Sony Broadway

Sony Broadway was a label started by Sony Music in 1991 to reissue many of the classic Columbia Records original cast recordings on CD.

Most of the big hit shows had been issued already on the Columbia label, but collectors wanted some of the less well-known titles. The new label was launched with much fanfare and a promise to digitally remaster every cast album in Columbia's vast catalogue.

The first order of business was to release the titles collectors had been frequently requesting. The new CD's included elaborate booklets with extensive liner notes and photos. Sony spared no expense to ensure the discs looked and sounded as good as possible. The earliest of these recordings were mono masters from the early LP days. Sometimes alternate takes had to be used when the original tapes/discs were damaged or otherwise unusable. Once in a while these alternate takes yielded some bonuses: dialogue and portions of songs that had not previously been heard.

The series got off to a good start in December 1991, but later releases tended to spotlight obscure flops, which had no interest beyond the core collectors group. Faced with dwindling sales, Song pulled the plug on the series in 1993. The label has kept most of these releases in print, or available as downloads.

• Sony Broadway SK 48205 Aladdin (first release in stereo)
• Sony Broadway SK 48216 All American
• Sony Broadway SK 48209 The Apple Tree
• Sony Broadway SK 48208 Bajour
• Sony Broadway SK 35762 Ballroom
• Sony Broadway SK 53329 The Boys From Syracuse (studio cast)
• Sony Broadway SK 48017 Candide
• Sony Broadway SK 53538 Cinderella (2nd TV cast)
• Sony Broadway SK 48214 Dames At Sea
• Sony Broadway SK 48220 Dear World
• Sony Broadway SK 48206 Do I Hear A Waltz
• Sony Broadway SK 53536 Flower Drum Song
• Sony Broadway SK 48013 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (with alternate takes)
• Sony Broadway SK 48210 The Girl Who Came To Supper
• Sony Broadway SK 48222 Goldilocks
• Sony Broadway SK 48218 Hallelujah Baby!
• Sony Broadway SK 48204 Here's Love
• Sony Broadway SK 32266 Irene
• Sony Broadway SK 48018 Irma La Douce
• Sony Broadway SK 48207 It's A Bird! It's A Plane! It's Superman!
• Sony Broadway SK 53328 The King And I
• Sony Broadway SK 46438 Kismet (Studio Cast)
• Sony Broadway SK 48015 Miss Liberty (with alternate takes)
• Sony Broadway SK 48212 Mister President
• Sony Broadway S2K 48010 The Most Happy Fella
• Sony Broadway SK 53326 Oklahoma! (Studio cast - Nelson Eddy)
• Sony Broadway SK 35330 On The Twentieth Century
• Sony Broadway SK 48223 Out Of This World
• Sony Broadway SK 32961 Over Here
• Sony Broadway SK 32754 Raisin
• Sony Broadway SK 30337 The Rothschilds
• Sony Broadway SK 48215 Seventeen-Seventy-Six (1776)
• Sony Broadway SK 30589 Seventy Girls Seventy (70 Girls 70)
• Sony Broadway SK 53330 Show Boat
• Sony Broadway SK 53537 The Sound Of Music
• Sony Broadway SK 53327 South Pacific
• Sony Broadway SK 48014 A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
• Sony Broadway SK 30338 Two By Two
• Sony Broadway SK 48021 Wonderful Town

In 1997 Sony Legacy started a new series, Columbia Broadway Masterworks that focused on remastering the major hits (formerly on CD from Columbia) and adding a few rare titles to the mix:

• Sony Columbia SK 60723 Annie
• Sony Columbia SK 86860 Anyone Can Whistle
• Sony Columbia SK 89999 Barnum
• Sony Columbia SK 89545 Bells Are Ringing
• Sony Columbia SK 89254 Bye Bye Birdie
• Sony Columbia SK 60533 Cabaret
• Sony Columbia SK 60542 Camelot
• Sony Columbia SK 86859 Candide (replaces Sony Broadway Edition)
• Sony Columbia SK 65282 A Chorus Line
• Sony Columbia SK 60889 Cinderella
• Sony Columbia SK 65283 Company
• Sony Columbia SK 89546 Fiddler On The Roof (London Cast)
• Sony Columbia SK 89208 Finian's Rainbow
• Sony Columbia SK 60958 Flower Drum Song (replaces Sony Broadway Edition)
• Sony Columbia SK 60704 Girl Crazy (Studio Cast)
• Sony Columbia SK 60848 Gypsy
• Sony Columbia SK 86857 House Of Flowers
• Sony Columbia SK 89998 Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris
• Sony Columbia SK 89252 Kismet
• Sony Columbia SK 60536 Kiss Me Kate
• Sony Columbia SK 87700 Li'l Abner
• Sony Columbia SK 65284 A Little Night Music
• Sony Columbia SK 60959 Mame
• Sony Columbia SK 60539 My Fair Lady (London Cast)
• Sony Columbia SK 89997 My Fair Lady
• Sony Columbia S2K 86858 Nine
• Sony Columbia SK 60890 No No Nanette
• Sony Columbia SK 60703 Oh Kay! (Studio Cast)
• Sony Columbia SK 61876 Oklahoma! (Studio Cast - John Raitt)
• Sony Columbia SK 60538 On The Town (Studio Cast)
• Sony Columbia SK 89253 The Pajama Game
• Sony Columbia SK 86856 Pal Joey (Studio Cast)
• Sony Columbia SK 61877 Show Boat (Studio Cast)
• Sony Columbia SK 60583 The Sound Of Music (replaces Sony Broadway Edition)
• Sony Columbia SK 60722 South Pacific (replaces Sony Broadway Edition)
• Sony Columbia SK 60960 Sweet Charity
• Sony Columbia SK 60724 West Side Story

This second group consists of the major catalogue albums that have always been and continue to be steady sellers. Even so, Sony is no longer adding titles to this series and has not issued anything under the Columbia Broadway Masterworks imprint since 2002.

With merger of Sony and BMG all cast albums formerly on the Columbia and RCA Victor/RCA Red Seal labels are under Sony's control. In April 2009, Sony announced a new joint venture with Arkivmusic to re-release a number of titles that had not previously been available on CD. Future releases will hinge on how well these sell. Arkivmusic is a service that custom produces CD-R copies of rare/out-of-print recordings from the company owned masters. The discs come with liner niotes and all the regular packaging but are produced on CD-R's, rather than commercially pressed compact discs. ref http://www.arkivsong.com/classical/Song?list_id=790&page_size=100 Many of the deleted RCA and Sony albums are available from Arkivmusic, while others have been commercially reissued by DRG. The reissues on the DRG label are pressed by Sony Music Special Products.