CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

Brigadoon (1991 London Studio Cast)

by: John McGlinn, Alan Jay Lerner, Brent Barrett, John Mark Ainsley, Rebecca Luker, Donald Maxwell, Judy Kaye, Frederick Loewe

Release Date October 20, 1992
This studio recording of the Lerner and Loewe classic is quite good. In fact, until the Jack Cassidy/Shirley Jones version was finally released on CD, this was by far the best CD available of the score. The singing is very good, the sound quality is excellent, and all the songs are here intact. So is the dance music--all of it. Which brings up one of the problems with McGlinn's studio recreations. He is a fanatic for completeness. He goes overboard with it. At least in this recording he hasn't resurrected songs that were cut out of town as he did for other recordings such as "Show Boat" and "Anything Goes." There's usually a very good reason songs get cut out of town: they don't fit, or they just aren't very good. But I digress. We're ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

Grand Hotel: The Musical - Broadway Cast Recording

by: George Forrest, Maury Yeston

Release Date June 23, 1992
Just hearing the bonus track of David Carroll singing "Love Can't Happen" makes me wonder how BETTER the original cast recording could have been. Brent Barrett vocally sounds shrill and tense in his upper range, marring the official recordings of "Roses at the Station" and "Love Can't Happen". What a tragedy!!! And Carroll's other recording--the Broadway version of Chess--is no longer in print (according to Amazon). This is a double tragedy, because David played Anatoly in the show and gets to sing the powerful "Anthem" at the end of Act 1.

Generally, the score sounds cobbled together with no memorable melodies (other than "Love Can't Happen", which burrows its way into your psyche at the first or second hearing). Perhaps Yeston ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

Broadway Showstoppers

from: Angel Records

Release Date January 19, 1993
David Saemann above covers all the bases in reviewing this album, but I have to call special attention to one of its real gems, "Some Girl Is On Your Mind" from Kern and Hammerstein's "Sweet Adeline" (1929). This is one of Jerome Kern's most inspired songs: a scene for male soloists and chorus that combines a sentimental 1890s ballad, "Jenny Lee," with an incredibly beautiful blues melody by Kern. In the song's final moments, as if the artful combination of two songs weren't enough, Kern adds another layer of sound to the all-male chorus and has the soprano (Judy Kaye on this CD), sing haunting fragments of two more wonderful Kern melodies from "Sweet Adeline": "Here Am I" and "Why Was I Born?" The effect is overwhelming and unforgettable, especially when ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

The Maury Yeston Songbook

by: Maury Yeston, Christine Andreas, Brent Barrett, Betty Buckley, Liz Callaway, Alice Ripley, Sutton Foster, Brian d'Arcy James, Philip Chaffin

Release Date April 08, 2003
I've been listening to this CD for six months now. The songs, orchestrations, and singers are all wonderful. I love this CD.

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Unsung Musicals - The Ultimate Collection

from: Varese Sarabande

Release Date June 05, 2001
Songs from 1987's "Smile" make this well worth the price. The previously unreleased material from the late, great Howard Ashman deserves to have it's moment in the spotlight.

Also, there's Judy Kuhn's beautiful performance on "Starfish", Christine Baranski's vampy turn on "Sherry".

Finally, there's" New Words" from "One, Two, Three, Four, Five". This show has been restaged, by small theatre groups, under the title "History Loves Company". "New Words" is by far the best number of this show and Liz Callaway's voice fills with love as she sings this lullaby.

For a consummate musical theatre fan who's heard it all, this disc is a refreshing look at what has been lost over the years.

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Strike Up The Band (1990 Studio Cast)

by: George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, John Mauceri, Brent Barrett, Don Chastain, Rebecca Luker, Jason Graae, Beth Fowler, Charles Goff, Juliet Lambert

Release Date October 11, 1991
An absolute MUST for any Broadway musical fan.It contains songs and melodies which are symbolic in the History of Broadway. Besides, this version is a real delight both because of the presentation (it's a double album) and the recording quality. Don't think it twice and get it. You certainly won't regret it.

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Unsung Musicals III (Studio Cast)

by: Jolie Jenkins, Judy Malloy, Kristine Fraelich, Melissa Joan Hart, Patricia Ben Peterson, Patrick Levis, Sal Viviano, Tammy Minoff, Steve Orich

Release Date May 20, 1997
I saw Lovely Ladies and enjoyed the show very much. Oh well, what matter- Broadway , as i knew it is dead. Today- performers are miked up "the kazoo" and scenery and special effects have the stage.

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

Bernstein - Wonderful Town / Simon Rattle (1999 Studio Cast)

by: Adolph Green, Betty Comden, Audra McDonald

Release Date September 14, 1999
"Wonderful Town," was one of Leonard Bernstein's earliest successes, but unfairly it has tended to be eclipsed by the later success of "West Side Story." Here, in a fizzing performance, starrily cast, Rattle rights the balance in a performance at once vigorously idiomatic and also refined in the many lyrical moments. The two characterful sisters finding their feet in the big city are brilliantly played here by Criswell and McDonald, not just charismatic as actreses, but singing superbly. Hampson as Robert just as commandingly bestrides the conflicting problem of Broadway and the classical tradition, and Brent in the cabaret tradition. Such numbers as "Ohio," 'A little bit in love,' 'Conversation piece' and 'Wrong note rag,' rounded off with the big tune of 'It's ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

The Busby Berkeley Album

from: Angel Records

Release Date October 11, 1994
This compilation of music is absolutely wonderful. True to the orginial versions, this contemporary remake evokes memories of great movies...movies with a moral and a story to tell. Most importantly is the song, "Remember My Forgotten Man". Seems to me, we who are removed from 1933 by almost three-quarters of a century, should hear the message therein and apply it to our time. How many Americans today are among the neo-Forgotten Man? Far too many!! The neo-Conservatives have created a new underclass, much like those Conservatives who laid the foundation for the Great Depression of 1929. They too have forgotten the "little guy". It is time for the "little guys" to rise up again and recapture our nation from the plutocrats, the neo-cons, and the vast military-industrial complex. Amazing ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

The Musicality of Rodgers & Hammerstein

by: Rodgers & Hammerstein, Ron Raines, Brent Barrett

Release Date July 16, 2002
I bought this CD because I want to get my hands on everything where Ron Raines is singing. He starts the CD with a beautiful rendition of OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING. Unfortunately, that is the only thing he sings. The other singers are good, too. I thought it was interesting to have Pat Suzuki sing BALI HAI. Her version is different from the original but very beautiful. All of Rodgers and Hammerstein's music is beautiful and sometimes moving and inspirational. Unless you own every R and H musical, buy this!