Original soundtrack broadway musical soundtracks

"Very Good Eddie" (09/07/1993) Pop Vocal Original Cast, DRG (USA)Music composed by Jerome Kern. Lyrics written by Schuyler Greene. Principal Cast: David Christmas, Spring Fairbank, Travis Hudson, Charles Repole, Virginia Seidel, Hal Shane, Cynthia Wells, Nicholas Wyman. Includes liner notes by Alfred Simon. Personnel: Hal Shane (vocals, banjo); Virginia Seidel, Charles Repole, Travis Hudson, Spring Fairbank, Nick Wyman, Cynthia Wells, David Christmas (vocals). Liner Note Author: Alfred Simon. Recording information: Dick Charles Studios (10/24/1977/10/25/1977). Director: Bill Gile. Unknown Contributor Role: Nick Wyman.

"Gypsy [Original Broadway Cast] [Bonus Tracks] [Remaster]" (05/18/1999) Pop Vocal Original Cast, Columbia (USA)Music composed by Julie Styne. Lyrics written by Stephen Sondheim. Principal cast includes: Ethel Merman (Mama Rose); Jack Klugman (Herbie); Sandra Church (Louise); Lane Bradbury (June); Paul Wallace (Tulsa); Jaqueline Mayro (Baby June); Karen Moore (Baby Louise); Faith Dane (Mazeppa); Chotzi Foley (Electra); Maria Karnilova (Tessie); Bobby Brownell, Gene Castle, Steve Curry, Billy Harris (Newsboys); Marvin Arnold, Ricky Coll, Don Emmons, Michael Parks, Ian Tucker, Paul Wallace, David Winters (Farmboys). Producer: Goddard Lieberson. Recorded on May 24, 1959. Originally released on Columbia (OL 5420). Composer: Jule Styne. Lyricist: Stephen Sondheim. Liner Note Authors: Martin Gottfried; George B. Dale; Mort Goode. GYPSY, which opened on May 21, 1959 at the Broadway Theatre in New York, remains one of the most enduring works of American musical theater, thanks largely to Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim's memorable score and the inimitable voice of Ethel Merman, all beautifully captured on the original cast recording. For Styne, GYPSY was a crowning achievement and a perfect example of his ability to suit his music for a particular singer. And while Sondheim had initially hoped to write not only the lyrics but the music as well, the task turned out to be the ultimate proving ground: his lyrics were perfectly suited both to the music and the characters. This remastered version of the original cast recording offers a few departures from its predecessor, particularly in the restoration of several edits and the occasional use of alternate takes. As explained in the liner notes, a longer production schedule (to say nothing of more advanced technology) allows for careful examination of the original masters, a luxury not afforded the original producers, who were under pressure to get the job done as quickly as possible. In addition, the reissue contains several bonus tracks not included in the original release. This tribute to burlesque was a star vehicle for Ethel Merman. The score by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim includes the Merman standard "Everything's Coming Up Roses," and the song that is invariably used to introduce anything having to do with the strip tease, "Let Me Entertain You." A 702-performance hit in its original production (which is captured here), the show was considered the definitive Merman performance and the crowning achievement of her long career. (It marked her final appearance in a new Broadway musical, though she later appeared in revivals.) It is also considered one of the great American musicals of all time, balanced between the broad show business entertainment represented by composer Jule Styne and the modern, dark, psychological drama typical of Stephen Sondheim, who, as with his previous effort, West Side Story, was contributing only lyrics, though he would go on to write music and lyrics for a series of musicals from the 1960s on. The 1999 reissue produced by Thomas Z. Shepard reconceived the original Goddard Lieberson production, returning to the original session tapes for several fixes, extensions, and alterations to the tracks "Baby June and Her Newboys," "All I Need Is the Girl," "You Gotta Get a Gimmick," "Let Me Entertain You," and "Rose's Turn." The reissue also added four bonus tracks, among them two songs cut from the score before it reached Broadway, "Momma's Talkin' Soft" and "Nice She Ain't," as well as scratchy piano demos of "Some People" (with different lyrics) and a medley of "Mr. Goldstone" and "Little Lamb," the latter sung by Merman for the first time. ~ Marjorie Ellen Ruhlmann & William Ruhlmann

"I Love My Wife [Orig. Cast]" (04/10/1992) Pop Vocal Original Cast, DRG (USA)Music composed by Cy Coleman. Lyrics written by Michael Stewart. Composer: Cy Coleman. Lyricists: Michael Stewart; Michael Stewart. Personnel: Michael Mark (guitar, banjo, clarinet); Michael Sergio (guitar); Joel Mofsenson, Kenneth Bichel (keyboards); Warren Benbow, Joseph Saulter (drums). Director: John Miller . Unknown Contributor Roles: Ilene Graff; John Miller ; James Naughton ; Joanna Gleason. Arranger: Cy Coleman.

"Broadway: The American Musical [Box]" (10/19/2004) Soundtracks Original Soundtrack, Columbia (USA)This boxed set includes a 55 page booklet containing annotations about each track and photographs from each production. Personnel: Tom Waring, George Gershwin (piano). Audio Mixer: Darcy Proper. Liner Note Authors: Michael Kantor; Lawrence Maslon. Recording information: 06/30/1919-11/10/2003. Photographers: Don Hunstein; Springer; Paul Kolnik; Martha Swope; Joan Marcus; Fred Fehl; Carol Rosegg; Friedman Abeles. This five-CD box set, containing 106 tracks and running six-and-one-third-hours, is an audio companion to the six-part PBS documentary series Broadway: The American Musical, but not the soundtrack to that series. Rather, it is a sampler covering 84 years of recordings and 99 years of show tunes. One song has been chosen from each of 102 musicals. (There are also two shows that get two songs each, the landmark musical Show Boat and, oddly, Ziegfeld Follies of 1919.) This restriction actually gives the collection a broader reach than the TV series, which focuses attention on particularly significant shows, songwriters, and performers, but it also gives the set less depth, since great shows tend to have more than one great song in them. As with the series, the compilers give greatest emphasis to the 1940s, '50s, and '60s, decades that contribute 50 of the tracks here. This is in part by necessity; the original Broadway cast album only came into vogue in the '40s, and show music from before that period is not as well represented on record, at least as performed by the stage stars. For example, there are no recordings from the cast of the 1932 revue Americana, which forced the compilers to include a recording of the show's hit song "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" as sung by Bing Crosby, who did not include Broadway shows among his credits. In part, too, however, the de-emphasis on music from before the 1940s comes from the compilers' decision to ignore operetta; there are no compositions here by Victor Herbert, Sigmund Romberg, or Rudolf Friml, for instance. Instead, this is the history of the Tin Pan Alley-style 32-bar song as perfected by Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, and George Gershwin, among others. Drawing from the major record labels that recorded original Broadway cast albums from the '40s on, the compilers hit their stride by the end of the first disc, and from then to the beginning of the fourth disc they present one memorable song from a memorable show after another. A true show music fan might have quibbles about what's left out (no Yul Brynner or Rex Harrison, nothing from House of Flowers or Peter Pan), but the choices are solid for the most part. By the '70s and '80s, however, things begin to seem more questionable, and the selection falls apart completely in the '90s and 2000s, from which only 13 tracks are featured. The compilers, who include songs from nine shows still running in New York as of the album's release date (early 2005), seem only too willing to abandon Broadway for pop/rock anthology shows like Mamma Mia! and Movin' Out. In fact, of those 13 tracks, only seven come from newly written scores of the '90s/'00s. Meanwhile, however, the Tony Award-winning scores to such shows of the period as The Will Rogers Follies, Falsettos, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Passion, Titanic, Ragtime, Parade, Aida, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Avenue Q have been ignored. Clearly, the compilers are historians with a much better sense of the distant past than of the near-present. The collection contains a 56-page booklet dominated by brief comments on the shows from which the songs came. These notes would have benefited from a proofreader, who might have known how to spell Meredith Willson's last name, and a fact-checker, who might have known that Dave Kapp, not Jack Kapp, produced Guys and Dolls and that Tim Rice did not co-produce Cats. ~ William Ruhlmann

"Mamma Mia! [Original London Cast]" (10/17/2000) Soundtracks Original Cast, Decca (USA)MAMMA MIA is a musical based on the songs of ABBA. Music and lyrics composed and written by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus. Principal cast: Lisa Stokke (Sophie Sheridan); Eliza Lumley (Ali); Melissa Gibson (Lisa); Siobhan McCarthy (Donna Sheridan); Louise Plowright (Tanya); Jenny Galloway (Rosie); Andrew Langtree (Sky); Neal Wright (Pepper); Nigel Harman (Eddie); Paul Clarkson (Harry Bright); Nicolas Colicos (Bill Austin); Hilton McRae (Sam Carmichael); Tom Magdich (Father Alexandrios). MAMMA MIA! was nominated for the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. Composer/Lyricists: Benny Andersson; Bj?rn Ulvaeus. Based on the Broadway musical, which, in turn, is based on vintage ABBA tunes, the 2008 Hollywood adaptation of MAMMA MIA! features the star-studded cast performing classic tracks by the beloved Swedish pop group. While most cast members (including Amanda Seyfried and Pierce Brosnan), acquit themselves admirably, Meryl Streep truly shines on buoyant songs such as the title track and "Dancing Queen." ABBA principals Benny Andersson and Bj?rn Ulvaeus turned to stage musicals after their band's demise and composed two, one of which, CHESS, ran in the West End and on Broadway. For their third stage effort, they returned to their ABBA catalog and put together MAMMA MIA!, a show that employs their old songs (with occasional lyric revisions) in the service of a libretto by Catherine Johnson about a girl who tries to discover her father's identity in time to have him give her away at her wedding. So, how does MAMMA MIA! compare to an ABBA greatest-hits album? Well, the recordings are less fully produced than the originals, and in that sense less impressive. But the originals were sung by Scandinavians who sometimes sounded like they had learned the lyrics phonetically, the vocals often featuring odd phrasing and word emphasis. Here, the songs are being sung by native English speakers, and that is a distinct improvement. Culled from the smash hit London, Toronto, and Broadway musical of the same name, MAMMA MIA is a treasure trove of ABBA hits penned by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, who are also the guiding force behind said production. The theatrical versions of these classics have been reworked somewhat, and the album also includes some pieces not from the original ABBA catalog, but in the main this is a fun workout from the oeuvre of Sweden's biggest export since Volvo cars. While it's a little disorienting to hear familiar songs like these in unfamiliar orchestral settings, the material is strong enough to withstand the reworking it undergoes here. The result is an enjoyable memento of what should prove to be a long-running and popular production.

"The Best of Broadway Musicals [Orpheus]" (06/04/2002) Soundtracks Original Soundtrack, Orpheus RecordsWhen considering Park South's collection The Best of Broadway Musicals, it should be noted that the disc is rather poorly marked as "All New Recordings" on the album cover. While some of the performances are decent ones, the cheesy keyboard (instead of orchestra) renditions of Andrew Lloyd Webber classics alone make this collection worth less than the sale tag no doubt slapped on the disc in retail chains across the globe. Stay away from this collection. ~ Gregory McIntosh

"The Wedding Singer [Original Cast]" (06/06/2006) Soundtracks Original Cast, Sony Classical Essential ClassicsComposer: Matthew Sklar. Composers: Tim Herlihy; Adam Sandler. Lyricist: Chad Beguelin. Lyricist: Chad Beguelin. Personnel: Stephen Lynch (vocals, guitar); Matt Allen, Christina Sivrich, Matthew Saldivar, Adinah Alexander, Angelique Ilo, Spencer Liff, J. Elaine Marcos, Ashley Amber Haase, David Josefsberg, T. Oliver Reid, Tina Maddigan, Peter Kapetan, Tracee Beazer, Felicia Finley, Nicolette Hart, Matthew Stocke, Eric LaJuan Summers, Mike McGurk, Kevin Kern, Laura Benanti, Amy Spanger, Rita Gardner, Kevin Cahoon, James Sampliner (vocals); John Putnam, Larry Saltzman, Gary Sieger (guitar); Clifford Lyons, Jack Bashkow (reeds); Trevor Neumann (trumpet); John Samorian, Jon Werking (keyboards); Warren Odze (drums); Jim Saporito (percussion). Audio Mixer: David Leonard. Recording information: Right Track Studio 509A, New York, NY; Sony Music Studios, New York, NY. Director: John Rando. Editor: Larry Kerr. Photographer: Joan Marcus. Arranger: David Chase. Bear in mind the old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" as the release of the soundtrack to the Broadway musical The Wedding Singer makes its splash on Broadway quite similar to the way the movie of the same name did, only with more music. The Wedding Singer is exactly based on the Adam Sandler movie, set in the '80s. Therefore, the album is filled with '80s references to music, games, events, and even business (In one song, the idea of investing in New Coke is suggested). The retro humor and music style, featuring electric pop sounds and hardcore rock beats, is refreshing; Wedding Singer doesn't play up a "Classic Broadway" sound, but rather offers a cute spin on the genre with Stephen Lynch at the helm, whose portrayal of Robbie Hart is endearing and amusing, even on record. Many of the songs are playable on disc without a staged visual, since anyone who's seen the movie can imagine what this might look like on-stage. However, large numbers such as "Saturday Night in the City," with its spaced out arrangement, and the finale (which, due to the appearance of so many new voices and characters, including a Filipino impersonator, becomes confusing and awkward) provide musical missteps that work wonderfully on-stage but do not transition properly on record. Many of the strongest recordings are actually from the movie, since they were originally composed by Sandler himself; as a comedic writer, he creates magic with "Grow Old with You" and "Somebody Kill Me," even if they aren't the most melodically challenging. Plus, there is only one genuinely show-stopping number, the opening track "It's Your Wedding Day," which gets an equally strong reprise at the end of the show. Overall, the cast recording is a feel-good sampling of the retro that you may have grown to love and miss, and the humor that is served in dollops is appreciated and enjoyed, even if the musical overall isn't overly original or critically acclaimed. Much like the original movie, The Wedding Singer doesn't attempt to change the world, rather, to tell the story of a boy and a girl who fall in love in the kinda-new old way. ~ Matthew Chisling

"Baker Street [Original Broadway Cast] [Bonus Tracks]" (01/31/2006) Soundtracks Original Cast, Decca (USA)Music composed by Richard Rodgers. Lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II. Principal cast includes: Alfred Drake (Curly); Celeste Holm (Ado Annie Carnes); Joan Roberts (Laurey); Howard Da Silva (Jud Fry); Lee Dixon (Will Parker). Reissue producers: Andy McKaie, Ron O'Brien, Max O. Preeo. Recorded in 1943 and 1944. Originally released on the Decca label. Includes liner notes by Max O. Preeo. All tracks have been digitally remastered. Recording information: New York, NY (12/02/1964-02/21/1965). Rodgers & Hammerstein's adaptation of Lynn Riggs' play GREE GROW THE LILACS marked the birth of the modern musical. Music, lyrics, and choreography came together as never before to tell a uniquely American story, and enthralled audiences flocked to the show, breaking Broadway box-office records. In keeping with the production's pioneering spirit, it was also the first instance in which the entire cast was brought to the studio to record the show's musical numbers, thus originating the original cast recording. The concept proved highly successful--it wasn't long after the initial release of six-discs of 78s that another release featuring several songs not included in original set was brought to market. Eventually, the recording was transferred to LP, but without the additional songs; not until the 50th anniversary CD reissue were all the tracks available in one place. While most of the cast, with the possible exception of Celeste Holme, may no longer be well known, the songs are immortal. "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'," "Surrey With the Fringe on Top," and, of course, "Oklahoma" are classics of American song. If there is any question as to what has made this show a classic, the answer is right here. The 1965 Broadway musical Baker Street was based on the Sherlock Holmes stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but it reminded many viewers of a very different if contemporary three-named British writer, George Bernard Shaw, and his creation Henry Higgins in the play Pygmalion, adapted to the musical theater as My Fair Lady. As in My Fair Lady, the setting was Victorian London and an intelligent, upper-class bachelor with a misogynistic attitude was confronted with a vibrant woman, in this case an actress. The score, credited to Broadway newcomers Marian Grudeff and Raymond Jessel, but with last-minute interpolations by the veteran team of Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick (fresh from their biggest hit, Fiddler on the Roof), reinforced the similarities to the earlier show, mixing sprightly cockney numbers with songs of self-assertion by the lead female character and depictions of both the lead male character's smarts ("It's So Simple") and his disinclination toward romantic entanglement (Bock and Harnick's "Cold Clear World"). The score was adequate, but, even with the outside additions, not distinctive enough to produce a memorable song that would live outside the show or do anything to buck up a production that suffered from too much plot and a lack of clear direction. (Was it a mystery? Was it a romance?) Although noted more for their non-musical performances, Fritz Weaver as Holmes and Inga Swenson as the actress also were adequate, but again, there wasn't a bravura acting performance to make the show compelling. The result was a relatively long-running (313 performances) failure that became a theatrical footnote. MGM Records, which handled the cast album, also arranged for other artists to record music from the show for promotional purposes. One was Richard Burton, who at the time was appearing on Broadway in a production of Hamlet that shared a producer with Baker Street. His recording of "A Married Man" (sung by Watson in the show) was basically a spoken word rendition, though it had something of his King Arthur in Camelot. Bandleader Kai Winding recorded a jazzy version of the instrumental "Baker Street Mystery," which accompanied a ballet in the show. Both of these tracks were released as singles, then included in the 1965 LP Hit Songs from Baker Street and Other Broadway Musicals. When Decca Broadway finally decided to reissue the Bake

"First Lady Suite: A Musical By Michael John La Chiusa" (03/04/2003) Soundtracks Original Cast, Image Entertainment (Audio)Music and lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa.

"Caroline, or Change: A New Musical" (06/29/2004) Soundtracks Original Cast, Hollywood RecordsComposer: Jeanine Tesori. Lyricist: Tony Kushner. Original Cast Recording/Original Soundtrack: Tonya Pinkins, Veanne Cox, Reathel Bean, Harrison Chad, Tracy Nicole Chapman, David Costabile, Aisha de Hass. Liner Note Author: Lynne Tillman. More of a pocket opera than a conventional musical, Caroline, or Change is the work of playwright Tony Kushner and composer Jeanine Tesori. The plot, which concerns a black maid in a Jewish home in Lake Charles, LA, in the fall of 1963 and her relationship with the family's eight-year-old son who absent-mindedly leaves change in his pockets, might more appropriately have been applied to a short story. But Kushner, who needed two separate, very long plays to encompass his Angels in America, doesn't write miniatures. So, the slight story is made to bear the burden of American race relations and the trauma of the Kennedy assassination. Tesori, who wrote the new songs for the stage production of Thoroughly Modern Millie, sets Kushner's lyrics and dialogue to familiar styles of the period. This is a show in which inanimate objects -- a radio, a washing machine, a dryer, a bus, the moon -- are all alive and singing, and Tesori gives them each a genre. The radio, for example, personified by a female trio, sings in early-'60s girl group style, sometimes recalling Motown Records acts like the Supremes or a Phil Spector creation like the Crystals ("Santa Comin' Caroline," which begins the second act and the second disc, would fit on Spector's A Christmas Gift to You LP). The washing machine sounds like Aretha Franklin, while the devilish dryer is a blues singer in the mold of Bobby "Blue" Bland. Caroline herself, forcefully portrayed by Tonya Pinkins, sings in gospel tones as if channeling Mahalia Jackson. The Jewish family, on the other hand, with father Stuart (David Costabile) fingering the clarinet, is given klezmer music to sing to. Encompassing the entire sung-through show, the two-hour, two-CD cast album reflects the overblown nature of the stage production. There are many moments of lyrical wit and musical enjoyment, but Caroline, or Change is an enormous project built upon a small subject that cannot support its weight. ~ William Ruhlmann