iHeartRadio Broadway is giving you an exclusive listen to “Waiting for Us” by Talia Suskauer off the upcoming album Get What You Want: The Songs of Michael Finke.
Michael Finke provided a statement on the track. “While a bunch of new songs were written for the album, it has some older trunk songs in it as well and this is one of the OGs. I wrote it right after college. But it's special. I use it in almost every concert. It's had an awesome effect on people. And unsurprisingly it was written after a mutual break-up. But I weirdly wasn't sad after this break-up. I felt hopeful. It was a feeling I didn't expect. It was a feeling worth writing about.”
Give it a listen in the player above! The album comes out tomorrow, Friday, September 12, from Center Stage Records and you can pre-save here: orcd.co/michaelfinke.
More information on the album can be found below.
CENTER STAGE RECORDS has announced the release of Get What You Want: The Songs of Michael Finke in streaming and digital formats on Friday, September 12. Showcasing the rising musical theater composer and lyricist heralded for his soaring ballads and unconventional story songs, the album weaves a tapestry of stories and characters fighting for what they want most out of life.
Get What You Want features an all-star cast, including Emily Afton (Hadestown), Ari Axelrod (Fiddler on the Roof), Donna Lynne Champlin (“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”), Alex Goley (Big River), Alan H. Green (The Preacher’s Wife), F. Michael Haynie (The Heart of Rock and Roll), Tommy Kaiser (Rent), Sarah Naughton (The Sound of Music), Kyle Taylor Parker (Kinky Boots), Jelani Remy (Back to the Future), Kate Rockwell (Mean Girls), Analise Scarpaci (Mrs. Doubtfire), Justin David Sullivan (& Juliet), Talia Suskauer (Parade), and Matt Wood (Saturday Night).
Produced by Robbie Rozelle and Michael Finke, and co-produced by Yasuhiko Fukuoka, the album features arrangements and orchestrations by Nils-Petter Ankarblom. The album features liner notes by Grammy and Tony Award nominee Nathan Tysen (Paradise Square, The Great Gatsby).
Michael Finke is a New York based musical theater writer. He’s written the book, music, and lyrics for full-length musicals such as Reporting Live, Caroline and George, Surrounded By the Water, and Powerline Road which recently completed a developmental Off-Broadway production at the A.R.T./New York Gural Theater. His work has been developed at regional theatres across the country including Merrimack Repertory Company (Lowell, MA), New Musicals Inc. (Los Angeles), Musical Theatre Heritage (Kansas City), and OutVisible Theatre (Detroit), as well as collegiate institutions like New York University, Pace University, Long Island University, and Columbia College of Chicago.
Other projects include the musical short Dead Flowers, which is licensed by Music Theatre International in both English and Spanish. He also wrote the one-act musical comedy Movies Are Not Dead as well as music and lyrics for the solo musicals Christmas in Afghanistan and A Single Vibration, both of which were commissioned for the Veteran’s Project with New Musicals Inc. Upcoming projects include the Untitled Kansas Project (developed by Theatre Now) and the Broadway-bound 161st Street, written with Andrew David Sotomayor (developed and produced by Holey Shirts Productions).
Michael’s had songs and concerts of his work performed at the Lincoln Center Library, Signature Theatre, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in Prague, 54 Below, Joe’s Pub, the Green Room 42, the Laurie Beechman Theatre, and many more. His original Christmas song “Hope is Born” was broadcast nationwide on the Christmas Day telecast on ABC. For the past two decades Michael has been on the artistic staff of Lovewell Institute for the Creative Arts, having led over 40 musical theatre writing workshops in Ohio, Florida, New York, Kansas, Nevada, Sweden, and Italy.
Michael is a current and original member of the Theatre Now Musical Theatre Writer’s Lab. He’s a winner of the 2015 New Voices Project with Walt Disney Imagineering and New Musicals Inc., a Dramatists Guild Fellowship and Jonathan Larson Grant finalist, a Creative Capital Grant finalist and is a proud member of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild.
Center Stage Records is the new label from Broadway Records founder, Grammy Award and Tony Award winner, Van Dean. The label is dedicated to the preservation of Broadway, London, Off-Broadway, new musicals in development and theater-related solo albums. Center Stage Records premiered with the original Broadway cast recordings of How to Dance in Ohio and Gutenberg the Musical, Steven Pasquale’s Some Other Time with John Pizzarelli, and the Original London Cast Recording of Mandela the Musical. Latest and upcoming releases include the Broadway cast album of Pirates! The Penzance Musical, Broadway revival cast albums of Floyd Collins starring Jeremy Jordan, Once Upon a Mattress starring Sutton Foster, Lea Salonga’s Sounding Joy - The Holiday Album, JC Chasez and Jimmy Harry’s Playing with Fire, Patti LuPone’s new double album A Life in Notes, and the London recording of Alice Down the Rabbit Hole. To peruse the entire catalog, please visit CenterStageRecords.com. Follow Center Stage Records on all social platforms @centerstagercds.
Get What You Want: The Songs of Michael Finke – Track List
1. On the Pier – Michael Finke
2. Running Out of Time – Kate Rockwell
3. Me and My Cartoon Friends – F. Michael Haynie
4. Milo at the Office – Ari Axelrod, Sarah Naughton, Alex Goley
5. Sorry for That – Analise Scarpaci
6. The Mirror – Justin David Sullivan
7. Salvador – Jelani Remy
8. Angie Davis (Former Hero) – Tommy Kaiser
9. The Fabulous Miss Lila Morae – Donna Lynne Champlin
10. Walking Alone – Alan H. Green
11. The Deep End – Michael Finke
12. Get What You Want – Matt Wood, Emily Afton, Sarah Naughton
13. Waiting for Us – Talia Suskauer
14. Hold Me Closer – Kyle Taylor Parker