Next to Normal to Get Cast Recording on Ghostlight Records

Ghostlight Records will create a cast recording of the new musical Next to Normal featuring the cast of the recent Arena Stage production in Washington DC. The recording session is set for February 11 and 12 in New York City, produced by Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight Records President Kurt Deutsch and Grammy Award-winner Joel Moss. A spring 2009 release date will be announced soon.

Next to Normal, featuring music by Tom Kitt and a book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, explores how one suburban household copes with crisis and the challenges of the mother's mental illness. The contemporary score includes more than 30 original songs.

The Arena Stage cast of Next to Normal included Alice Ripley, J. Robert Spencer, Aaron Tveit, Jennifer Damiano, Adam Chanler-Berat and Louis Hobson. Ripley, Tveit, Damiano and Chanler-Berat appeared in the musical's off-Broadway premiere production at Second Stage in February 2008; Spencer, an original star of Jersey Boys, replaced Shrek star Brian dArcy James as father in the revised staging, which drew positive reviews. Both productions were directed by Michael Grief.