To celebrate the mid-March release of the cast album of As Thousands Cheer, the cast of the Drama Dept. production will be on-hand for the disk's official release party, April 29 at the Greenwich Village club, Life. InTheater magazine is co-sponsoring the industry-only party with Varese and Chip Duckett. The 1933 Irving Berlin-Moss Hart revue played at the Greenwich House Theatre June 14-Juy 18, 1998. After a couple of delays, the CD reched stores March 23, on the Varese Sarabande label. The recording is the first cast album ever of the topical show.
The album features the original cast of Paula Newsome, Kevin Chamberlin, Howard McGillan, B.D. Wong (now in You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown), Mary Beth Peil and Judy Kuhn. The Cheer recording features such classic songs as "Heatwave," "Through a Keyhole," "How's Chances?" and "Supper Time," as well as a couple other songs -- such as "Easter Parade" -- which were in the original 1933 production but not the Drama Dept. version.
The Drama Dept. production was the Berlin-Hart revue's first staging since the 1933 Broadway original. Christopher Ashley directed. There had been talk of transferring the show, but those plans were scotched due to prior commitments of three of the cast members (for example, B.D. Wong is currently in You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown; Judy Kuhn is in Dream True at the Vineyard).
Other Varese Sarabande theatre-related releases include the cast CD of York Theater's Little By Little, due May 4.
-- By Robert Simonson and David Lefkowitz
