Atlantic Records, which in recent years has released the original cast recordings of the Tony-winning musicals Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen, has signed composer-lyricist Shaina Taub, according to Billboard.
Atlantic already plans to release Taub's Songs of the Great Hill April 1 as well as the original cast recording of her new musical Suffs, which will begin previews March 10 at the Public Theater prior to an official opening April 6. Directed by Leigh Silverman, the cast will feature the songwriter as well as Tony winner Nikki M. James, Tony nominees Phillipa Soo and Jenn Colella, and more.
The Vermont-raised, Brooklyn-based Taub, also at work on the upcoming The Devil Wears Prada musical, was the winner of the 29th Annual Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre. She was also awarded the Jonathan Larson Grant in 2014 and a Fred Ebb Award in 2017. Taub starred in her musical adaptations of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and As You Like It at the Public Theater and wrote the score for and co-starred in Bill Irwin and David Shiner's Old Hats at the Signature Theatre and A.C.T. She earned a Lucille Lortel Award nomination as Mary in the Off-Broadway run of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, and appeared in the original cast and on the cast album of Hadestown at New York Theatre Workshop.
“When Shaina and I started spending time together, [I was like], ‘Wow — she’s on some next level creativity,’” Atlantic president A&R Pete Ganbarg told Billboard. “I think we’d love to be Shaina’s home for as long as it makes sense for her and for us—for solo albums, for musical theatre works, for movie soundtracks, whatever she wants to do. When there’s someone who’s that creative, it’s like, just let them do their thing and help them get that music out to the world.”
“The idea that they were interested in supporting all of my work holistically and understood me holistically as an artist who does a lot of things that feed each other was really exciting for me,” added Taub, who released two albums independently before signing with Atlantic. “I definitely dreamed of [this kind of contract] in a fantasy way, but especially for my solo records, I just didn’t think that door would be open to me. I’m not writing songs in some mainstream pop way. I never thought my solo and musical theatre work could coexist in one support system at one label. And Atlantic was so unique in that way.”
Check out "The Least," the first single from Taub's Songs of the Great Hill, created with Grammy-nominated producer Josh Kaufman, below:
