Sony Masterworks Broadway releases the original cast recording of Half Time August 2. The album features the cast of Paper Mill Playhouse's 2018 production, led by Georgia Engel in her final performance. The album is dedicated to the memory of Engel, who passed away in April 2019.
Engel's co-stars included 2019 Tony Award winner André De Shields (Hadestown), Tony and Emmy Award winner Lillias White (The Life), and Tony and Drama Desk Award winner Donna McKechnie (A Chorus Line), leading a company that also includes Haven Burton, Lori Tan Chinn, Nkeki Obi-Melekwe, Nancy Ticotin, Madeleine Doherty, Tracy Jai Edwards, Mary Claire King, Lenora Nemetz, Kay Walbye, Alexander Aguilar, Ken Ard, Sydni Beaudoin, Tami Dahbura, Paula DeLuise, Gabriela Garcia, Talya Groves, Kathryn Kendall, Valton Jackson, Summerisa Bell Stevens, Garrett Turner, and Gayle Turner.
The cast recording is available on Amazon, iTunes, and Apple Music.
Half Time features music by Matthew Sklar (The Prom), lyrics by Nell Benjamin (Mean Girls), additional music by Ester Dean and the late Marvin Hamlisch, and a book by The Prom's Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin. Based on Dori Berinstein's 2008 documentary film Gotta Dance, the musicals tells the true story of ten senior citizens who join a dance troupe and perform a hip-hop routine at half time for a major basketball team.
The work premiered in Chicago in 2015 under the title Gotta Dance before coming to Paper Mill Playhouse in a production directed and choreographed by Kinky Boots Tony winner Jerry MItchell. The musical was produced by Berinstein and Bill Damaschke.
White and McKechnie have been a special guest performers on Playbill Travel’s Broadway on the High Seas cruises. Cabins are now on sale for Broadway in the Great Northwest, Playbill Travel’s first domestic cruise featuring Kate Baldwin, Christopher Fitzgerald, and Aaron Lazar (April 26–May 4, 2020), and for Broadway on the Mediterranean (August 31–September 7, 2020), featuring Audra McDonald, Will Swenson, Gavin Creel, Lindsay Mendez, and more to be announced. Playbill Travel is currently accepting waitlist travelers for its sold-out Broadway in Bordeaux With Michael Feinstein (September 1–9, 2019), featuring Andréa Burns and Tony winner Paulo Szot. Call Playbill Travel for tickets at 866-455-6789 or visit PlaybillTravel.com.
