Album Review: TAMAR OF THE RIVER (WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING)

Where to start on this recording? How do you talk about a score so unclassifiable? Marisa Michelson's music for Tamar of the River teases and tastes at an endless list of styles and genres that simultaneously make the score sound like it was written in the distant past as well as the distant future.

The fact that Michelson's palate is so expansive is part of what makes this score such a joy to listen to. It electrifies and jolts us. It gets under our skin. It twists and turns in such unexpected and jarring ways. It floats with melodic beauty.

There's American and European classical influence here, but there's just as much contemporary pop, African tribal music, gospel, Middle Eastern folk, and sprinklings of so much more all over the place. All of these are used to new effect that shatters expectation. This is one inventive, even innovative, piece of musical theatre writing.

Album Review: HAWKSLEY WORKMAN - SONGS FROM THE GOD THAT COMES

If you're in touch with the indie music scene in Canada, you're probably familiar with Hawksley Workman. He's an artist that's strangely hard to classify; a glance at his albums will show what an eclectic array of genres he's tackled. From glam rock, to heavy pop, to hip hop, to traditional folk, you'll be left almost wondering if a different person was behind each album.

Not so. And now, we can add musical theatre to that list with Songs from The God That Comes, an album that accompanies Workman's solo rock opera that is currently touring all over the place.

Album Review: 21 CHUMP STREET (ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING)

Have you heard of this musical? I know I hadn't... but with good reason.

Tony Award winning composer Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote a short 'mini musical' for a radio podcast titled 'This American Life'. Based on a news article about a high school boy falling in love with a transfer student who turned out to be an undercover cop investigating the school for drugs, 21 Chump Street is shorter than a one-act show, with the score clocking in at under 15 minutes in length.

This EP of the show's score appeared on iTunes without warning. And it couldn't be a more welcomed surprise.

Album Review: HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH (BROADWAY CAST RECORDING)

Neil Patrick Harris as Hedwig. It couldn't be better casting.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a hugely popular cult musical created by John Cameron Mitchell and composer Stephen Trask. The show, about a down-and-out transgendered rock star named Hedwig, is a blend of musical theatre and a rock concert. The results are powerful.

The original cast, however, is iconic. For most fans, John Cameron Mitchell is, and always will be, the definitive Hedwig. Given this, how does the immensely talented Neil Patrick Harris measure up?

Well, he's no John Cameron Mitchell. But, luckily for us, he's not trying to be.

Album Review: HEATHERS (WORLD PREMIERE CAST RECORDING)

Laurence O'Keefe is no stranger to musicalizing campy subject matter. He had a hit on Broadway with the guilty pleasure musical Legally Blonde and his musical Bat Boy is an Off-Broadway cult favourite.

Fitting, then, that he should have tackled Heathers, based on the 1988 movie of the same name. The movie has attained large cult status despite early box office failure, and it spawned a lot of similarly campy high school movies, primarily the immensely popular Mean Girls.

But how does it work as a musical?

With lyricist Kevin Murphy, O'Keefe has crafted a bouncy and fun pop-rock score that lends itself beautifully to the subject matter.

Album Review: IF/THEN (ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST RECORDING)

What if you did this instead of that? If you could go back and do something differently, would you? Can the smallest things have a huge impact on the course of your life?

These questions are asked in If/Then, the new original musical by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, the same team that brought us the emotionally devastating Next to Normal. In fact, such questions are the obsession of Elizabeth, a woman who moves to New York after a messy divorce in order to start her life fresh. The 'what ifs' become her driving force in life, with every decision carefully considered.

For the audience, we are shown two parallel universes, where we see for ourselves just how Elizabeth's decisions affect her life. In one reality, she's called Liz... in another, Beth. And everything is significantly different.

Album Review: HERE LIES LOVE (ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING)

David Byrne? Fatboy Slim? Musical theatre? No way.

Yes, way.

Here Lies Love, the delicious musical with songs by David Byrne (of Talking Heads fame) and beats by Fatboy Slim, was released as a concept album years ago featuring big-name musicians. Just last year, it was picked up in an acclaimed production at The Public Theatre. Directed by Alex Timbers, the show was staged in a dance club of sorts, with the cast performing on moving elevated platforms while the audience gets to stand and dance for the entirety of the 90 minute show.

It's a good thing the audience gets to dance, because with what David Byrne and Fatboy Slim have created, I'd find it damn near impossible not to.