Original Off-Broadway Cast, 2010 (Ghostlight) (3.5 / 5) Composer and lyricist Adam Gwon crafted this four-person musical as a celebration of the ordinary, everyday facets of the human experience. The cast album beautifully showcases a score that is both intricate and immediately accessible, arranged expertly for a single piano (here played by Vadim Feichtner), which further emphasizes the theme of simplicity. Gwon’s music, with its melodic pop and clever lyrics, is the perfect vehicle for the story. The ensemble cast is vocally stellar, creating distinct characters that are easy to follow on the recording. Lisa Brescia portrays Claire, who’s struggling to commit to her relationship with Hunter Foster’s Jason. Meanwhile, Kate Weatherhead plays a manic graduate student, Deb, who clashes with Jared Gertner’s laid-back Warren. After a chance encounter, Warren and Deb start as comic relief with songs like “Dear Professor Thompson” and “One By One By One,” but the characters become deeper and richer by the end, expressing the show’s main themes in the lovely “Rooftop” duet. Still, the emotional core of the musical belongs to Claire and Jason. Brescia’s performance of the ballad “I’ll Be Here” is a masterclass in conveying raw grief and vulnerability, and this number has proven to be the most extractable one from the show. (Most notably, it was included on Audra McDonald’s solo album titled Go Back Home.) Foster’s Jason provides the perfect counterpoint to Claire with an earnest delivery of his best song, “Favorite Places.” By the end of the recording, both these relationships lead to a wonderful musical payoff as these four lives intertwine in surprising ways. The Ordinary Days cast album is a quiet triumph and a must-have for fans of contemporary musical theater — an audio record of a moving and beautifully constructed piece of art which reminds us that a powerful score doesn’t require grand spectacle. — Forrest Hutchinson