Best Of Broadway: The American Musicals CD

Song Listing

Disc 1

Song Title

1. Annie Get Your Gun, musical: There's No Business Like Show Business - Ensemble (Annie Get Your Gun) ~ Various Artists

2. Swanee, song (for Capital Revue, by various composers) - Al Jolson (Sinbad) ~ Various Artists

3. Show Boat, musical in 2 acts: Ol' Man River - Victor Young & His Orchestra (Show Boat) ~ Various Artists

4. Anything Goes, musical play: You're the Top - Johnny Green & His Orchestra (Anything Goes) ~ Various Artists

5. Oklahoma!, musical: Oklahoma! - Chorus (Oklahoma!) ~ Various Artists

6. Guys and Dolls, musical: Luck Be a Lady - The Guys/Robert Alda (Gus And Dolls) ~ Various Artists

7. My Fair Lady, musical: I Could Have Danced All Night - Julie Andrews (My Fair Lady) ~ Various Artists

8. West Side Story, musical: America - Shark Girls/Marilyn Cooper (West Side Story) ~ Various Artists

9. Sound of Music, musical: My Favorite Things, The - Mary Martin (The Sound Of Music) ~ Various Artists

10. Funny Girl, musical: People - Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl) ~ Various Artists

11. Fiddler on the Roof, musical: If I Were a Rich Man - (Fiddler On The Roof) ~ Various Artists

12. Man of la Mancha, musical: The Impossible Dream - (Man Of La Mancha) ~ Various Artists

13. Cabaret, musical play: Cabaret - (Cabaret) ~ Various Artists

14. Hair, musical: Let the Sunshine In - Cast/James Rado/Lynn Kellogg/Melba Moore/Cast (Hair) ~ Various Artists

15. Little Night Music, musical: Send in the Clowns, A - (A Little Night Music) ~ Various Artists

16. Chorus Line, musical: One, A - Cast (A Chorus Line) ~ Various Artists

17. Annie, musical: Tomorrow - (Annie) ~ Various Artists

18. Cats, musical: Memory - (Cats) ~ Various Artists

19. Phantom of the Opera, musical: The Music of the Night - (The Phantom Of The Opera) ~ Various Artists

20. Hairspray, musical play: Good Morning Baltimore - Marissa Jaret Winokur (Hairspray) ~ Various Artists

21. Wicked, musical play: Defying Gravity - Kristin Chenoweth (Wicked) ~ Various Artists

Album Notes and Credits

Notes & Personnel Info
	Audio Mixer: Darcy Proper.
	Liner Note Author: Laurence Maslon.
	Recording information: 01/09/1920-11/10/2003.
	Editor: Adam Zucker.
	Photographers: Martha Swope; Joan Marcus.
	Unknown Contributor Role: Julie Andrews.
	By now, the merchandising program is always in place when PBS sponsors another documentary series, whether one of Ken Burns' historical efforts or the films grouped under the heading The Blues in 2003, organized by Martin Scorsese: among other keepsakes, there is the coffee-table companion book, the DVD set, and, for the musical programs, the CD box set. All of these were rolled out in connection with Broadway: The American Musical, a six-part documentary broadcast in October 2004. And this single-disc CD is the cheapest item in the bunch (unless, perhaps, there's also a coffee mug), much less expensive than the box set of five CDs. Although it is called The Best of Broadway: The American Musical, it is not exactly a reduction of that set. The compilers have taken the opportunity to make alternate choices of material (one song per show) in several instances. Here, the title song from Oklahoma! is picked instead of "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'," "America" from West Side Story replaces "Tonight," and the title song from Cabaret is employed instead of "Willkommen." The other 18 tracks all appear on the box set. Even at nearly 77 minutes, of course, this sort of collection is nothing more than a sampler, but since there are many similar compilations in the marketplace, it's worth noting that this one ranges across record labels and presents the original Broadway cast recordings wherever possible in excellent sound quality. (Tracks like "Swanee" and "You're the Top" date from before the era of original-cast recordings that began in the 1940s, but do feature the original stage performers.) Taking the Broadway musical from the 1910s to the 2000s in such a short length of time naturally makes for the occasional odd juxtaposition, but then that gives a sense of the variety of kinds of music subsumed under the term "show music." When Hair's "Let the Sunshine In" (as it is called here; actually, the correct title is "The Flesh Failures") gives way to "Send in the Clowns" from A Little Night Music, you can't help thinking that there's room on Broadway for some very different musical sensibilities, a notion only reinforced by the appearance of the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber ("Memory," "The Music of the Night") toward the end. This also means that, no matter what Broadway fan listens to this disc, there will be some music likely not to appeal, which may indicate that the compilers have gotten it just about right. (Not so impressive are Laurence Maslon's liner notes, which would have benefited from a more careful editor and proofreader, but even so are needlessly pretentious. Readers are likely to be sent to the dictionary after reading that "You're the Top" is a "bit of stichomythia" or that Michael Crawford is "gracefully crepuscular," only to discover that Maslon could have used simpler words to greater effect.) ~ William Ruhlmann
Producer: Dick Jones; George R. Marek; Goddard Lieberson; Jack Kapp; Larry Morton; Marc Shaiman; Martin Levan; Michael Kapp; Andy Wiswell; Sam Rosenthal; Stephen Schwartz; Andrew Lloyd Webber; Charles Strouse; Michael Kantor (Compilation); Didier C. Deutsch (Compil

Technical Info

	Release Date : 10/05/2004
	Original Release Date : 2004
	Catalog ID : 000329502
	Label : Decca (USA)
	Number of Discs : 1
	Studio/Live : Studio
	Mono/Stereo : Stereo
	SPAR Code : n/a
	UPC : 00602498635360

BloomReach Content

Best Of Broadway: The American Musicals (2004)

Product Details:

Song Listing

Album Notes and Credits

Technical Info

Rakuten