Howard Ashman / Alan Menken - Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You: Mr. Rosewater (Premiere Cast Recording)

Back before their work on Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Little Mermaid, the songwriting duo Howard Ashman and Alan Menken collaborated on a far more atypical work. Their first musical in 1979 was an adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's 1965 novel God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. It's the story of a millionaire with a conscience, who decides to give away his fortune to the needy inhabitants of a small town of Rosewater, Indiana. His generosity not only attracts the poor and forgotten, but also invariably, the greedy and the conniving. The CD package includes a 28-page full-color booklet with complete lyrics, production photos, and essays by director Michael Mayer and Thomas Schumacher, President of the Disney Theatrical Group.