Friday, February 6, 2015
Original Australian Cast, 1998 (EMI) Peter Allen wrote only one musical — the inane Legs Diamond, still prized by connoisseurs of flops — but his life story plays itself out in this glos…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 12:56PMWednesday, February 4, 2015
Original Broadway Cast, 1980 (Varèse Sarabande) No stars; not recommended. What were they thinking? Clearly unaware that Elvis had left the building, the creators of Bye Bye Birdie reunited…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 09:08PMOriginal Broadway Cast, 1947 (RCA) This is one of the most exciting cast albums of the pre-LP era. It was RCA’s first stab at Broadway, and although the mono sound is antique by today’s …
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 07:40PM“World Premiere Cast Recording,” 2000 (Original Cast Records, 2CDs) This is possibly the strangest cast album ever. The show Breakfast at Tiffany’s was a notorious flop of the 1960s, u…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 06:59PMOriginal Broadway Cast, 1962 (Columbia/DRG) This is a swell listen with a game cast, a lively Ronny Graham-Milton Schafer score, and the sort of floppola production numbers that are more fun…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 06:50PMStudio Cast, 1953 (Columbia/Sony) Rodgers and Hart’s 1938 adaptation of The Comedy of Errors is one of their most sublime achievements. The score, melodically and harmonically unsurpassed …
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 05:11PMOriginal Off-Broadway Cast, 1974 (Records & Publishing/AEI) This show dates from the mid ’70s, but its heart lies more with The Boy Friend than with The Boys in the Band. The creators …
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 02:31PMOriginal London Cast, 1954 (HMV/Sepia) A pastiche of 1920s tuners with an absurd but dear book and a Sandy Wilson score packed with wonderful tunes, The Boy Friend is presented here in a cas…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 01:39PMLondon Cast, 1987 (First Night) This live recording of the revue Blues in the Night is a real gem. Arrangements that split the difference between jazz and theater combine with fetching per…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 01:27PMOriginal Broadway Cast, 1944 (Decca) While the show threw off no enduring hit songs, and is seldom revived, the cast album of this Harold Arlen-E.Y. Harburg wartime hit has rarely been out o…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 01:10PMSaturday, January 31, 2015
Choreographer Randy Skinner has had hits with a number of revivals, revisals, and others shows based on pre-existing, classic material, from 42nd Street to White Christmas to the City Center…
SOURCE: BroadwayStars at 05:32PMOriginal London Cast, 1983 (Castle) This is the story of Mrs. Johnstone, a lower-class Liverpudlian whose husband deserts her, even though she’s pregnant and already has seven children. Mr…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 04:33PMOriginal Broadway Cast, 1989 (DRG) The title of this show, taken from a Fats Waller song, pretty much announces what it will be: Another revue-style look at African-American entertainment in…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 03:00PMStudio Cast, 1960 (Angel/Sepia) It seemed a radical idea in 1929: an operetta with believable characters, literate dialogue, first-rate lyrics, and a minimum of the coyness associated with t…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 01:53PMOriginal Off-Broadway Cast, 1987 (JAY) On hearing this recording, listeners are bound to wonder why the show was not more successful. The score is filled with intricate, catchy melodies by D…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 01:42PMOriginal Off-Broadway Cast, 1970 (Roulette/Original Cast Records) An interesting autobiography of a fictional black playwright who is frequently angry and sometimes simply yearning, this mus…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 01:36PMWorld Premiere Recording, 2000 (Original Cast Records) Betty Comden and Adolph Green followed On the Town with this disappointment, a satire of the 1920s. Except for a dance sequence that ap…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 01:26PMOriginal Broadway Cast, 1985 (MCA) Country-music songwriter Roger Miller furnished the score for this musical version of the Mark Twain classic Huckleberry Finn, and the result is a twangy B…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 01:18PMOriginal Broadway Cast, 1996 (Universal/Decca) Onstage, Big was a textbook example of how a top creative team with all the right intentions could destroy the charm of a beloved film. On disc…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 01:06PMOff Broadway Cast, 1998 (Varèse Sarabande) At a time when large-scale revues were part of the standard traffic on Broadway, Irving Berlin’s As Thousands Cheer was a Bentley. It had great …
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 12:49PMFriday, January 30, 2015
Original Broadway Cast, 1994 (Varèse Sarabande) Those looking for a guilty treat can seek out this cast album of a show that ran for only 15 performances on Broadway in 1994. The sequel to …
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 05:17PMOriginal Broadway Cast, 1978 (MCA) On the off chance that you’ve never seen or heard of this show, don’t be put off by its title. Yes, it’s about a house of prostitution and its centra…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 04:20PMFilm Soundtrack, 1943 (Rhino-Turner) Good News was the college musical par excellence in the 1920s, and Best Foot Forward did the same for high schools when it opened on Broadway in 1941. Th…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 03:55PMOriginal Broadway Cast, 1964 (Capito1/DRG) Timing is everything, and this lush show about the life and loves of Benjamin Franklin is an excellent example of the right musical at the wrong ti…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 03:37PMSaturday, January 24, 2015
Original Broadway Cast, 1956 (Columbia/Sony) There was only one Judy Holliday, a comic genius who could make you laugh, then break your heart a split second later. Her good friends Betty Com…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 07:02PMFilm Soundtrack, 1991 (Walt Disney Records) The soundtrack album of songs from Disney’s highly successful 1991 animated film Beauty and the Beast makes it clear why the material was destin…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 06:50PMOriginal London Cast, 1978 (Columbia/Sony) The notes for the CD edition of this recording quote an ad from the theater program, predicting that “the show will be onstage a long time — th…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 06:32PMOriginal Off-Broadway Cast, 2001 (RCA) Ever since Little Shop of Horrors, Off-Broadway has spawned lots of campy musical sci-fi spoofs. Bat Boy is one of the better ones, though that’s not…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 06:20PMOriginal Broadway Cast, 1980 (Columbia/Sony) This Jim Dale vehicle has a book by Mark Bramble, music by Cy Coleman, and lyrics by Michael Stewart. A fictionalized biography of the showman…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 06:10PMStudio Cast, 1950 (Columbia/Sony) One of the great 1930s Broadway revues, The Band Wagon (1931) was graced with a terrific Arthur Schwartz-Howard Dietz score, including “Dancing in the Dar…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 01:16PMOriginal Broadway Cast, 1978 (Columbia/Sony) Michael Bennett’s big post-Chorus Line flop is beloved by those who saw it, but sadly, the show’s special qualities are not retained on an au…
SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 01:04PM 
