I haven’t been this excited about a new Broadway cast recording since Wicked. The teasers started dropping on TikTok a couple months ago and I immediately set up an alert on Spotify.

Listening notes

• Did the show always start with an organ solo? I love this.
• The diction on “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” is ::chef’s kiss::
• The orchestra has got main character energy!
• Jordan Fisher has a lovely voice, but it’s too “Disney prince” for my taste
• Analeigh Ashford’s voice, on the other hand, will transport you to another plane of existence. It’s a universe of its own.
• I love how gentle Groban is on “My Friends”. My ears are being caressed.
• “Epiphany” lives in my head… rent. free.
• The fervent chaos of “God, That’s Good” … what a dervish!
• “Johanna (Act 2 Sequence)” is like a liquid sound bath
• With apologies to my actual children, give me a child like Gaten Matarazzo in “Not While I’m Around”

I keep joking (half joking?) to my wife that I might fly to New York for 48 hours just to see this show.