This Ordinary Thursday - The Songs of Georgia Stitt

CD Details

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Many know Georgia Stitt as the vocal coach on the primetime reality series Grease: You’re the One That I Want, but she has a thriving “side” business as an arranger, conductor, musical director, pianist and songwriter. It’s the latter aspect that gets showcased on this album, in which Stitt’s songs are performed by a collection of topnotch Broadway pros. The overall mood is one of thoughtful longing, emphasized by largely acoustic arrangements, mostly by either Stitt or her husband, Jason Robert Brown (The Last 5 Years). While perfectly crafted, the songs quickly blend into each other; their share a certain polite, “beige” elegance that also lacks inner fire. This makes the tracks breaking from that mold stand out even more: Jenn Colella brings a nice twang to the rollicking “Big Wings;” Faith Prince sounds positively delighted on the jaunty “I Get to Show You the Ocean;” and Kelli O’Hara demonstrates why she’s one of the finest interpreters on Broadway on the sepia-tinted “Perfect Summer,” which sometimes sounds like something cut from a 1940s musical (Stitt herself plays the piano on all three songs). –Elisabeth Vincentelli

Product Description

THIS ORDINARY THURSDAY, the extraordinary debut album of songs by Georgia Stitt, features vocals by some of Broadway’s brightest stars, including Sara Ramirez (Tony Award-winner for Spamalot, currently starring on TV’s Grey’s Anatomy), Faith Prince (Tony Award-winner for Guys and Dolls), Susan Egan (Broadway’s original Belle in Beauty and the Beast), Kelli O’Hara (Tony nominee for Pajama Game, opposite Harry Connick), and Matthew Morrison (Tony nominee for Light in the Piazza). Seen by millions each week as the vocal coach on NBC’s primetime series, GREASE: You’re the One That I Want, Georgia Stitt is known as a composer-lyricist with a style and sensibility all her own. Clever, sophisticated, and memorably melodic, THIS ORDINARY THURSDAY is one debut album not to be missed.