Release Date Set for Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater Album, Featuring Santino Fontana

The Alan Menken-Howard Ashman musical played New York City Center in 2016.

The premiere cast recording for Kurt Vonnegut’s God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater—the first collaboration between Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman—will be released on CD and digitally July 28. The Ghostlight Records album features the cast of the 2016 Encores! Off-Center production, led by Tony nominee Santino Fontana, Skylar Astin, Brynn O’Malley, and James Earl Jones.

Rounding out the cast featured on the recording are Derrick Baskin, Jeff Blumenkrantz, Nick Choksi, Eddie Cooper, Kevin Del Aguila, Clark Johnson, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Kevin Ligon, Marla Louissaint, Liz McCartney, Bonnie Milligan, and Kate Wetherhead.

The album, available for pre-order July 7, will feature a 28-page booklet include complete lyrics, and essays from director Michael Mayer and Disney Theatrical Group President Thomas Schumacher. Menken, Michael Kosarin produced the album alongside executive producer Rick Kunis.

Kurt Vonnegut’s God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater ran July 27–30, 2016 at New York City Center as part of the Encores! Off-Center series, which highlights both classic and obscure titles that originally premiered off-Broadway. The production featured choreography by Lorin Latarro, music direction from Chris Fenwick, and orchestrations by Danny Troob.

The 1979 musical, featuring a music by Menken, a book and lyrics by Ashman, and additional lyrics by Dennis Green, follows the millionaire Eliot Rosewater (Fontana), who drunkenly donates his entire fortune to an underprivileged town, inspired by the novelist Kilgore Trout (Jones). Meanwhile, a corrupt lawyer (Astin) plots to have him declared insane.

Check out highlights from the Encores! Off-Center production below.



The track list for the album follows.

ACT I

1. Overture

2. The Rosewater Foundation

3. The Rosewater Foundation (Reprise)

4. Dear Ophelia

5. Thank God for the Volunteer Fire Brigade

6. Mushari’s Waltz (Magical Moment)

7. Thirty Miles from the Banks of the Ohio / Look Who’s Here

8. Cheese Nips

9. The Rosewater Foundation (Reprise II)

10. Since You Came to This Town

ACT II

11. A Poem by William Blake

12. The Rhode Island Tango

13. Eliot / Sylvia

14. Plain Clean Average Americans

15. A Firestorm Consuming Indianapolis

16. Dear Ophelia (Reprise)

17. I, Eliot Rosewater

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