PS CLASSICS, LLC
FT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA

ran an interview with Tommy, celebrating his 25 years producing albums and PS Classics' 15 years in business. It spoke of our background and our philosophy, focused on three of the cast albums we released this spring, and, through the ads that friends and colleagues took out to congratulate us, highlighted some of the wonderful people we've met along the way. ," starring Kristin Chenoweth and Peter Gallagher, is one of three Tony-nominated musicals this year with cast albums recorded by PS Classics. "One of the best experiences I've ever had making an album," says producer Krasker (inset, left), with label co-founder Chaffin. (Photo: Joan Marcus) Original Cast Album: Company But that's not how it goes at a recording session with producer Tommy Krasker, co-founder of PS Classics, the independent label that specializes in cast albums and vocalists. During the past 15 years, Krasker and husband Philip Chaffin (they married in 2012) have produced more than 130 theater recordings -- including 13 Sondheim works -- for PS Classics. Their work has earned eight Grammy Award nominations. editor-in-chief Blake Ross credits PS Classics with helping "to keep cast albums alive. [They] have proven to be a very valuable asset to the entire industry." This theater season, musicals with cast albums recorded by PS Classics have received 21 Tony Award nominations, the most ever for shows recorded by the label, including 12 alone for the breakthrough musical . PS Classics also has released the cast albums for this year's Tony-nominated revivals of But Krasker still doesn't see himself as a Broadway power player, nor does PS Classics target commercial blockbusters. You won't find a jukebox musical --Broadway's way to trade on established pop hits (see )-- in the label's catalog. PS Classics releases cast albums and collections from singers trained in the standards. And Krasker, who studied music at Yale University, says he only picks repertoire that he genuinely likes, and manages his business with similar heart. "We gravitate towards shows that have emotional weight, that stir us. Sometimes they stir others, sometimes they don't. We have never taken on an album thinking, 'We should do this; it'll be a hit.' Sometimes the shows we record get totally ignored come Tony time; this year, the shows we recorded amassed 21 nominations. We're still shocked." The couple even eschews matinée mingling in the Theater District, preferring to stick close to their home in suburban Westchester, north of Manhattan. "Going to one of those crowded spaces where everyone knows everyone, and everyone's schmoozing everyone, and making deals -- I think I'd rather gouge my eyes out with a wooden stake," says Krasker. "More and more, we take meetings in our offices in Bronxville, and people are always very kind about coming to us." A short train ride is a small tradeoff for what PS Classics can do for a show: no less than make a performance immortal. Nowadays, a cast album -- sometimes the only dynamic document of a show's existence once it has closed -- is no longer a given. Orchestral and cast sessions became prohibitively expensive for the major labels (as evidenced by the closing of their midtown studios and the shuttering of cast-album divisions at the labels). And I had no place to shop it. The labels I had worked for were cutting down on titles, they weren't taking new artists. So Philip and I thought, well, maybe we can release it ourselves. We figured, I already know how to make albums, we can just learn the back end of the business: the packaging, the manufacturing, the distribution, the marketing." He jokes: "God, we were idiots." debuted in 2000: with a vocal set by Chaffin, an accomplished baritone trained in musical theater, on the new label, PS Classics. The CD lacked a catalog number or barcode. But it was enough to get the attention of the theater community, which started to reach out with projects and offers. "We were still thinking, 'This is something we'll do for small albums that can't get a 'real' label,'" recalls Krasker. "We still figured the big Broadway cast albums would find a home at the major labels." Three years later, PS Classics released the cast recording of the Broadway revival of has sold 34,000 copies, according to Nielsen Music), and PS Classics is very much a labor of love. booklet runs 56 pages -- because Philip and I want folks to have the whole experience. We're fans creating albums for other fans." , about a young girl's coming of age, has received 12 Tony Award nominations, including one for best musical. PS Classics originally recorded the show off-Broadway. But after it moved to the Great White Way in early 2015, "there was some new material, and originally our impulse was just to record the new material and let it go at that," says label co-founder Tommy Krasker. "But then Philip and I got around to seeing the show in previews at Circle in the Square, and it had a new energy to it -- the space transformed it, and new cast members energized it in different ways, and the rewriting was brilliant -- and we knew we had to capture that. And suddenly the whole recording plan expanded, to the point where we ended up recording over half the tracks anew." isn't the show's draw - it's Leonard Bernstein's grand score, including extended instrumental dance pieces that are frequently performed in ballet houses. "The bottom line for us is, we loved the production, and thought there was the potential for a spectacular recording, given the size of the orchestra and the brilliance of the cast, and we signed on." says Krasker, who worked with Grammy Award-nominated Rob Sher on the project. "You know, it's always tricky doing cast albums of revivals, because the comparisons to the Original Cast Recording are inevitable. That's why our motto is, don't just record the score well, but really aim to capture what's so magical about this particular production. I thought Rob really nailed that with