Road Show reunites Stephen Sondheim (music, lyrics) and John Weidman (book), the creative team behind 2003's Bounce, and re-examines its tale of the real-life Mizner brothers, Addison (Alexander Gemignani) and Wilson (Michael Cerveris). New York called Road Show “a boisterous picaresque about two brothers flimflamming their way from the Yukon to Boca Raton at the turn of the 20th century.”
“A boisterous picaresque about two brothers flimflamming their way from the Yukon to Boca Raton at the turn of the twentieth century.” —New York
Nonesuch Records and PS Classics released the original cast recording of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Road Show—from 2008's Public Theater production—on June 30, 2009. The play was directed by John Doyle, the score conducted by Mary-Mitchell Campbell and orchestrated by Jonathan Tunick. Recorded in New York City in 2009, Road Show features Alexander Gemignani (Addison Mizner), Michael Cerveris (Wilson Mizner), Claybourne Elder (Hollis Bessemer), Alma Cuervo (Mama Mizner), and William Parry (Papa Mizner) and was produced by Tommy Krasker. Nonesuch released the cast recording of an earlier incarnation of Road Show—Bounce, also created by Sondheim and Weidman—in 2004.
Spanning 40 years, from the Alaskan Gold Rush to the Florida real estate boom in the 1930s, Road Show is the story of two brothers whose quest for the American dream turns into a test of morality and judgment that changes their lives in unexpected ways. Director John Doyle (Sweeney Todd and Company on Broadway), acclaimed for re-imagining Sondheim’s works, joins Weidman and Sondheim in exploring two of America’s great issues: capitalism and crooks.
John Weidman (book) also wrote the book for Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures and Assassins. He co-authored, with Timothy Crouse, the new book for Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes. Additionally, he wrote the book for Big and co-created Contact with Susan Stroman. His musical Happiness, written with Michael Korie and Scott Frankel and directed by Susan Stroman, opened at Lincoln Center Theater in the spring of 2009.
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Recording produced by Tommy Krasker
Recorded February 23, 2009, at Avatar Studios, New York, NY
Recorded and mixed by Tom Lazarus
Edited by Bart Migal
Assistant engineers: Bob Mallory, Brian Montgomery
Mastered by Bart Migal
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by John Weidman
Directed and Set Designed by John Doyle
Design by Barbara deWilde
Stage photography by Joan Marcus
Recording session photography by Shaun Mader
Cover photography: El Mirasol, Historical Society of Palm Beach County; Times Square in New York City, © Museum of History and Industry/CORBIS; Man Singing to Elephant, Miami Beach, Fla., 1924 April 21, Claude Matlack Collection, Historical Museum of Southern Florida; Prospectors in Tent Settlement at Chilkoot Pass, © Bettmann/CORBIS
Recording Executive Producer: Sean Patrick Flahaven
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MUSICIANS
Cast:
Wilson Mizner: Michael Cerveris (1, 3-7, 13-17)
Mama Mizner: Alma Cuervo (1, 3, 5-8, 14, 15, 17)
Hollis Bessemer: Claybourne Elder (1, 3, 5-7, 10-12, 14, 15, 17)
Addison Mizner: Alexander Gemignani (1, 3-6, 11, 12, 14-17)
Papa Mizner: William Parry (1-3, 5-7, 14, 15, 17)
Ensemble: Aisha De Haas, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Mylinda Hull, Mel Johnson, Jr., Orville Mendoza, Anne L. Nathan, Tom Nelis, Matthew Stocke, William Youmans, Kristine Zbornik
Orchestra:
Mary-Mitchell Campbell, conductor, keyboard
Reeds: James Ercole, Steven Lyon, Les Scott
Brass: Stu Satalof, Dave Gale, trumpets; Vincent Fanuele, trombone
Drums, percussion: Billy Miller
Strings: Victor Heifets, Elizabeth Lim-Dutton, violin; Ken Burward Hoy, viola; Deborah Sepe, cello; Raymond Kilday, bass
Music Preparation: Katharine Edmonds/Emily Grishman
Orchestra contractor: Seymour Red Press