Editing Cast recording (section)

==Major label cast albums==

===Decca===
[[Decca Broadway]], known from the 1940s until the 1990s simply as Decca Records, is the label that began the trend in North America. They released 78-rpm album sets of ''[[Porgy and Bess]]'', ''[[Oklahoma!]]'', ''[[A Connecticut Yankee (musical)|A Connecticut Yankee]]'', ''[[One Touch of Venus]]'', ''[[Carmen Jones]]'', ''[[Bloomer Girl]]'', ''[[Song of Norway]]'', ''[[Carousel (musical)|Carousel]]'', ''[[Annie Get Your Gun (musical)|Annie Get Your Gun]]'', ''[[Call Me Mister]]'', and ''[[Lost in the Stars]]''.  Many of these were transferred to LP in 1949–1950 although sometimes songs were abridged or left out completely. The label added more titles to their cast album library in the early 1950s: ''[[Guys and Dolls]]'', ''[[The King and I]]'', ''[[Wonderful Town]]'', ''[[Seventh Heaven (musical)|Seventh Heaven]]'', ''[[On Your Toes]]'', and ''[[Anchors Aweigh (film)|Anchors Aweigh]]''. In 1968, Decca issued a 2-LP set of the London cast of ''[[Man of La Mancha]]'', an album which featured almost the complete show (the Broadway cast album had been recorded by [[Kapp Records]]).

In 1949, Decca began to re-release the best-selling of these albums on LP and in the late 1950s began offer electronically enhanced for stereo editions.

The label was out of the business of recording new cast albums by the end of the 1950s. Decca was bought by MCA and in the early 1970s many of these titles were re-released on the MCA label, all using the fake stereo masters.

MCA released many of their classic shows on CD in the 1990s, going back to original master discs and tapes to generate excellent sounding (and complete) remasters of the originals. When MCA and Polygram were merged into the new Universal Music Group, a new label, Decca Broadway, was born. Decca Broadway has re-mastered and reissued virtually every cast album in the old Decca catalogue including many rare titles that had not been available in almost 50 years. Decca Broadway has also recorded recent hits including: ''[[Wicked (musical)|Wicked]]'', ''[[Monty Python's Spamalot]]'', ''[[Seussical]]'', and ''[[Spring Awakening (musical)|Spring Awakening]]''. It has not, however, released the London cast album of ''Man of La Mancha'' on CD, perhaps because it contains most of the dialogue from the show, and the film version is readily available on DVD. ''Wicked'', in particular has been a big seller for the label and continues to sell well.  Although they are being selective about what they record, Decca Broadway plans to continue making cast albums, including the [[Mel Brooks]] musical ''[[Young Frankenstein (musical)|Young Frankenstein]]'' and [[Andrew Lippa]]'s ''[[The Addams Family (musical)|The Addams Family: A New Musical]]''. Although some of the slower-selling catalog titles have been deleted, many remain available as downloads.

===Capitol===
[[Capitol Records|Capitol]] recorded ''[[St. Louis Woman]]'' in 1946, mainly because lyricist Johnny Mercer was one of the label's founders.  It wasn't until the 1950s, however, that the label began bidding for cast album rights. Their first few choices were generally not big hits: ''[[Flahooley]]'', ''[[Top Banana (musical)|Top Banana]]'', ''[[Three Wishes for Jamie]]'', and the revival of ''[[Of Thee I Sing]]''. They finally got a hit show in 1953 with Cole Porter's ''[[Can-Can (musical)|Can-Can]]'', which remained in print until the end of the LP era.  Recordings featuring the film casts of three [[Rodgers and Hammerstein]] films (''[[Oklahoma!]]'', ''[[Carousel (musical)|Carousel]]'', and ''[[The King and I]]'') were also released on Capitol during the 1950s, all earning [[RIAA]] gold record awards.  An even bigger hit came along in 1957 with ''[[The Music Man]]'', which reached the #1 spot on the Billboard charts and stayed there for 12 weeks. It was also the label's first stereo cast album. They scored another bestseller in 1964 when Barbra Streisand's label Columbia Records passed on recording ''[[Funny Girl (musical)|Funny Girl]]''. Capitol recorded it, and the album became a million seller.  Without a TV/radio network affiliation (such as Columbia had with CBS and RCA with NBC) Capitol sometimes had to content themselves with "also-ran" shows.  The 1960s found them with recording rights to a number of minor hits: ''[[No Strings]]'', ''[[The Unsinkable Molly Brown (musical)|The Unsinkable Molly Brown]]'', and ''[[Golden Boy (musical)|Golden Boy]]'' but mostly they got flop shows: ''[[Sail Away (musical)|Sail Away]]'', ''[[Kwamina (musical)|Kwamina]]'', ''[[The Gay Life]]'', ''[[Skyscraper (musical)|Skyscraper]]'', ''[[Walking Happy]]'', and ''[[Zorba (musical)|Zorba]]''. They did record Stephen Sondheim's Broadway debut as a composer with ''[[A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum]]'', but in 1971 they came under fire for refusing to record the complete score of Sondheim's ''[[Follies]]'' as a 2-LP set. The label executives complained that "cast albums don't sell" ignoring the ongoing success of ''Funny Girl'' and ''The Music Man'' and the fact that many of their shows had been outright flops. ''Follies'' was truncated to a single LP missing four songs and abridging many of the others. It would be Capitol's last original cast album.

EMI's classical division took over the Capitol Broadway cast catalogue in 1992 and reissued all 40 of the cast albums on the Broadway Angel label. The CDs were well packaged with booklets containing detailed notes and production photos.  Although only a half dozen of these releases are still in print as of October 2007, most of the deleted titles have been reissued by DRG keeping the scores available for collectors.

Broadway Angel has recorded some recent shows such as: ''[[Crazy for You (musical)|Crazy for You]]'', ''[[Passion (musical)|Passion]]'', ''[[The Color Purple (musical)|The Color Purple]]'', and ''[[Curtains (musical)|Curtains]]'', the 1994 Broadway revival of ''[[Carousel (musical)|Carousel]]'', as well as the Bernadette Peters revivals of ''[[Annie Get Your Gun (musical)|Annie Get Your Gun]]'' and ''[[Gypsy (musical)|Gypsy]]''.

In 2013, Universal Music Group acquired EMI and with it Angel and Capitol Broadway catalogues.

===RCA Victor===
[[RCA Victor Records|RCA Victor]] entered the cast album field in 1947 with two hits and a miss: ''[[Brigadoon (musical)|Brigadoon]]'', ''[[High Button Shoes]]'', and Rodgers & Hammerstein's ''[[Allegro (musical)|Allegro]]''.  ''Brigadoon'' was a big seller and remains in print on CD today. ''High Button Shoes'' was a hit show but the album did not do well. RCA's budget label, Camden, reissued it on LP in 1958 and Victor re-released it in 1965. At that time they also did the first LP transfer of ''Allegro''.

As the LP era dawned, Victor competed with Columbia for cast album rights. Their first LP release was Irving Berlin's ''[[Call Me Madam]]'' but because the star Ethel Merman was under contract to Decca, she was replaced on Victor's album by Dinah Shore. The album was a failure and was out of print until Red Seal reissued it in 1977.  Victor did better with ''[[Paint Your Wagon (musical)|Paint Your Wagon]]'', and ''[[Damn Yankees]]'', but had their share of flops: ''[[Seventeen (musical)|Seventeen]]'', ''[[Make a Wish (musical)|Make a Wish]]'', ''[[Hazel Flagg]]'', and ''[[Pipe Dream (musical)|Pipe Dream]]'', along with minor hits ''[[Me and Juliet]]'', ''[[Happy Hunting (musical)|Happy Hunting]]'', ''[[New Girl in Town]]'', ''[[Jamaica (musical)|Jamaica]]'', ''[[Redhead (musical)|Redhead]]'', ''[[Take Me Along]]'', ''[[Do Re Mi (musical)|Do Re Mi]]'', ''[[Wildcat (musical)|Wildcat]]'', and ''[[Milk and Honey (musical)|Milk and Honey]]''.

In the 1960s, Victor did better with the Tony Award winners ''[[How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (musical)|How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying]]'', ''[[Hello, Dolly! (musical)|Hello, Dolly!]]'', and ''[[Fiddler on the Roof]]''.  They hit the top of the charts with ''[[Hair (musical)|Hair]]'' in 1968. During this time it also released five of the cast albums from the [[Music Theatre of Lincoln Center]] revivals, ''[[The Merry Widow]]'' with Patrice Munsel, ''[[Show Boat]]'' with [[Barbara Cook]], [[Constance Towers]], [[Stephen Douglass]], [[David Wayne]], and [[William Warfield]], ''[[Kismet (musical)|Kismet]]'' with [[Alfred Drake]], ''[[Annie Get Your Gun (musical)|Annie Get Your Gun]]'' with [[Ethel Merman]], ''[[Carousel (musical)|Carousel]]'' with [[John Raitt]], and ''[[The King and I]]'' with [[Rise Stevens]] and [[Darren McGavin]].

In 1976, [[Thomas Z. Shepard]] left Columbia Records for RCA's Classical division and under his guidance RCA Red Seal eclipsed Columbia as the dominant label for cast albums. Shepard recorded Sondheim's scores for ''[[Pacific Overtures]]'', ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street|Sweeney Todd]]'', ''[[Sunday in the Park With George]]'', and ''[[Merrily We Roll Along (musical)|Merrily We Roll Along]]'', the 1977 Broadway revival recording of ''[[The King and I]]'', as well as the hits ''[[Ain't Misbehavin' (musical)|Ain't Misbehavin']]'', ''[[42nd Street (musical)|42nd Street]]'', and ''[[La Cage aux Folles (musical)|La Cage aux Folles]]''.

In 1985, Shepard staged an all-star concert to make a complete recording of Sondheim's ''[[Follies]]''. When pre-production costs escalated, label president Jose Menendez wanted to cancel the recording. Shepard held his ground and won the battle. The 2-LP set was a bestseller and made profit within a month of release. Early in 1986 Shepard resigned and went to MCA.

With the rise of compact discs in the late 1980s, RCA was bought out by BMG. At this time Bill Rosenfield used RCA Victor to re-release the label's vast catalogue of show albums on CD and to record new shows including: ''[[Into The Woods]]'', ''[[Jerome Robbins' Broadway]]'', ''[[Grand Hotel (musical)|Grand Hotel]]'', ''[[Kiss of the Spider Woman (musical)|Kiss of the Spider Woman]]'', ''[[Titanic (musical)|Titanic]]'', ''[[Steel Pier (musical)|Steel Pier]]'', ''[[Ragtime (musical)|Ragtime]]'', ''[[Fosse (musical)|Fosse]]'', ''[[The Full Monty (musical)|The Full Monty]]'',  ''[[Thoroughly Modern Millie]]'', ''[[Urinetown]]'', and ''[[Avenue Q]]''. During this time RCA Victor also released the cast recordings for the Broadway revivals of ''[[Anything Goes]]'' (1987), ''[[Guys and Dolls (musical)|Guys and Dolls]]'' (1992), ''[[Chicago (musical)|Chicago]]'' (1996), ''[[Candide (musical)|Candide]]'' (1997), ''[[Cabaret (musical)|Cabaret]]'' (1998), ''[[The Sound of Music]]'' (1998), ''[[You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown]]'' (1999), and ''[[Man of La Mancha]]'' (2002).

Many of the older, more obscure titles were deleted in 1999–2000 but the catalogue remains active. The merger between Sony and BMG in 2004 has resulted in a new label called Masterworks Broadway and now that Sony has taken over the entire operation they have started allowing outside companies such as DRG to re-release many of the rarer cast albums from the combined Columbia and RCA Victor catalogues.

===Columbia===
[[Columbia Records|Columbia]]'s first original Broadway cast album was the 1946 revival of ''[[Show Boat]]'', soon followed by an album of ''[[Finian's Rainbow]]''. In 1948 Columbia introduced the Lp to the record market and soon offered LP editions of their 78-rpm sets.  The first cast album recorded as an LP was Cole Porter's ''[[Kiss Me, Kate]]'', which was a big hit on records and was followed by the blockbuster Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''[[South Pacific (musical)|South Pacific]]''. The producer of these albums was Goddard Lieberson, who brought unquestionable taste and skill to translating a Broadway show to records. He didn't just record the songs. It was his goal to make the album an enjoyable listening experience for home listeners who, quite often, had not even seen the shows.  Recorded in an old converted church on 30th street in New York City, Columbia's albums had a lush, open, spacious sound. When stereo came along in the late 1950s, Lieberson used stereo placement to enhance the performances but avoided any gimmicks. As a result, Columbia's albums of ''[[Kismet (musical)|Kismet]]'', ''[[The Pajama Game]]'', ''[[Bells Are Ringing (musical)|Bells Are Ringing]]'', and ''[[Flower Drum Song]]'' remain classics in the field.

In 1956, Lieberson persuaded CBS to put up the entire capitalization for Lerner and Loewe's ''[[My Fair Lady]]''. This ensured that Columbia got the cast album rights and that CBS held all film and TV rights to the property.  The show was the biggest hit of the decade, selling out for nearly 6 years on Broadway. The original cast album reached #1 on the Billboard charts, and stayed on the charts for nine years. Because the Broadway cast had been recorded only in monaural, when the cast opened it in London Columbia re-recorded it in stereo. The label later offered the film soundtrack and a 1976 20th anniversary revival cast albums as well as recordings in French, Italian, Spanish and Hebrew.

The profits from the ''My Fair Lady'' album financed many of Columbia's subsequent original cast and classical recordings.

The label recorded Frank Loesser's near sung-through musical ''[[The Most Happy Fella]]'', virtually complete and issued it as a 3-record set as well as a single Lp of highlights.  Lieberson made sure that important scores were recorded even if the shows were not box office successes. Thanks to his foresight the original casts of  ''[[Candide (musical)|Candide]]'', ''[[Anyone Can Whistle]]'', and ''[[Goldilocks (musical)|Goldilocks]]'' are preserved.

Columbia recorded as many hits as they did flops - ''[[Gypsy (musical)|Gypsy]]'', ''[[The Sound of Music]]'', ''[[Bye Bye Birdie (musical)|Bye Bye Birdie]]'', ''[[Camelot (musical)|Camelot]]'',  ''[[Sweet Charity]]'', ''[[Mame (musical)|Mame]]'', ''[[1776 (musical)|1776]]'', ''[[Cabaret (musical)|Cabaret]]'', ''[[West Side Story]]'', ''[[Company (musical)|Company]]'', ''[[A Little Night Music]]'', and ''[[Annie (musical)|Annie]]''.

In the 1980s, the label began to withdraw from the cast album field as RCA began to dominate it. Sony bought CBS records in the late 1980s and began reissuing many older cast albums on the Sony Broadway label in 1991–94 and later the Sony Columbia Broadway Masterworks labels. The few, mainly obscure flops, that Sony chose not to reissue were farmed out to DRG and other specialty labels.

The merger between Sony and BMG in 2004 has resulted in a new label called Masterworks Broadway and now that Sony has taken over the entire operation they have started allowing outside companies such as DRG to re-release many of the rarer cast albums from the combined Columbia and RCA Victor catalogues. Masterworks Broadway has also launched a new website offering the combined Victor and Columbia catalogues.