977 stories by "Michael Portantiere"
Original 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 to…
Original 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…
London 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 p…
Original 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…
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…
Original 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. Mrs.…
Original 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…
Studio 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…
Original 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…
Original 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…
World 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…
Original 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…
Original 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…
Off 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 st…
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 …
Original 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 central char…
Film 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…
Original 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…
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…
Film 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 destined…
Original 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 " the al…
Original 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 s…
Original Broadway Cast, 1980 (Columbia/Sony) Â This Jim Dale vehicle has a book by Mark Bramble, music by Cy Coleman, and lyrics by Michael Stewart. A fictionalized biography of the showm…
Studio 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 Dark"…
Original 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 audio-…
