Showtunes is the result of collaboration between Stephin Merritt

Stephin Merritt

Stephin Merritt is an American singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles , best known as the principal singer and songwriter in the band The Magnetic Fields...

 with Chen Shi-zheng

Chen Shi-zheng

Chen Shi-Zheng 陳士爭 born in 1963 in Changsha, Hunan, China) is a New York-based theater director.Having earned a BA from the Hunan Art School in Traditional Opera, he received his MA from the Tisch School of Art at New York University...

 on three pieces of musical theatre; Orphan of Zhao (2003), Peach Blossom Fan (2004), and My Life as a Fairy Tale (2005). Select tracks from these are featured on this album. It was released on Nonesuch Records

Nonesuch Records

Nonesuch Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Records.-Company history:Nonesuch was founded in 1964 by Jac Holzman to produce "fine records at the same price as a trade paperback", which would be half the price of a normal LP...

 on March 16, 2006 but was available from peer-to-peer networks from February 20, 2006. The remainder of songs from the shows will be released exclusively through online music store

Online music store

An online music store is an online business which sells audio files, usually music, on a per-song and/or subscription basis. It may be differentiated from music streaming services in that the music store offers the actual music file, while streaming services offer partial or full listening without...

s.

Track listing

1. "Theme from The Orphan of Zhao" – 00:59
2. "At Madam Plum's" [From Peach Blossom Fan] – 02:35
3. "The Top and the Ball" [From My Life as a Fairy Tale] – 01:49
4. "What a Fucking Lovely Day!" [From Orphan of Zhao] – 01:22
5. "Auntie Toothache" [From My Life as a Fairy Tale] – 02:48
6. "It's Hard to Be the Emperor" [From Peach Blossom Fan] – 01:08
7. "Sounds Expensive" [From Peach Blossom Fan] – 01:36
8. "The Red Shoes" [From My Life as a Fairy Tale] – 01:43
9. "Fan Dance Cha-Cha" [From Peach Blossom Fan] – 01:17
10. "The Little Maiden of the Sea" [From My Life as a Fairy Tale] – 03:53
11. "Ukulele Me!" [From Peach Blossom Fan] – 01:08
12. "Train Song" [From Orphan of Zhao] – 01:17
13. "The Little Hebrew Girl" [From My Life as a Fairy Tale] – 02:10
14. "Shall We Sing a Duet?" [From Peach Blossom Fan] – 00:55
15. "The Song of the Humble Serf" [From Orphan of Zhao] – 00:56
16. "The Collar and the Garter" [From My Life as a Fairy Tale] – 01:40
17. "Shall We Sing a Duet?" (Reprise) [From Peach Blossom Fan] – 01:38
18. "Sorry, Wrong Show" [From Peach Blossom Fan] – 01:41
19. "The Storks" [From My Life as a Fairy Tale] – 01:24
20. "In the Spring, When I Was Young" [From Orphan of Zhao] – 02:02
21. "The Ugly Little Duck" [From My Life as a Fairy Tale] – 03:41
22. "And He Would Say..." [From Peach Blossom Fan] – 03:02
23. "The World is Not Made of Flowers" [From Orphan of Zhao] – 01:14
24. "Behold the Lowly Centipede" [From Peach Blossom Fan] – 01:41
25. "In China, Said the Moon..." [From My Life as a Fairy Tale] – 03:37
26. "Hail! Son of Heaven" [From Peach Blossom Fan] – 01:06

Reception