973 stories by "Michael Portantiere"
Studio Cast, 1998 (Deutsche Grammophon) The recording of a previously unrecorded musical theater score is usually a cause for celebration, but A White House Cantata is a maddening misfire. T…
Studio Cast, 1998 (Polydor) Labeled Songs from Whistle Down the Wind, this collection of 12 numbers performed by a lineup of pop stars is easier to take than the subsequent London stage cast…
Original London Cast, 1958 (Columbia/Angel) Based on Charley's Aunt, the reliable old farce by Brandon Thomas, Where's Charley? was a big hit on Broadway in 1948 with Ray Bolger in the lead.…
Original Off-Broadway Cast, 1997 (RCA) The second of two revues that showcased the talents of outré costume designer Howard Crabtree was an evening of bright, largely gay humor. Though seve…
Original Broadway Cast, 1964 (Columbia/GL Music) Longtime theatergoers will recall that, for a brief time decades ago, Steve Lawrence was touted as the next great Broadway leading man. Exhib…
Studio Cast, 1990 (JAY) No stars; not recommended. The only reason to musicalize a play is to add something to it, to enrich the original material. But again and again in this show based on …
Original Broadway Cast, 1958 (Columbia/Masterworks Broadway) Strong reviews kept Simply Heavenly on the boards for about four months in all. The show opened Off-Broadway, later moved to Broa…
Original Broadway Cast, 1957 (Columbia/Sony/Masterworks Broadway) Conceived by Jerome Robbins, with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim (and an uncredited Bernstein), and …
Original Off-Broadway Cast, 1993 (Columbia) Composer Alan Menken wrote some of his most dazzling and sophisticated music for this largely forgotten pair of one-act musicals. He and his colla…
Off-Off-Broadway Cast, 2001 (Original Cast Records) Irving Berlin's first hit was exhumed by the Off-Off-Broadway company Musicals Tonight! in 2001. According to the CD notes, the show is a …
Original Broadway Cast, 1966 (Capitol/Angel) One of the problems with Walking Happy, which is set in England, is that it seems too American. Still, the show has an entertaining score with so…
Original Off-Broadway Cast, 1998 (Resmiranda) Dorris Betts' short story "The Ugliest Pilgrim" " about a young woman who, maimed by an axe blade as a child, goes on a journey of healing " was…
Film Soundtrack, 1982 (MGM/Rhino/GNP Crescendo) The Blake Edwards film that served as the basis for Julie Andrews' last Broadway musical is really a comedy with a few incidental songs. Based…
Broadway Cast, 1975 (DRG) Very lively, very catchy, very melodic " but not Very Good Eddie. The Goodspeed Opera House's revival of the 1915 Jerome Kern musical " the first show in the famed …
Original Broadway Cast, 1979 (Original Cast Records) This was a good idea: a sort of unofficial musical version of the old "St. Trinian's" stories and movies about an English school filled w…
Original Broadway Cast, 2001 (RCA) This show, which winks at Bertolt Brecht-Kurt Weill works and like-minded tuners, poses the musical question: Is it possible for a score to be too clever? …
Original Broadway Cast, 1960 (Capitol/Angel) "I ain't down yet!" shouts/sings the title character of this rowdy musical based on the real-life story of Molly Brown, and that might also be th…
Original Broadway Cast, 1952 (RCA/Masterworks Broadway) Bette Davis always claimed that she knew exactly what she was doing when she decided to star in this revue. "Just turn me loose on Bro…
Original Broadway Cast, 1951 (Decca/MCA) How does a recording of a second-rank show become an irreplaceable treasure? Here's how: By 1951, the big-star Broadway revue was beginning to gather…
Original Broadway Cast, 1971 (Decca) When you listen to the original cast recording of Two Gentlemen of Verona, you'll know why this show won the 1972 Tony Award for Best Musical but not for…
Original Broadway Cast, 1970 (Columbia/Sony) With music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and a book by Peter Stone, Two by Two is an adaptation of Clifford Odets' play The Flowe…
Original Off-Broadway Cast, 1975 (Vanguard/no CD) No stars; not recommended. The dated humor of this revue makes the cast album more of a time capsule than a listening pleasure. Written as a…
Original Broadway Cast, 1997 (JAY) Pierre Marivaux's 1722 farce La surprise de l'amour gets a musical workout and an English title, Triumph of Love, thanks to librettist James Magruder, comp…
Original Broadway Cast, 1951 (Columbia/Sony) With its high nostalgia quotient and dream ballet, this adaptation of Betty Smith's beloved novel " scripted by Smith herself, with George Abbott…
Original Broadway Cast, 1963 (Capitol/Angel) In its CD and MP3 formats, this cast album is very different from the original LP edition in that, aside from the overture, no song is in the sam…
