The Book of Mormon: Original Broadway Cast Recording
The Book of Mormon: Original Broadway Cast Recording | |
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Ghostlight Records | |
Producer | Stephen Oremus, Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, Matt Stone, Anne Garefino, Scott Rudin and Kurt Deutsch (exec.) |
The Book of Mormon: Original Broadway Cast Recording contains the songs from the American musical
Parker, Lopez, and Stone wrote the musical progressively over a period of six years, beginning in 2004. The recording for the album took place over three days, with the orchestra recording for one and the cast recording for another.
The recording received substantial commercial success after its initial digital release broke
Recording and post-production
The cast recording for The Book of Mormon was recorded on March 21, 22 and 28, 2011.
Because of payment schedules imposed by union rules, Broadway cast recordings are traditionally recorded over a single 15-hour day, with all instruments and vocals tracked together. In addition to reducing costs, this approach enables the singers to control the tempo of the songs. But according to Frank Filipetti, who both recorded and mixed the album,[3] The Book of Mormon's complex vocal arrangements called for a different strategy in which the instrumental tracks were recorded first, followed by a separate day dedicated to the cast. Filipetti said that the arrangements had "vocal parts within vocal parts within vocal parts. Trying to do all of that with the principal singers, rhythm section, orchestra, all in two or three takes in an all-day session wasn’t going to work." He credited Oremus and drummer Sean McDaniel for being able to anticipate the singers' phrasing. Other mixing challenges included "creating enough air and clarity for all the vocalists while still maintaining the vibrancy of [Lopez's] orchestral arrangements", as well as dealing with the score's wide range of musical styles.[5]
Oremus and Lopez were heavily involved in the orchestra recording, whereas Stone and Parker were more invested in the vocal session. According to Filipetti, their main concern was making sure the jokes were coming across. The album was recorded to Pro Tools allowing multiple tracks of recordings to be present in the final cut. Mixing and mastering were done in April at Filipetti's studio in West Nyack, New York. The album was mastered by Scott Hull.[6] Filipetti set up Source Connect to enable the core producers—Oremus, Lopez, Parker and Stone—to listen in on the session in real time from Manhattan, with Skype providing an audio/video connection between the two locations.[5]
Track listing
All tracks are written by
Song parody sources
In the recording's liner notes,
Kristin Rawls, in her critique of the score, draws several parallels to other musicals. She also likens "I Believe" to "I Have Confidence" from The Sound of Music, citing similarities in their lyrics, and makes a comparison between the Ugandans' version and presentation of Joseph Smith's story in "Joseph Smith American Moses" to "Uncle Tom's Cabin" from The King and I, as well as the recalling and overlap of previous numbers in "Man Up" to Les Misérables's "One Day More".[8]
Release
As the audio was being mixed, the musical's popularity exploded, giving the show a much higher profile than when the album was first recorded.[5] The cast album was promoted through advertisements running during Parker and Stone's South Park on Comedy Central.[9] A free preview of the entire recording was released on NPR starting on May 9, 2011.[10][11][12] Excerpts from the cast recording are featured in an extended Fresh Air interview.
Commercial performance
During its first week of its
However, after the show's success at the
Critical reception
Matthew Perpetua of
Charts
Chart (2011) | Peak position |
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US Billboard 200 (Billboard) | 3 |
US Cast Albums (Billboard) | 1 |
Year-end charts
Chart (2011) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Cast Albums (Billboard)[21] | 1 |
Chart (2012) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Cast Albums (Billboard)[22] | 2 |
Chart (2013) | Peak position |
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US Cast Albums (Billboard)[23] | 2 |
Chart (2014) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Cast Albums (Billboard)[24] | 2 |
Chart (2015) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Cast Albums (Billboard)[25] | 3 |
Chart (2016) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Cast Albums (Billboard)[26] | 5 |
Chart (2017) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Cast Albums (Billboard)[27] | 9 |
Chart (2018) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Cast Albums (Billboard)[28] | 11 |
Certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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United States (RIAA)[29] | Gold | 500,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
References
- ^ Kennedy, Gerrick D. (February 13, 2012). "Grammys 2012: Backstage with 'Book of Mormon' winner Trey Parker". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 14, 2012.
- ^ Gans, Andrew (November 18, 2016). "The Book of Mormon Goes Vinyl". Playbill. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
- ^ Ghostlight Records. 2011. B004X1M4DS.)
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link - ^ Stack, Peggy Fletcher (February 25, 2011). "'Book of Mormon' musical called surprisingly sweet". The Salt Lake Tribune.
- ^ a b c Weiss, David (June 8, 2011). "Inside "The Book of Mormon" Cast Recording: Frank Filipetti Breaks Broadway's Rules". Sonicscoop. Retrieved July 7, 2011.
- ^ "Book of Mormon [Original Broadway Cast]". albumcredits.com. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
- ^ Rich, Frank. "Frank Rich's Liner Notes for The Book of Mormon". Playbill. Archived from the original on June 25, 2011. Retrieved June 20, 2011.
- ^ Rawls, Kristin (June 2011). "The Mormons Take Manhattan: The Book of Mormon soundtrack on God, Broadway and Africa".
- ^ a b Keith Caulfield (May 26, 2011). "The Book of Mormon Cast Album Scores Impressive Chart Debut". Billboard. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- ^ "NPR Now Offering Free Listen to Entire Original Cast Recording of The Book of Mormon". Playbill. May 9, 2011. Archived from the original on May 16, 2011. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
- ^ "The Book of Mormon – Original Cast Recording – CD | Sh-K-Boom & Ghostlight Records". Sh-k-boom.com. Archived from the original on May 15, 2011. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
- ^ "The Book of Mormon Cast Album Will Get Digital Release May 17; In-Store to Follow in June". Playbill. Archived from the original on June 16, 2011. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
- ^ "The Book of Mormon Cast Recording Named Fastest Selling Digital Release". BroadwayWorld.com. May 25, 2011. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
- ^ Adam Hetrick (May 19, 2011). "The Book of Mormon Cast Album Debuts on iTunes Top 10 Chart". Playbill. Archived from the original on May 22, 2011. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
- ^ a b c Keith Caulfield (June 15, 2011). "Adele Reclaims No. 1 on Billboard 200, Book of Mormon Makes History". Billboard. Retrieved June 15, 2011.
- ^ "Book of Mormon cast album breaks sales record". New York Post. June 15, 2011. Retrieved June 15, 2011.
- ^ Steve Knopper (June 15, 2011). "On the Charts: Amazon Gives Book of Mormon Soundtrack a Huge Boost". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 15, 2011.
- ^ Ben Sisario (June 15, 2011). "From Tonys to Billboard Chart: Good Week for Book of Mormon". The New York Times. Retrieved June 15, 2011.
- ^ Perpetua, Matthew (May 26, 2011). "Listen to the Hilarious and Ridiculously Catchy Book of Mormon". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
- ^ Jeffries, David. "The Book of Mormon – Review". Allmusic. Retrieved June 15, 2011.
- ^ "Billboard Cast Albums - Year-End 2011". Billboard. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
- ^ "Billboard Cast Albums - Year-End 2012". Billboard. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
- ^ "Billboard Cast Albums - Year-End 2013". Billboard. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
- ^ "Billboard Cast Albums - Year-End 2014". Billboard. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
- ^ "Billboard Cast Albums - Year-End 2015". Billboard. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
- ^ "Billboard Cast Albums - Year-End 2016". Billboard. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
- ^ "Billboard Cast Albums - Year-End 2017". Billboard. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
- ^ "Billboard Cast Albums - Year-End 2018". Billboard. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
- ^ "American album certifications – Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, Matt Stone – The Book of Mormon (Original Broadway Cast Recording)". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved June 14, 2022.