Broadway Records, in partnership with New York Theatre Barn Records, releases a world premiere cast recording of Freedom Riders: The Civil Rights Musical November 19. With music and lyrics by Richard Allen and Taran Gray, the album features performances from Brynn Williams (The SpongeBob Musical), Anthony Chatmon II (Hadestown, Be More Chill), Deon'te Goodman (Hamilton), and Payson Lewis (The Sing-Off).
Watch Chatmon singing the album's "Put Here For" in a music video above. Shot in Anniston, Alabama, the video was made in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Anniston bus bombing.
"The video was shot at the now gutted Greyhound station where the mob was waiting for the freedom riders to arrive back in 1961," shares Allen and Gray. "The video starts out with Anthony Chatmon in the same room that once was the 'Colored Waiting Room.' Later in the video he steps out into the alleyway where the attack took place. The location is now the Freedom Riders National Monument and features a mural of the bus that was attacked with information on the history of the rides."
The musical tells the true story of the young activists who worked to overturn Jim Crow laws by riding desegregated buses throughout the south in 1961. The work won the 2016 Beta Award at the New York Musical Festival, returning to the festival the following year and winning Outstanding Music and a special honors award for social impact and relevance.Also appearing on the album in the ensemble are Jennifer Sun Bell (Comfort Women), Kevin “Blax” Burroughs (In The Heights), Aja Downing (Legendary), Eboni Muse (Hairspray), Patrick Ortiz (West Side Story, Tarzan) , Scott Redmond (Oklahoma!), Erin Vaderhyde (Legally Blonde), and Joy Yandell (Jersey Boys).
