Broadway: The American Musical [Highlights]

Broadway: The American Musical [Highlights]

by Best Of Broadway: The American
Broadway: The American Musical [Highlights]

Broadway: The American Musical [Highlights]

by Best Of Broadway: The American

CD

$18.99 
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Overview

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

Product Details

Release Date: 10/05/2004
Label: Universal Classics & Jazz
UPC: 0602498635360
Rank: 179664

Tracks

  1. Annie Get Your Gun, musical~There's No Business Like Show Business
  2. Swanee, song (for Capital Revue, by various composers)
  3. Show Boat, musical in 2 acts~Ol' Man River
  4. Anything Goes, musical play~You're the Top
  5. Oklahoma!, musical~Oklahoma!
  6. Guys and Dolls, musical~Luck Be a Lady
  7. My Fair Lady, musical~I Could Have Danced All Night
  8. West Side Story, musical~America
  9. The Sound of Music, musical~My Favorite Things
  10. Funny Girl, musical~People
  11. Fiddler on the Roof, musical~If I Were a Rich Man
  12. Man of la Mancha, musical~The Impossible Dream
  13. Cabaret, musical play~Cabaret
  14. Hair, musical~Let the Sunshine In
  15. A Little Night Music, musical~Send in the Clowns
  16. A Chorus Line, musical~One
  17. Annie, musical~Tomorrow
  18. Cats, musical~Memory
  19. Phantom of the Opera, musical~The Music of the Night
  20. Hairspray, musical play~Good Morning Baltimore
  21. Wicked, musical play~Defying Gravity

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Shark Girls   Primary Artist
Lon Hoyt   Primary Artist,Conductor
Rene Wiegert   Primary Artist,Conductor
Milton Greene   Primary Artist,Conductor
Neil Warner   Primary Artist,Conductor
The Guys   Primary Artist
Michael Crawford   Primary Artist,Vocals
Al Jolson   Primary Artist,Vocals
Glynis Johns   Primary Artist,Vocals
Idina Menzel   Primary Artist,Vocals
Jay Blackton   Primary Artist,Conductor
Robert Alda   Primary Artist,Vocals
Marissa Jaret Winokur   Primary Artist,Vocals
Jill Haworth   Primary Artist,Vocals
Barbra Streisand   Primary Artist,Vocals
Melba Moore   Primary Artist,Vocals
Zero Mostel   Primary Artist,Vocals
Ensemble   Primary Artist
Milton Rosenstock   Primary Artist,Conductor
Frederick Dvonch   Primary Artist,Conductor
Irving Actman   Primary Artist,Conductor
Chita Rivera   Primary Artist,Vocals
Kristin Chenoweth   Primary Artist,Vocals
Peter Howard   Primary Artist,Conductor
Galt MacDermot   Primary Artist,Conductor
Lynn Kellogg   Primary Artist,Vocals
Ethel Merman   Primary Artist,Vocals
James Rado   Primary Artist,Vocals
Max Goberman   Primary Artist,Conductor
Don Pippin   Primary Artist,Conductor
Harold Hastings   Primary Artist,Conductor
Victor Young & His Orchestra   Primary Artist,Orchestra
Marilyn Cooper   Primary Artist,Vocals
Chorus   Primary Artist
Johnny Green & His Orchestra   Primary Artist,Orchestra
Phillipa Bevan   Primary Artist
Julie Andrews   Primary Artist,Vocals
Richard Kiley   Primary Artist,Vocals
Michael Reed   Primary Artist,Conductor
Alfred Drake   Primary Artist,Vocals
Paul Robeson   Primary Artist,Vocals
Andrea McArdle   Primary Artist,Vocals
Mary Martin   Primary Artist,Vocals
Betty Buckley   Primary Artist,Vocals
Franz Allers   Primary Artist,Conductor
Wicked: A Musical Play Pit Orchestra   Orchestra
A Chorus Line Pit Orchestra   Orchestra
Annie Get Your Gun Orchestra   Orchestra
My Fair Lady Pit Orchestra   Orchestra
Fiddler on the Roof Pit Orchestra   Orchestra
West Side Story Cast Ensemble   Choir/Chorus
Oklahoma! Pit Orchestra   Orchestra
Guys & Dolls Cast Ensemble   Choir/Chorus
Cabaret Pit Orchestra   Orchestra
Sinbad Pit Orchestra   Orchestra
Annie Pit Orchestra   Orchestra
Guys and Dolls Pit Orchestra   Orchestra
Funny Girl Pit Orchestra   Orchestra
Donald Pippin   Conductor
Man of La Mancha pit orchestra   Orchestra
A Little Night Music Pit Orchestra   Orchestra
Victor Young   Conductor
Stephen Oremus   Conductor
Phantom of the Opera Pit Orchestra   Orchestra
Sound of Music Pit Orchestra   Orchestra
Oklahoma Cast Ensemble   Choir/Chorus
West Side Story Pit Orchestra   Orchestra
Hair Pit Orchestra   Orchestra
Cats Pit Orchestra   Orchestra
Hairspray Pit Orchestra   Orchestra
Teese Gohl   Music Direction
Alex Lacamoire   Conductor
Johnny Green   Conductor

Technical Credits

Laurence Maslon   Liner Notes,Liner Notes
Michael Kantor   Compilation Producer,Liner Notes,Compilation Producer
Ken Fredette   Design
Paul Kolnik   Cover Photo,Photography
Steve Berkowitz   Compilation Producer
Martin Starger   Concept,Development
Adam Zucker   Editing
Hairspray Cast Ensemble   Cast
Peter Kszan   Packaging Manager
Annie Get Your Gun Cast Ensemble   Cast
Gerome Ragni   Composer
Brian Drutman   Compilation Producer
George R. Marek   Producer
Goddard Lieberson   Producer
Marc Shaiman   Composer,Lyricist,Producer
Stephen Sondheim   Composer,Lyricist
James Orofino   Artist Coordination,A&R
Randy Dry   Project Director
Joy Gilbert Monfried   Project Director
Bill ODonnell   Supervising Producer
Jerry Bock   Composer
Mitch Leigh   Composer
Patti Matheny   A&R,Artist Coordination
Jack Kapp   Producer
Lisa Sparagano   Design
Jac Venza   Executive Producer
Fred Ebb   Lyricist,Composer
Irving Berlin   Composer,Lyricist
Cole Porter   Composer,Lyricist
Alan Jay Lerner   Composer,Lyricist
Marvin Hamlisch   Composer
Edward Kleban   Composer,Lyricist
James Rado   Composer,Lyricist
Darcy Proper   Mixing,Mastering,Compilation Producer
Nicole Dean-Taubert   Project Director
A Chorus Line Cast Ensemble   Cast
Dick Jones   Producer,Producer
Joy Monfried   Project Director
David Horn   Executive Producer
Joan Marcus   Photography
Martha Swope   Cover Photo,Photography
George Gershwin   Composer
Charles Hart   Composer,Lyricist
Didier C. Deutsch   Compilation Producer
Leonard Bernstein   Composer
Scott Wittman   Composer,Lyricist
Sam Rosenthal   Producer
Jule Styne   Composer
Jeffrey Peisch   Project Director
Philip Greenberg   Photography
Martin Levan   Producer
Michael "Mickey" Kapp   Producer
Andrew Lloyd Webber   Producer
T.S. Eliot   Lyricist
Frederick Loewe   Composer
Frank Loesser   Composer,Lyricist
Trevor Nunn   Composer,Lyric Adaptations
John Kander   Composer
Jerome Kern   Composer
Steven Berkowitz   Compilation Producer
Martin Charnin   Composer,Lyricist
Joe Darion   Composer,Lyricist
Ken Robertson   Transfers
Sheldon Harnick   Composer,Lyricist
Stephen Schwartz   Composer,Lyricist,Producer
Andy Wiswell   Producer
Bob Merrill   Composer,Lyricist
Irving Caesar   Composer
Larry Morton   Producer
Charles Strouse   Composer,Producer
Oscar Hammerstein II   Composer,Lyricist
Richard Rodgers   Composer
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