CDs Now Available:

Tom Sawyer soundtrack
(Quartet Records - on 2 CDs)
1973 film with Sherman Brothers songs. Johnnie Whitaker, Jeff East, Jodie Foster, Celeste Holm, Lucille Benson. Original album expanded with extended versions of some songs and underscore tracks by John Williams, plus orchestra-only versions of the songs. Second CD has the complete soundtrack, songs and underscore, but only in mono. Limited 1500 unit release. Information and purchase at Screen Archives.

DVD/Blu-Rays Now Available:

100 Men and a Girl
(Universal Vault Series - on DVD-R)
1937 musical comedy film. Deanna Durbin, Adolphe Menjou, Leopold Stokowski, Eugene Pallette. Charles Previn won Best Score Oscar. 84 minutes. Released 10/30/15.

The Wiz Live! DVD
(Universal Studios - new on DVD)
NBC live musical. Cast includes Shanice Williams, Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige, David Alan Grier, Ne-Yo, Elijah Kelley, Uzo Aduba, Amber Riley, Common, Stephanie Mills, and Cirque du Soleil. New material by Harvey Fierstein. Choreographer Fatima Robinson. Executive Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. Music Director Stephen Oremus. 121 minutes.

First You Dream: The Music of Kander & Ebb
(PBS - new on DVD)
2015 televised tribute to John Kander and Fred Ebb. Kate Baldwin, Heidi Blickenstaff, James Clow, Norm Lewis, Julia Murney, Matthew Scott. Bonus items: "She's A Woman/Dressing Them Up" (Kiss of the Spider Woman), "Blue Crystal/Marry Me" (The Rink), "I Don't Care Much" (Cabaret), "Love and Love Alone" (The Visit), "The Money Tree/Maybe This Time" (Cabaret/The Act). David Loud, music director, vocal arrangements. Directed for stage by Eric Schaeffer and produced by HMS Media. 60 minutes.

BOOKs Now Available:

The American Song Book: The Tin Pan Alley Era
(Oxford Univ Press - new Hardcover/Paperback Book)
By Philip Furia and Laurie J. Patterson. First in a projected five-volume series of books that will reprint original sheet music, including covers, of songs that constitute the enduring standards of Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, the Gershwins, and other lyricists and composers of what has been called the "Golden Age" of American popular music. The authors place these songs in historical context with essays about the sheet-music publishing industry known as Tin Pan Alley, the emergence of American musical comedy on Broadway, and the "talkie" revolution that made possible the Hollywood musical. They also provide biographical sketches of songwriters, performers, and impresarios and analyze the lyrical and musical artistry of each song and relate anecdotes about how the songs were created. 256 pages.

Maggie Smith: A Biography
(St. Martin's Press - Hardcover Book/Kindle Edition)
By Michael Coveney. Written with the actress's blessing and drawing on personal archives, as well as interviews with immediate family and close friends. 352 pages.

The Man That Got Away: The Life and Songs of Harold Arlen (Music in American Life series)
(Univ of Illinois Press - Hardcover Book/Kindle Edition)
By Walter Rimler. From interviews with friends and associates of Arlen and on newly available archives. 248 pages. Published 8/20/15.

The Theatre of David Henry Hwang
(Bloomsbury Methuen Drama - Paperback Book/Kindle Edition)
By Esther Kim Lee (Author), Kevin J. Wetmore Jr. and Patrick Lonergan series editors. 224 pages.

Recordings RECENTLY MADE AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER:

A New Brain Encores! cast
(P.S. Classics - new on 2 CDs at Amazon)
Summer of 2015 Encores! version of musical with score by William Finn. Jonathan Groff, Dan Fogler, Ana Gasteyer and Aaron Lazar. 95-minute, through-composed show recorded in its entirety for the first time, in a deluxe two-disc set. Disc One: "Prologue: Frogs Have So Much Spring ("The Spring Song")," "Prologue: 911 Emergency/I Have So Many Songs," "Heart and Music," "Mother's Gonna Make Things Fine," "Trouble in His Brain," "Be Polite to Everyone," "I'd Rather Be Sailing," "Family History," "Gordo's Law of Genetics," "And They're Off," "Roger Arrives," "Just Go," "MRI Tomorrow," "Poor, Unsuccessful and Fat," "Sitting Becalmed in the Lee of Cuttyhunk," "Craniotomy; Disc Two: "An Invitation to Sleep in My Arms," "Change," "Yes," "In the Middle of the Room (Part 1)," "Throw It Out," "In the Middle of the Room (Part 2)," "A Really Lousy Day in the Universe," "Brain Dead," "The Music Still Plays On," "Don't Give In," "Craniotomy (reprise)," "You Boys Are Gonna Get Me in Such Trouble," "I'd Rather Be Sailing (reprise)," "The Homeless Lady's Revenge," "Time," "Time and Music," "I Feel So Much Spring." Also pre-ordering at PS Classics.

Books RECENTLY MADE AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER:

Barbara Cook Memoir
(Harper - new in Hardcover/Paperback)
Barbara Cook's collaboration with Charles Isherwood. 256/368 pages.