The six-track studio cast album EP of the new musical CLICQUOT: A Revolutionary Musical is set to drop April 14, but Playbill has an exclusive first listen to a track. Pour some bubbly, and listen to Victoria Frings and Kevin Massey sing "The Man He Chose for Me" from the Lisette Glodowski- and Richard C. Walter-penned score above.
Set during the French Revolution, the musical follows Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin as she defies societal expectations and leads her late husband's champagne business to change the entire industry, becoming one of the most successful international businesses in the world.
Featured in the cast are Frings as Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, Massey as François Clicquot, Paolo Montalban as Louis Bohne, Kai An Chee as Dressmaker, Tim Rogan as Jean Remy-Moët, Rachael Worthington as Clémentine Ponsardin, Nick Laughlin as Napoleon Bonaparte, Steve Blanchard as Philippe Clicquot, Neal Young as Nicolas Ponsardin, Erin McMillen as Young Barbe-Nicole, and Eric Sorrels as Young François. Kennedy Kanagawa and Richard Lindenfelzer are featured as soloists. Joanna Carpenter, Matt Castle, Robert Fowler, Meredith Ingelsby, Mairys Joaquin, Taylor Kraft, Cedric Leiba Jr, Cassie Maurer, and Santina Umbach round out the company in the ensemble. Jillienne Leigh serves as ASL Interpreter.
“Everything we learned while researching Barbe-Nicole completely blew us away,” said Glodowski and Walter in an earlier joint statement (the duo penned the musical's book, music, and lyrics). “The Champagne itself is seemingly everywhere, with its instantly recognizable yellow label, and yet we found that so few people know the story of the brilliant woman behind it. During the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, Barbe-Nicole followed her intuition and revolutionized the Champagne industry, leading her company to dizzying heights at a time when a woman doing so was almost inconceivable.”
The upcoming release is produced by Frank Galgano and Michael Croiter, with orchestrations and arrangements by Galgano and Matt Castle. Castle has also penned vocal and dance arrangements, and Kenneth Gartman is leading the 13-piece orchestra.
A stage production is in the works to follow the album, with those efforts led by Laurie Glodowski and Patti Maurer of 35th Parallel Productions. The work was previously presented as an industry reading in New York Theatre Barn's New Work series in 2020 and as a 2021 concert with the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina.
Visit ClicquotMusical.com.
