I'd like some lyrics with my CD please

I picked up the new Broadway cast recording of Hair yesterday at Borders. It was on sale for $14.99 but I got it for free by using three of my Borders Rewards Visa coupons! (Okay, almost free. I had to pay $1.04.)

When I got home, I tore off the shrink wrap and started flipping through the booklet. Lots of pictures. Introductory essays from Diane Paulus, director of the Broadway revival; and Oskar Eustis, artistic director of the Public Theater. But sadly, no song lyrics.

Personally, I find the absence of lyrics a disturbing trend. I first noticed it when I bought the cast recording of Curtains, produced by Manhattan Records and EMI, and it was very disappointing.

Yeah I know, most people get their music from iTunes and just download the booklet and cover art. I did go to a Web site and print the Curtains lyrics but it wasn't the same. They were too big and bulky to fit in the CD case.

A lot of people listen to their music on the go - in the car or on the subway or exercising or whatever. And obviously, reading while driving is not a good idea. But occasionally, I do listen to a CD at home, on my CD player, and I like to follow along. I even like to prop the booklet up on the treadmill while I'm at the gym.

I know there's a cost factor and cast recordings are a niche market to begin with. If you've got a single CD, there's only so much you can pack into the booklet. And maybe some people would rather have the photos and essays. Don't get me wrong, I like them.

But after producing a terrific 2-CD cast recording of In the Heights, with lyrics, I just wish that Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight could have accommodated them on the Hair CD, too.

My Hair collection is growing

I'm really excited that the Broadway revival of Hair is getting a recording.

According to Playbill, the cast heads to the studio on April 6. There's no word yet when the Ghostlight CD will be released but apparently they're putting it on a fast track.

When it comes out, I will have five recordings of Hair. Here they are: the 1968 original Broadway cast, the 1970 Israeli recording in Hebrew, the 1979 movie soundtrack, the 2005 Actors' Fund benefit recording featuring an all-star cast of Broadway performers and the soon-to-be-released 2009 revival.

I hope that's not the actual cover art, though. Frankly, it's not very appealing. The original is a classic but I'm kind of partial to the Actors' Fund artwork.

I think that's the most I own of any musical. I have three versions of Sweeney Todd, three of Evita and two from lots of other shows - most of which I've acquired over the past two years. But five will definitely be a record!

Hair opens tomorrow night at the Hirschfeld Theatre. The original Broadway production opened on April 29, 1968. In his review for the New York Times, Clive Barnes alluded to some of the more controversial aspects of the musical:

"Since I have had a number of letters from people who have seen previews asking me to warn readers, and, in the urbanely quaint words of one correspondent, "Spell out what is happening on stage," this I had better do. Well, almost, for spell it out I cannot, for this remains a family newspaper. However, a great many four-letter words, such as "love," are used very freely."