The cast recording of the 2023 musical adaptation of The Book Thief has been released for streaming.
Released by Center Stage Records, the recording follows The Book Thief's limited runs at Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, and Leicester Curve in 2023. Adapted from Markus Zusak's 2005 historical fiction novel, the musical features a book by Between The Lines team Jodi Picoult and Timothy Allen McDonald and a score by Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson .
Taking place in 1930s Nazi Germany, the story follows young, illiterate orphan Liesel, who steals an abandoned book and gains an appetite for them, learning the power of words—and kindness—from the Jewish boxer her foster family hides in the basement.
The cast featured on the album are Obioma Ugoala (Frozen the Musical, Hamilton) as Narrator, Mina Anwar (Shirley Valentine, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie) as Rosa Hubermann, Jack Lord (West Side Story, War Horse) as Hans Hubermann and Daniel Krikler (Fiddler On The Roof, Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812) as Max Vandenburg.
Joining them are Matthew Caputo (Hamilton) as Referee, Katy Clayton (The Band) as Liesel’s Mother, Oonagh Cox (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) as Nurse, Mark Dugdale (Les Miserables) as Alex Steiner, Michał Horowicz (The Band’s Visit) as Max’s Mother, Thomas-Lee Kidd (Fiddler On The Roof) as Mayor Hermann, Anu Ogunmefun (TINA - The Tina Turner Musical), Simon Oskarsson (Hadestown), Corinna Powlesland (Grease) as Social Worker, Purvi Parmar (The Jungle Book) as Barbara Steiner, Wendy Somerville (Oliver!) as Ilsa Hermann, Edwin Ray (Chicago) as Walter Kugler, Lee V G (Only Fools & Horses: The Musical) as Gravedigger and Russell Wilcox (The Producers) as Wolfgang Edel.
The role Liesel Meminger is shared by Tilly-Raye Bayer (Frozen The Musical) and Eirini Louskou (Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) and Rudy Steiner is shared by Thommy Bailey Vine (Matilda: The Musical), Preston Cropp, and Oliver Gordon (Newsies).
The musicians featured on the album are include pianist Matthew Malone, violinist Elaine Ambridge, double bassist Joshua Cavanagh-Brierley, reed players Sophie Creaner and Meg Davies, and percussionist Isis Dunthorne. Malone served as music director.
The album is produced by Matthew Malone, Elyssa Samsel, Kate Anderson, Ramin Sabi and Emily Lunnon for Deus Ex Machina Productions and Pierpaolo Demarchi; executive produced by Andrew Paradis, Ramin Sabi and Emily Lunnon; mixed, recorded, and engineered by Pierpaolo Demarchi at Livingston Studios, London, recording assisted by Tris Ellis, mastered by Oli Morgan for Abbey Road, and copying by George Strickland.
Visit TheBookThiefMusical.com.
