SEALED Audiophile Promo A CHORUS LINE Original Cast Album Half-Speed Master LP

$

45

A Chorus Line Original Cast Recording A Joseph Papp/New York Shakespeare Festival Production
Book by James Kirkwood & Nicholas Dante Music by Marvin Hamlisch Lyrics by Ed Kleban  Choreographed & Directed by Michael Bennett
Half-Speed Mastered CBS Mastersound Audiophile Pressing Mint/Factory Sealed / Promotional Copy
Columbia Masterworks HS 43581 1975, 1981 Gatefold 1 LP
When the groundbreaking musical A Chorus Line opened Off-Broadway in 1975, at Joseph Papp's Public Theater, word-of-mouth generated such a buzz and clamor for tickets that the production was moved to Broadway's Schubert Theater just 3 months later. Where it would remain, for 15 years. It swept the 1976 Tony Awards--Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, Best Direction, Best Choreography, Best Actress, Best Featured Actor & Actress. And picked up the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama as well. I was one of the fortunate theater-goers who experienced that thrilling production, with it's original cast. And though it is now relegated to memory, it is preserved here in mint sound, in a recording taped in that premier year of 1975 by Columbia Masterworks. 
In 1981, parent company CBS issued a limited-edition, "half-speed mastered" pressing of that cast album, part of its "Mastersound" series of audiophile quality recordings. Essentially, the production technique involves running both the master tape and the vinyl-cutting lathe at half their normal speed of 33rpm--presumably allowing for the incorporation of a lot more information into the grooves, and an enhanced sonic experience. It is a labor-intensive process, in terms of both time and technical finesse.
The album jacket is distinguished from regular pressings by a blue & silver oblong bar at top, reading HALF SPEED MASTERED / EXTENDED RANGE RECORDING. And a like-colored emblem at top right, reading CBS MASTERSOUND / AUDIOPHILE PRESSING. It is enclosed within a clear plastic envelope, that's sealed at back by an oblong blue sticker reading  MASTERSOUND / FACTORY SEALED. The jacket back itself, at top left, has been stamped FOR PROMOTION ONLY, in gold lettering. 
Though the vinyl is presumed to be mint, never played, the jacket shows a small crease on its back side, near the right edge. And near it, a few interruptions in the olive-green jacket coloring, where a few shards of color transferred onto the clear envelope and revealed the jacket's silver underpinning.