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Evita (1978 Original Broadway Cast)
: essential recording:Evita was Andrew Lloyd Webber's last show with Tim Rice before he went on to projects with less interesting collaborators, so it's no surprise that it remains his most consistently involving and rewarding work. Loosely based on the life of Eva Peron, the charismatic wife of post-World War II Argentine president Juan Peron, Rice's compelling story of one woman's rise from poverty to power is complemented by Lloyd Webber's colorful music as propelled by vigorous Latin rhythms. The showstopper, of course, is 'Don't Cry for Me, Argentina,' but the score is ...
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Sunday in the Park with George (1984 Original Broadway Cast)
from: RCA
:Album Description: A Classic Stephen Sondheim Musical Available Now at a New Low Price! Features bonus tracks, digitally remastered and new liner notes. essential recording:After Merrily We Roll Along's devastating flop in 1981, Stephen Sondheim thought about abandoning the theater. He wrote one of his most beloved shows instead, Sunday in the Park with George. Sondheim and his new collaborator, librettist/director James Lapine, used George Seurat's painting 'A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte' as a way to tackle the issue of artistic creation itself. Both Mandy Patinkin and ...
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Broadway - The American Musical (PBS Series)
from: Sony
:Album Description: A Classic Stephen Sondheim Musical Available Now at a New Low Price! Features bonus tracks, digitally remastered and new liner notes. essential recording:After Merrily We Roll Along's devastating flop in 1981, Stephen Sondheim thought about abandoning the theater. He wrote one of his most beloved shows instead, Sunday in the Park with George. Sondheim and his new collaborator, librettist/director James Lapine, used George Seurat's painting 'A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte' as a way to tackle the issue of artistic creation itself. Both Mandy Patinkin and ...
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Mandy Patinkin
: :Just in case you haven't yet made up your mind about whether to love or hate Mandy Patinkin, you should be able to decide after hearing his solo debut. Released in 1989 near the height of his Tony-winning fame, the album is as wildly eclectic as the actor himself. In a torrent of emotion he wears his heart--and seemingly the rest of his organs--on his sleeve. The oft-neglected verse to the opener, 'Over the Rainbow,' is tenderly delivered in his sweet tenor before giving way to a bombastic close that was memorably spoofed ...
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Gold: The Definitive Hits Collection
: :The critical debate over Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical legacy will no doubt rage for decades. Is he the shrewd populist composer who almost single-handedly revived the moribund stage musical--or a crass, Barnum-esque showman (who almost single-handedly revived the moribund stage musical)? This 18-track anthology chronicles the high points of Sir Andrew's enduring songcraft and the irrefutable impact it's made across a remarkably disparate swath of tastes and genres, from Broadway to Top 40 radio and even the classical repertoire. If some have accused Lloyd Webber's songs--like 'The Music of the Night' (from Phantom ...
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Experiment
: :The critical debate over Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical legacy will no doubt rage for decades. Is he the shrewd populist composer who almost single-handedly revived the moribund stage musical--or a crass, Barnum-esque showman (who almost single-handedly revived the moribund stage musical)? This 18-track anthology chronicles the high points of Sir Andrew's enduring songcraft and the irrefutable impact it's made across a remarkably disparate swath of tastes and genres, from Broadway to Top 40 radio and even the classical repertoire. If some have accused Lloyd Webber's songs--like 'The Music of the Night' (from Phantom ...
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Follies in Concert (1985 Live Performance) + Stavisky Film Score
from: RCA Victor Broadway
: :Since the original Broadway cast recording of Stephen Sondheim's Follies was a truncated affair that turned out to be both a disappointment and a disservice to a brilliant show with a brilliant cast, this 1985 concert performance from New York's Avery Fisher Hall set out to record the whole score, a set of pastiches of old songs and songwriters as performed by a cast of faded stars and the visions of their younger selves. The result was a star-studded roster backed by the New York Philharmonic led by Paul Gemignani, with principals Barbara ...
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Kidults
: :As its hybrid title suggests, Kidults by Mandy Patinkin can't decide how cozy it wants to get with any one generation. Depending on your chronological perch, it plays as either an especially lively grownups' record or a sophisticated and glamorous-sounding kids' disc. The fact is, it's both. Patinkin, at his dramatic Broadway-belter best, sails into this album on what sounds like a sentimental journey. 'If I Only Had a Brain,' its opening notes sprinkled like forget-me-nots in front of a later track, takes the artist back, tripping a 16-track meditation on childhood and ...
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Evita (Highlights from the 1978 Original Broadway Cast)
: :As its hybrid title suggests, Kidults by Mandy Patinkin can't decide how cozy it wants to get with any one generation. Depending on your chronological perch, it plays as either an especially lively grownups' record or a sophisticated and glamorous-sounding kids' disc. The fact is, it's both. Patinkin, at his dramatic Broadway-belter best, sails into this album on what sounds like a sentimental journey. 'If I Only Had a Brain,' its opening notes sprinkled like forget-me-nots in front of a later track, takes the artist back, tripping a 16-track meditation on childhood and ...
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Send in the Clowns: The Ballads of Stephen Sondheim
from: RCA Victor
: :As its hybrid title suggests, Kidults by Mandy Patinkin can't decide how cozy it wants to get with any one generation. Depending on your chronological perch, it plays as either an especially lively grownups' record or a sophisticated and glamorous-sounding kids' disc. The fact is, it's both. Patinkin, at his dramatic Broadway-belter best, sails into this album on what sounds like a sentimental journey. 'If I Only Had a Brain,' its opening notes sprinkled like forget-me-nots in front of a later track, takes the artist back, tripping a 16-track meditation on childhood and ...
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