Having a good time in Hades

“The Frogs”

Original Broadway cast recording (PS Classics)

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Since 1974, this musical has existed as little more than a curiosity among the more distinguished credits of its creators, Burt Shevelove and Stephen Sondheim. Among those who stumbled upon it was Nathan Lane, whose enduring fascination led to a 2004 Lincoln Center presentation for which the actor revised the book and Sondheim wrote additional music. The resulting CD is lively and funny, if unrepentantly odd.

Based on a sociopolitical comedy from 405 BC by the Greek playwright Aristophanes, “The Frogs” depicts a world so starved for hope that Dionysos, god of drama and wine, travels to the Underworld to retrieve a writer who can speak to people’s needs. His mission is nearly sabotaged by change-hating amphibians along the River Styx.

The vaudeville-style patter between Lane, as Dionysos, and Roger Bart, as the slave Xanthias, crackles. When Lane sings, though, he sounds as though he’s got a frog in his throat.

Roughly half of the score is new, most notably the tender “Ariadne,” in which a rippling, rapturous phrase reminiscent of “Not a Day Goes By” surges through Dionysos’ memories of his deceased wife, and the rousing, old-Broadway-style “Hades,” in which Peter Bartlett, as Pluto, extols hell’s misunderstood delights. Also new are the jaunty “I Love to Travel,” in which Dionysos embraces the adventure of travel while Xanthias crankily lists its discomforts, and “Dress Big,” in which Burke Moses, as he-man Herakles, coaches Dionysos in ways to appear more formidable.

Though the disc includes enough dialogue to lead listeners through the plot, the overtly political content -- equating the Peloponnesian War of Aristophanes’ time with conflicts of the present -- is largely omitted.

Songs of ‘Hair’ given new stylings

“Hair”

The Actors’ Fund of America benefit recording (Ghostlight division of Sh-K-Boom Records)

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A fresh approach can make standard material seem brand-new again. Remember 1996’s “The Songs of ‘West Side Story,’ ” with Little Richard howling “I Feel Pretty” and hip-hoppers rapping through “Gee, Officer Krupke”? Similarly playful renditions of the songs from “Hair” were performed at an Actors’ Fund benefit in New York in September. As captured on CD, the performances blast 1967’s “American tribal love-rock musical” into the 21st century.

The high-energy ode to “Donna,” for instance, acquires a sly, same-sex slant as Lea DeLaria rips through it in her finest rock ‘n’ roll baritone. Later, raspy Harvey Fierstein sounds as though he’s choking for lack of the title element in “Air.”

Adam Pascal sounds like a ‘60s rock god on “I Got Life”; Raul Esparza growls defiantly through the title song; and Julia Murney puts a distaff spin on the existential questions asked in “Where Do I Go?” From the other end of the era’s social spectrum, Laura Benanti warbles primly through “Initials” and Charles Busch turns his snooty voice to a limousine liberal’s explication of youth culture in “My Conviction.”

Other instant favorites are Lillias White’s stratospheric “Aquarius,” Gavin Creel’s giddy “Going Down,” Jennifer Hudson’s bluesy “Easy to Be Hard,” Billy Porter’s soul-fueled “Four Score/Abie Baby” and Liz Callaway’s glittering “Good Morning Starshine.”

The album should be available in mid-March through the label’s website, www.ghostlightrecords.com.