Ghostlight Records Releases "Happy End"

American Conservatory Theater(A.C.T.) Artistic Director Carey Perloff today announced the arrival of the original cast recording of the Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill musical comedy Happy End. Showcasing the entire cast and orchestra from the show, conducted by musical director Constantine Kitsopoulos, A.C.T.'s original cast recording retails for $18.98 and will be available beginning January 30 in record stores, on Amazon.com, via A.C.T.'s website, act-sf.org, and in the lobby of American Conservatory Theater.

The first English-language recording of the landmark Brecht/Weill collaboration, the CD features such classic tunes as "Surabaya Johnny," "The Bilbao Song," and "The Sailors' Tango," among others. Created following the acclaimed run of this rarely produced musical (which played A.C.T. June through July 2006), A.C.T.'s recording of Happy End was made possible in part by a consortium of close friends and supporters of A.C.T as well as Marjorie and Joseph Perloff, the Ray and Dagmar Dolby Family Fund, and Richard N. Goldman.

"Brecht and Weill fans who have clamored for an English-language recording of this incredible show need wait no longer," says Perloff. "We are indebted to all the great people at Skywalker Sound and Ghostlight Records for helping to make this wonderful piece of musical theater history available to the world. We believe this recording is a great addition to the musical theater canon and we hope it inspires fond memories and perhaps even future productions of this thrilling piece. We hope that it will further A.C.T.'s reputation as a champion of innovative and unusual work."

Upon its debut in June 2006, A.C.T.'s production of Happy End was called "provocative and entertaining" by the San Francisco Chronicle and praised as "a glossy, dazzling musical . . . [bearing] the feel of something Broadway-bound" by the Contra Costa Times. The CD of Happy End features the entire cast from the A.C.T. run, including Broadway veterans Linda Mugleston (Broadway's Wonderful
Town and revivals of Nine, Into the Woods, Kiss Me, Kate, and On the Town), Charlotte Cohn (Broadway's production of Baz Luhrmann's La Bohème), Peter Macon (Drowning Crow), and Jack Willis (Julius Caesar). Additional cast members include A.C.T. core acting company members René Augesen and Steven Anthony Jones, as well as Jackson Davis, Charles Dean, Lianne Marie Dobbs, Joan Harris-Gelb, Rod Gnapp, Dan Hiatt, Wendy James, Sab Shimono, Celia Shuman, and Colin Thomson. The cast is rounded out by and A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program (M.F.A.) graduates Drew Hirshfield and Jud Williford and A.C.T. M.F.A.

CD Available in Record Stores and Online January 30! Program students Brennan Leath and Stephanie Ann Saunders. -- www.act-sf.org