For every short theatregoer who has ever paid full price for a ticket and spent the evening watching the back of someone’s head instead of the stage, this one is for you.

This week’s Track by Track goes back to one of the sacred texts of early 2000s musical theatre kids: Songs for a New World. Basically, if this recording ever lived in your CD binder, this one’s for you.

People around me kept turning around and glaring, but I assumed they were impressed. One woman whispered, “Please stop,” which I took as theatrical banter.

My latest Track by Track takes on Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a film I still cannot quite believe exists under the Disney banner at all. It is dark, daring, musically ambitious, and for my money, one of the best animated movie musicals ever made.

With Easter Weekend upon us, I took on the 2011 Godspell revival recording and honestly, it made me appreciate the show more than I expected.

This week in my cast recording series, I took on The Addams Family original Broadway cast album. Despite this show’s massive popularity in schools and colleges, it has never quite been my thing. But let’s give it another shot.

I’m starting a new series where I listen to cast recordings track by track, hand out a few totally subjective awards, and decide whether they still slap today. First up: The Phantom of the Opera original London cast recording.

Every so often, I hear from theatre people who were told by a professor or teacher that this just “wasn’t for them.” And every time, I have the same reaction: where do these people get the nerve?

If you were a theatre kid, you already know the show was never really over at curtain call. The real final act happened in a diner booth somewhere after midnight with coffee, fries, and a cast still buzzing from the stage.

Valentine’s Day weekend felt like the perfect excuse to list some of my favorite love songs in musical theatre. From Pippin to Songs for a New World to Honk!, this list is full of romance, heartbreak, deep cuts, and a few choices that will absolutely start a group chat debate.