A record six cast recordings are up for Best Musical Theater Album at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards. Earning nominations November 24 were the albums for Broadway’s American Utopia and Jagged Little Pill, Off-Broadway’s Soft Power and Little Shop of Horrors, and London’s Amélie and The Prince of Egypt.
In most years since the category was first presented in 1959, there have been five nominees; this year marks the first with an expanded lineup of six titles.
Principal soloists on each album were included in the nomination with the producers, as were the composers of the new scores (Alan Menken, who co-wrote Little Shop with the late Howard Ashman, is nominated as a producer). See below for the full list of individual nomination recipients in the category.
Additional nominees from the theatre world include Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cats movie star Taylor Swift, nominated together for writing “Beautiful Ghosts” for the 2019 film adaptation. Also appearing in the Best Song Written for Visual Media category are Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez for Frozen 2’s “Into the Unknown” and Cynthia Erivo (alongside Joshuah Brian Campbell) for the Harriet anthem “Stand Up.”
Mykal Kilgore, a Broadway alum and frequent producer of musical theatre-infused viral videos, earned his first Grammy nomination—in Best Traditional R&B Performance—for his single "Let Me Go." The documentary We Are Freestyle Love Supreme, chronicling the hip-hop improv group's origins and road to Broadway, is up for Best Music Film, with Hamilton duo Thomas Kail and Lin-Manuel Miranda attached as producers.
The 63rd annual ceremony will take place January 31, with The Daily Show host Trevor Noah emceeing the primetime broadcast for CBS.
Best Musical Theater Album
Amélie (Original London Cast Recording)
Principal soloists: Audrey Brisson, Chris Jared, Caolan McCarthy, and Jez Unwin
Producers: Michael Fentiman, Sean Patrick Flahaven, Barnaby Race, and Nathan Tysen
Lyricist: Nathan Tysen
Composer-lyricist: Daniel Messe
American Utopia (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
Principal soloist and producer: David Byrne
Jagged little Pill (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
Principal soloists: Kathryn Gallagher, Celia Rose Gooding, Lauren Patten, and Elizabeth Stanley
Producers: Neal Avron, Pete Ganbarg, Tom Kitt, Michael Parker, Craig Rosen, and Vivek J. Tiwary
(Songwriters Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard are not considered part of the nomination, as less than 51 percent of the album features new music; the rest comes from their pre-existing catalog.)
Little Shop of Horrors (New Off-Broadway Cast Recording)
Principal soloists: Tammy Blanchard, Jonathan Groff, and Tom Alan Robbins
Producers: Will Van Dyke, Michael Mayer, Alan Menken, and Frank Wolf
The Prince of Egypt (Original London Cast Recording)
Principal soloists: Christine Allado, Luke Brady, Alexia Khadime, and Liam Tamne
Producers: Dominick Amendum and Stephen Schwartz
Composer-lyricist: Stephen Schwartz
Soft Power (Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording)
Principal soloists: Francis Jue, Austin Ku, Alyse Alan Louis, and Conrad Ricamora
Producer: Matt Stine
Lyricist: David Henry Hwang
Composer-lyricist: Jeanine Tesori
