The recent Encores! production of Jule Styne and Leo Robin's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes will release a cast album on Sony’s Masterworks Broadway label in early 2013. Smash star and Broadway vet Megan Hilty led the cast as Lorelei Lee, a role made famous by Marilyn Monroe in the 1953 film adaptation of the 1949 musical. John Rando directed the Encores! production of this classic, which ran from May 9-13 at New York City Center.
Set in the roaring '20s, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes follows the madcap adventures of the original “dumb blonde,” Lorelei Lee (Hilty), as she sets sail for Europe with her best friend Dorothy Shaw (Rachel York). Lorelei is engaged to Gus Esmond, the Button King (Clarke Thorell) and has a flirtation with Josephus Gage, the Zipper King (Stephen Buntrock). Traveling with them are Mrs. Ella Spofford (Deborah Rush), the richest woman in Philadelphia, her son Henry (Aaron Lazar) and a ship full of colorful characters.
The cast of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes also included Phillip Attmore, Steven Boyer, Brennan Brown, Jared Grimes, Simon Jones, Sandra Shipley, Megan Sikora, Callan Bergmann, Charissa Bertels, Sam Bolen, Eric Bourne, Kyle Brown, Robin Campbell, Brandon Davidson, Christine DiGiallonardo, Luke Hawkins, Arlo Hill, Michael Marcotte, Nick McGough, Shannon M. O’Bryan, Lindsay O’Neil, Kristyn Pope, Lindsay Roberts, Heath Saunders, Kelly Sheehan, Jessica Vosk, Anna Aimee White and Matt Zimmerman.