Starmites, the science fiction rock musical that seemed to come out of blue in the 1988-89 Broadway season, earning a Tony Award nomination for Best Musical, finally gets a CD release Dec. 8. Eight of the cuts on the new Original Cast Records release were recorded in 1989 but not released, according to Bruce Yeko of OCR; six others were recorded in 1998. Tony-nominated Sharon McNight (Best Actress nominee) and Brian Lane Green (Best Actor nominee) do not appear on the CD, he said.

However, most of the original cast is heard: Liz Larsen (A New Brain), Victor Trent Cook (Smokey Joe's Cafe), Tony-nominated Gabriel Barre and others. The show is about a woman (Larsen) who battles forces that threaten Earth's solar system and includes such songs as "Superhero Girl," "Hard to Be a Diva," "Afraid of the Dark," "The Cruelty Stomp" and "The Dance of Spousal Arousal."

Music and lyrics are by Barry Keating, who did not earn a Tony nomination because the Best Score category was eliminated for 1989, a season dominated by the retrospective "revuesical," Jerome Robbins' Broadway.

Starmites competed for Tonys with Black and Blue (which used standards in its score) and Jerome Robbins' Broadway. Jerome Robbins won Best Musical.

For Original Cast Records info, call (888) 627-3993.

-- By Kenneth Jones