The first official recording of Richard Taylor and Rachel Wagstaff’s award-winning musical, Flowers for Mrs Harris based on Paul Gallico’s novel, is released on CD and download on 3 December by SimG Records.

The album of the award-winning musical which premiered at the Crucible Theatre in 2016, has been recorded by the Chichester Festival Theatre company who staged the show in 2018. With a book by Rachel Wagstaff and music and lyrics by Sheffield-based Richard Taylor, Flowers for Mrs Harris captures the glowing humanity of the novel by Paul Gallico on which it is based.

Richard Taylor, composer & lyricist said:

‘On 29 July 2020, the entire Flowers for Mrs Harris cast and orchestra reunited, and stepped once more onto the Chichester Festival Theatre stage, almost two years since the show was performed there, to make this recording. In the grip of the COVID-19 global pandemic, this was perhaps the only such endeavour happening anywhere in the country at that time.’

Daniel Evans, Artistic Director, Chichester Festival Theatre comments:

‘The making of this cast album, made possible by Richard Taylor, was not simply a wonderful opportunity to capture one of the most beautiful British musical scores of recent years; it was also memorable for having employed some of our finest musicians and actors at a time when almost none of them had any work or proper financial support – a situation that, sadly, persists.’

The cast album is available to pre-order from 19 November from iTunes and from Dress Circle here.

You can also watch the film about the making of the Flowers for Mrs Harris album here.