A pair of stars in the national tour of Ragtime have two very different CD's available to audiences cruising the merchandise counter in the lobby of the show.
Lovena Fox, the big, soulful voice of Sarah in the musical, is a celebrated R&B singer in her native Canada, where she's won the Juno Award (the Canadian Grammy) for her recordings (in the duo Love & Sas). Her new, original pop/R&B solo disc, "Holdin' Out," is available on the RECE Records label.
Fox was Sarah in the Chicago sitdown of Ragtime and was understudy on Broadway. She also performed in Canadian workshops of the show, which would go on to win the Tony Award for Best Score and Best Book. She also appeared in the Los Angeles and Vancouver companies.
She penned the CD's songs with songwriter colleagues. The numbers are in contrast to Sarah, who was trapped in her time. The liberated Fox sings "Freak Me Rite," "Goin' Down Slow," "I Wanna Be With You (Tell Me)," "I Like It" and "Lay Back and Unwind" on the recording.
California native Zinnato, who plays Father in Ragtime on tour, has a more traditional show-tune album available: "This is the Moment: New and Classic Vocal Songs From the Broadway Stage" (on the Reflection Records label) offers solos, duets and group numbers from shows Zinnato has appeared in nationally. The actor appeared in the title role of Maury Yeston's Phantom in Los Angeles and sings "You Are Music" with Victoria Strong. He covered the role of Gaston in L.A.'s Beauty and the Beast and sings "Me" with Susan Carr George on the disc.
Listen for Kay Cole on "They Say It's Wonderful," Paul Grant in "You're Nothing Without Me," Tia Riebling in "Wheels of a Dream" and Dale Kristien in "So In Love."
Paul Ainsley and Jack Ritschel also sing. Guest pianists include Ron Abel, Sam Krieger, Michael Paternostro, Donald Pippin, Steven Smith and Gerald Sternbach.
A portion of the proceeds from the disc go to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
For the Fox disc, try e-mailing [email protected] or the RECE website, www.recerecords.com. For the Zinnato disc, try www.zinnato.com.
-- By Kenneth Jones
