When Meredith Willson's The Music Man made its Broadway bow on December 19, 1957 at The Majestic Theatre (today the home of Phantom of the Opera), the composer-lyricist-librettist had already enjoyed a long and prolific career. Willson, born in Mason City, Iowa - the inspiration for The Music Man's River City - had played flute and piccolo in the orchestras of John Philip Sousa and Arturo Toscanini; became the musical director of NBC Radio in Hollywood; received Academy Award nominations for
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! George Harrison, The Vinyl Collection (Apple/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) George Harrison - The Vinyl Collection includes newly-remastered editions of 13 albums, from Wonderwall Music (1968) to the posthumously released Brainwashed (2002). Each album has been remastered at Capitol Studios from the original tapes and pressed onto 180-gram vinyl. The albums are all packaged in replica sleeves, and the entire set comes in one
Stage Door Records is kicking off 2017 with two generous helpings of rare show music: a two-fer celebrating the legacy of Meredith Willson's 1957 Broadway classic The Music Man, and the original London cast recording of Drake's Dream, starring Manfred Mann's Paul Jones! In 1957, composer-bandleader Meredith Willson crafted one of the most enduring Broadway musicals of all time when he wrote book, music and lyrics for the nostalgic The Music Man. To mark the sixtieth anniversary of this Tony