‘Once’ Wins Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album
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“Once” was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards last night, February 10.
The album Once: A New Musical was released by Masterworks record label and features the “principal soloists” Steve Kazee and Christin Milioti. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are the composers/lyricists for the album, and also starred as the two leads on the original Once film that the musical is based on. Music supervisor for the album is Martin Lowe, and Steven Epstein produced.
Kazee and Milioti originated the main characters Guy and Girl, and Kazee won a Tony Award last year for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical last year. Milioti was nominated for best featured actress.
“Once” opened on Broadway in March of last year and continues to play at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. The production won a total of eight Tony Awards in 2012, including Best Musical. Because the stage score used songs from the original film and added other numbers, it was not eligible for a Best Score Tony Award.
Among other cast albums nominated for Best Musical Theater Album at the Grammys was The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, which of course features music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin, Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward. That album was released by PS Classics, which also released the album for Follies. Stephen Sondheim is the composer/lyricist for that album.
The final two nominees were Newsies and Nice Work if You Can Get It. The latter also features music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. The principal soloists on the album are Matthew Broderick and Kelli O’Hara.
Newsies features music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Jack Feldman. Jeremy Jordan and Kara Lindsay are principal soloists on the album, which was produced by Menken, Michael Kosarin, Frank Filipetti and Chris Montan.