A few new arrivals in the music collection; something old, something new, something revived……
Seussical: original off-Broadway cast, music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
![seuss3 Jay Productions, 2010](https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/seuss3.jpg)
Jay Productions, 2010
A musical based on the children’s books of Dr Seuss and featuring about a zillion characters was always likely to meet with a rocky reception from the Broadway intelligentsia, which is exactly what happened to Seussical the Musical when it first appeared in 2000. Since that time however it has achieved a fair degree of success, not surprsisingly popular with amateur theatre groups and school performers.
Departure lounge: a musical by Dougal Irvine
![DepartureLounge Speckulation Entertainment, 2010](https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DepartureLounge.jpg)
Speckulation Entertainment, 2010
This little known work won its young composer an award at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival, and was subsequently given an off-Broadway run at the New York Summer Play Festival. Focusing on the mixed emotions of a group of students returning from a holiday overseas, it demonstrates a more intimate form of musical theatre. Nary a feather boa or high kicking chorus line to be seen!
The new moon, music by Sigmund Romberg
![New Moon Romberg Ghostlight Records, 2004](https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/New-Moon-Romberg.jpg)
Ghostlight Records, 2004
Ah, they don’t write them like this anymore! Songs like “Stout hearted men”, “Softly as in a morning sunrise” and “Lover come back to me” all helped make this a Broadway success when it first debuted there in 1928, and it’s been a favourite ever since. Sigmund Romberg’s other great hits include The Desert Song and The Student Prince, tailor-made for the likes of Mario Lanza and Nelson Eddy.
Oklahoma! music by Richard Rodgers ; book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
![oklahoma 1979 Broadway Masterworks, 2009](https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/oklahoma-19791.jpg)
Broadway Masterworks, 2009
This recording comes from the 1979 Broadway revival of Oklahoma, and in a fairly busy landscape of recordings it remains a very fine version. We also have a DVD of the 1998 production staged at the Royal National Theatre in London which helped catapult an already ascending Hugh Jackman into the celebrity firmament.
Lovely article