The Tony Awards always generates interest in Broadway shows, especially musicals. A new website launches today that claims to be the most comprehensive source of Broadway and Off-Broadway show tunes, performers, and sheet music.
It’s just in time, too. There’s a giant hole in the heart of NYC musical theater history with the recent demise of JR&, with its extensive collection of 33RPM and CD music, and last year’s shuttering of Colony Records in Times Square, with its collection of vintage RPMs and sheet music.
The new site BwayTunes has all of that, including the original cast album of Peter Pan, with Mary Martin in the starring role, who flew around the stage in 1954, a half century before Spiderman, and original sheet music from the Broadway version of A Chorus Line. I even found Monty Python’s Spamalot in a search of the site.
The site lets you search by performer, from Julie Andrews to Tony host Hugh Jackman, and by composer or lyricist, so you can find a favorite Gershwin, Cole Porter, Sondheim or Rodgers and Hammerstein tune.
There also are compilations, such as a Salute to Glee and Judy Garland singing Christmas songs.
Buy an individual song for $1.29 or an entire album for between $8.99 or $11.99. Prices are set by the music industry, so it costs the same from BwayTunes as from iTunes or Amazon, where it will take you longer to search for a Broadway show album or particular tune. Plus, MP3 downloads at BwayTunes will include the production credits and other information for cast albums.
Because – in the words of the immortal Irving Berlin – There’s No Business Like Show Business.
What do you think about this? We welcome your comments.