Slater on guitar as well as Marco Paguia (piano), Michael Dobson (drums), Christian Ankrum (bass) and Ankrum (horns, strings and more).
EDGE OF THE WORLD Track Listing
1. Edge of the World (Prelude) – Ethan Slater
2. Alaska, Here We Come! – Norbert Leo Butz, Ethan Slater, Lilli Cooper, Nick Blaemire
3. Wolfpack – Ethan Slater, Lilli Cooper, Nick Blaemire
4. Make a Fire – Ethan Slater, Norbert Leo Butz, Lilli Cooper, Nick Blaemire
5. Every Day – Ethan Slater, Norbert Leo Butz, Lilli Cooper, Nick Blaemire
6. Rocks and Things – Norbert Leo Butz
7. Real and Simple – Ethan Slater
8. Olivia’s Song – Lilli Cooper
9. Alaska, Here We Come! (Flashback) – Norbert Leo Butz
10. Gripping It – Ethan Slater, Lilli Cooper, Nick Blaemire
11. Passage – Instrumental
12. Edge of the World – Norbert Leo Butz, Ethan Slater
13. Raised by Wolves – Ethan Slater, Norbert Leo Butz, Lilli Cooper, Nick Blaemire
Ethan Slater is an actor, writer and musician (mostly) based in New York. He was nominated for a Tony Award, and won the Drama Desk Award for playing SpongeBob in The SpongeBob Musical, which also happened to be his Broadway debut! As a writer, some upcoming projects include the films Intervenors and Silent Mode, both of which he co-wrote and co-stars in. He’s released two EPs of original music, available on Spotify (or wherever you listen to stuff). As an actor, other theater includes: Who’s Your Baghdaddy…, PEMDAS, Camelot (Lincoln Center), and when theater returns this fall (!), he will be playing Lee Harvey Oswald/The Balladeer in Assassins at Classic Stage Company. Some TV/film credits: Fosse/Verdon (FX), Law and Order (NBC), Murphy Brown (CBS), SpongeBob: Live On Stage (Nickelodeon), Evol, Untitled Vanessa Del Rio Biopic (upcoming), Kurt. (upcoming). IG: @ethanslater TW: @ethansaslater
Nick Blaemire is a writer and performer based in Brooklyn. At 23 years old, Nick wrote the Broadway one-night-sensation rock musical Glory Days, which has since had over 50 productions around the world — and will re-open in Japan in Fall 2021. He has written five other original musicals: A Little More Alive (commissioned by Broadway Across America, produced at Williamstown, Kansas City Rep, Barrington Stage, and is optioned as a feature film); Soon (premiered at Signature Theatre, upcoming at the Prima Theatre Fall 2021); Fallout (with Kyle Jarrow), Edge of the World (with Ethan Slater) and Space Dogs (with Van Hughes, upcoming Winter 2022 Off-Broadway at MCC Theatre). Nick has released three EPs of pop songs, all available on iTunes, Spotify, etc. As an actor, he most recently completed the National Tour of Falsettos as Mendel, recurred on Dash & Lily on Netflix, and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for his performance as Jon in the Off-Broadway Revival of Tick, Tick…Boom!. IG: @blaemire TW: @nickblaemire
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, Lea Salonga Live In Concert with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Breathe with an all-star cast including Tony Award-winners Kelli O’Hara and Brian Stokes Mitchell, the Broadway star-filled concept albums of In The Light, Little Black Book, In Pieces and Stone Crossed, Legacy: Two Song Cycles by Ahrens and Flaherty, Georgia On My Mind with an all-star Broadway cast, 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!”. The label’s critically-acclaimed “Live at Feinstein’s/54 Below” series features top Broadway stars including Patti LuPone, Aaron Tveit, Annaleigh Ashford, Norbert Leo Butz, Sierra Boggess, Laura Benanti, Emily Skinner & Alice Ripley, Adam Pascal & Anthony Rapp, Micky Dolenz and many others. Broadway Records has partnered with the Black Theatre Coalition to create Black Writers Amplified (to be released in late 2021), an album consisting entirely of new works by Black musical theatre writers. This project to immediately take steps toward significantly increased representation of Black writers in musical theatre and support new voices and emerging Black talent. 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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