What do you think?
Rate this book
Recording Broadway: A Life in Cast Albums
“Grammy Award–winning producer Shepard throws open the door to the recording booth in his exuberant and fine-grained debut memoir.... Broadway aficionados will find plenty to enjoy.”
- Publishers Weekly
RECORDING A LIFE IN CAST ALBUMS of the making of fifty-plus years’ worth of show albums, featuring up-close-and-personal stories of his work with pretty much everyone who was anyone on Broadway, including Julie Andrews, Leonard Bernstein (“truly awesome but very complicated”), Sheldon Harnick (“as warm and decent as he was talented”), Barbara Cook (“one of my favorites”), Placido Domingo, Gregory Hines, John Kander, Fred Ebb, Danny Kaye, Angela Lansbury (“so gifted and so easy to be with and to work with”), Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Chita Rivera, Stephen Sondheim (“a genius, and very easily bruised”), Barbra Streisand (“as professional at 24 as any veteran I’ve ever worked with”), Andrew Lloyd Webber, and many more.
Alongside this unforgettable saga is the tale of Shepard’s childhood as a small-in-stature piano prodigy from East Orange, New Jersey, and his emergence into the world as a recording producer of, first, classical music and then Broadway cast recordings. Told with verve in Shepard’s inimitable voice— a striking combination of Broadway glitz and classical-music elegance—his journey makes for a uniquely compelling story, whether or not you’re among the millions of musical lovers around the world for whom his recordings are a vital link to Broadway at its best.
RECORDING A LIFE IN CAST ALBUMS of the making of fifty-plus years’ worth of show albums, featuring up-close-and-personal stories of his work with pretty much everyone who was anyone on Broadway, including Julie Andrews, Leonard Bernstein (“truly awesome but very complicated”), Sheldon Harnick (“as warm and decent as he was talented”), Barbara Cook (“one of my favorites”), Placido Domingo, Gregory Hines, John Kander, Fred Ebb, Danny Kaye, Angela Lansbury (“so gifted and so easy to be with and to work with”), Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Chita Rivera, Stephen Sondheim (“a genius, and very easily bruised”), Barbra Streisand (“as professional at 24 as any veteran I’ve ever worked with”), Andrew Lloyd Webber, and many more.
Alongside this unforgettable saga is the tale of Shepard’s childhood as a small-in-stature piano prodigy from East Orange, New Jersey, and his emergence into the world as a recording producer of, first, classical music and then Broadway cast recordings. Told with verve in Shepard’s inimitable voice— a striking combination of Broadway glitz and classical-music elegance—his journey makes for a uniquely compelling story, whether or not you’re among the millions of musical lovers around the world for whom his recordings are a vital link to Broadway at its best.
360 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 19, 2024
9 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 20, 2025
Fascinating material. I've just got this book a few hours ago. I'm listing is read because I'll be reading it in a non-linear way - reading the memories of Shepard and each individual show. I have been in love with Broadway and especially musicals since I was a boy. Living in the provinces - far away from the lights of Broadway - my experience was the annual Tony Award show (and a few other TV shows), and Broadway Cast Albums. Shepard produced dozens of the greatest shows of the past 60 years - thank you Sir.
October 25, 2025
I was entertained thoroughly by this one! Sure, a lot of it seemed a bit braggy. I truly loved hearing all the anecdotes of things that happened behind the scenes while recording some of my favorite Broadway cast albums, and especially all the forethought that goes into a recording. I had no idea! I assumed it was basically just show up, record, edit, boom - album.
January 3, 2025
A very interesting recap of recording cast albums by Shepard. The book is terrific, but the chapter about FOLLIES IN CONCERT is fascinating. "Two words: Linda Lavin" - YIKES! Clearly, Sondheim was a genius, but he also held a grudge.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews