Multi-platinum recording
artist Josh Groban announced today on ABC's Good Morning America that he will
release a new album, entitled Stages, on April 28th, 2015, via Reprise Records.
The album is a collection of some of the greatest musical theater songs of all
time, which Groban describes as "gorgeously arranged songs that have stood
the test of time," and which he was drawn to because of their combination
of "incredible melody with an incredible story." The album is
available for pre-order at all participating retailers and JoshGroban.com. An
exclusive edition of the album will be available at Target containing 2 extra
tracks.
"Nothing has inspired me more in my life than the energy that is
shared in a theater when great songs and great art are on the stage," he
says. "I wanted this album to pay tribute to those inspirations and
memories."
Recorded with producers Humberto Gatica and Bernie Herms in both Los
Angeles and London's Abbey Road (with a 75-piece orchestra), Stages features
songs from Les Misérables ("Bring Him Home"); Rodgers & Hammerstein's
Carousel ("You'll Never Walk Alone"); Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in
the Park with George ("Finishing the Hat"), Sweeney Todd ("Not
While I'm Around"), and Into the Woods ("Children Will Listen");
The Fantasticks ("Try to Remember"); A Chorus Line ("What I Did
For Love"); Andrew Lloyd Weber's Phantom of the Opera ("All I Ask of
You"), The Wizard of Oz ("Over the Rainbow"), and others.
Another highlight is "Pure Imagination," originally sung by
Gene Wilder in the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, which though
best known as a film, is also a West End musical Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory. "It's a tiny bit of a cheat because it was from a film
originally, but I really wanted to sing it," Groban says. "The fans
wanted me to as well. It's one of my most requested songs to record ever. I am
a huge fan of the original film, it was a part of my childhood. Gene Wilder
will always be number one for me with this song. There's a tenderness to the
way he sang it that is just the essence of Wilder. It's something in his soul
that will never be duplicated."
"Stages is an album I've wanted to make since I signed to
Reprise/Warner Bros. Records during my freshman year as a Musical Theater
student at Carnegie Mellon," Groban says. "I knew in my heart that,
at some point, I would visit the songs I love from that world as an album.
Having lived in New York City the last few years, seeing as much theater as I
could see, and having so many great friends in the theater community, it became
really inspiring to take this on. It was time."
Groban says the title was inspired by his lifetime love for the
musicals represented on the album, as well as "the countless stages, both
physical and metaphorical, it has taken for me to get to a place where I have
the opportunity to record an album like this in the way we did it, with the
great orchestra at Abbey Road. It was an extraordinary 'pinch me' opportunity.
There was a great freedom to go big with these songs because the world of
musical theater welcomes that. It's all about big stories, big emotions, and
big vocals. Every arrangement on this album is its own work of art. Standing in
the room and listening to the orchestra was just breathtaking. And Both
Humberto and Bernie are producers who think about the warmth and clarity and
emotion of the voice. What I love about them is the vocal, the arrangement, the
quality is key."
Stages features three duets: Kelly Clarkson is featured on "All I
Ask of You" ("she can, quite simply, do anything"); Audra
McDonald sings on "If I Loved You" ("in my head I heard her on
this and to sing it in the room with her was a dream come true"); and
trumpeter Chris Botti plays on "Old Devil Moon" ("he plays with
such control and expressiveness"). "All of these duets have great
meaning to me and I'm honored to have them on this album," Groban says.
The track-listing for Stages is as follows:
"Pure Imagination" (from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
"What I Did For Love" (from A Chorus Line)
"Bring Him Home" (from Les Misérables)
"Le Temps Des Cathédrales" (from Notre Dame de Paris)
"All I Ask Of You" (from The Phantom of the Opera) (feat.
Kelly Clarkson)
"Try To Remember" (from The Fantasticks)
"Over the Rainbow" (from The Wizard of Oz)
"Children Will Listen"/"Not While I'm Around" (from
Sweeney Todd/Into the Woods)
"You'll Never Walk Alone" (from Carousel)
"Old Devil Moon" (from Finian's Rainbow) (feat. Chris Botti)
"Finishing the Hat"
(from Sunday in the Park with George)
"If I Loved You" (from Carousel) (feat. Audra McDonald)
"Anthem" (from Chess)
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