No comments about Vol. 2-American Musical Theater.

No comments about Panpipe Hits of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

No comments about Piano Tribute to Wicked the Musical.

No comments about 15 Broadway Showstoppers, Vol. 1.

5 comments about Guys & Dolls: A Musical Fable Of Broadway (1950 Original Broadway Cast).

1. One of the greatest American musicals of all time. Sadly, this recording is difficult to listen to due to the recording techniques of the period. Still, it has the incomparable Vivian Blaine as Adelaide and Stubby Kaye singing Sit Down Your Rockin the Boat. But get the Nathan Lane revival, terrific performances all around, and sounds infinetly better than this original.



2. I am a local actor and purchased this to help with rehearsing a local production of the musical. It is VERY close to the material you rent from the licensor (the new revived version is WAY off). Although the sound quality is VERY tinny for today's standards, it is a good rendition of the ORIGINAL version of the musical. Wish the ensemble was a little stronger, though. (The added few BONUS tracks from the movie version are cute, but you have to wonder "why?"...)



3. I attempted to watch GUYS & DOLLS, with Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, and I couldn't bare it. I'll tell you why. My mind kept drifting back to the Original Broadway Cast recording. For me, it was like watching stand-ins for the real thing. The problem was, the "real thing" never arrived in the film.
   
   GUYS & DOLLS is the story of petty criminals and gamblers, and the women who love them. While Skye Masterson (Robert Alda) is a high roller with a penchant for playing craps games, Nathan Detroit (Sam Levene) runs an illegal "floating craps game" and has been engaged to his fiancee, Miss Adelaide (the wonderful Vivian Blaine) for fourteen years. Adelaide is a burlesque dancer at the Cat Trap (I think the name is self-explanatory). Skye makes a deal with Nathan to snag a "doll" and take her to Havana, the craps game. He finds Sarah Brown (Isabel Bigley), sargaent of the Save-A-Soul mission, and agrees to bring her a dozen sinners, in exchange for a date.
   
   Some of the best music by Frank Loesser is here. My personal favorite songs include "I'll Know," "A Bushel and Peck," "Adelaide's Lament," and "Luck Be a Lady." The cast is marvelous and charismatic. Vivian Blaine is hilarious as the long-suffering fiancee. She plays Adelaide as a beautiful, wonderfully comedic pin-up girl to the hilt. You hear anyone else playing this role, and you just can't shake Blaine's incomparable performance. The singing is strong and the story is filled with shenanigans that will definitely hold your attention through to the end of the album. Classic!



4. I bought this because I wanted to get the soundtrack from the movie with Marlon Brando, and Jean Simmons. This cd was the closest thing I could find; it has the broadway version but also some songs from the movie. The music is wonderful, and the cd is great!



5. What a pleasure to hear the original Broadway cast recording of this musical comedy classic! The CD contains what they call "Bonus Tracks" taken from the movie version. I heartily recommend skipping these altogether - why listen to Marlon Brando whisper his way through "Luck Be a Lady" when you can hear Robert Alda deliver it the way it was meant to sung?

3 comments about Tip-Toes/Tell Me More.

1. The restoration of several complete Gershwin scores in recent years has been a gift from the theater gods. These two shows lack the bite of "Strike Up the Band," "Of Thee I Sing" and other earlier releases, but they have no lack of the Ira's wit and George's effortless melodies. Upbeat tuners "Kickin' the Clouds Away" and "Sweet and Low-Down" are especially engaging, and the authentic-sounding orchestrations lend a nostalgic aura. The first-rate casts seem to be having the time of their lives.



2. I bought this CD because I had seen the concert of Tip-Toes, which I found enjoyable if uneven: great songs in Act I and not much in Act II. But for me, the real revelation here is Tell Me More, a totally forgotten Gershwin musical from the Twenties. I only knew one of the songs, "Kickin' the Clouds Away," but this score hits all the right notes, from gently melodic to flat-out funny. And the cast couldn't be better. David Garrison and Christine Ebersole are hugely funny in the comic roles, tossing out their one-liners like the Broadway pros that they are. And what a delight to hear the romantic couple on one of these vintage recordings -- in this case, Diane Fratantoni and Philip Chaffin -- sing just like a real period couple: him with the creamy tenor voice and her with the boop-a-doop flapper sound. Their rendition of "Three Times a Day," a lovely ballad with a Kern-like flavor, is, for me, the highlight of this 2-CD set.



3. Although the Princess shows of Kern, Bolton and Wodehouse back in 1917 tried to introduce a solid plot into the American musical comedy, the story lines still did not amount to much until "Show Boat " set the standard. So when George and Ira Gershwin opened with two musicals in 1925, the first was based on a mistaken-identity situation already a cliché in the genre (Bolton did the book); and the second (again with Bolton, plus B.D. de Sylva) was about the Florida land boom that also formed the basis of Berlin's "The Coconuts" the very same year.

   Both "Tell Me More" and "Tip-Toes" were part of the discovery of many Gershwin manuscripts buried in a New Jersey warehouse; and we can be most thankful to New World Records for restoring the scores and bits of the dialogue in a two-CD boxed set (80598-2). The music is what you would expect from Gershwin: 1920s jazzy with that special core of Gershwin genius. Yes, a good deal of it sounds like Berlin and Kern--as did just about every other contemporary composer except Romberg (who sounded like Herbert). On the other hand, "Kickin' the Clouds Away" from the earlier show seems to be the inspiration for Berlin's "Shakin' the Blues Away" written two years later! "Tell Me More" also does not shy away from ethnic jokes (i.e., mistaking a request to disguise oneself as British for doing so as Yiddish) that do not offend at all. And if we moderns grow impatient with the rich bubbleheads of the F. Scott Fitzgerald crowd, they are still a breath of fresh air after the population of "Miss Saigon" and plays of that sort.

   The game casts have voices just right for this sort of characterization and delivery. The "Tip-Toes" production is taken from the Carnegie Hall Concert version and is outstanding.

   This New World set deserves a place of honor among the other Gershwin Brothers restorations on other labels. And do not forget the New World complete recording of Kern's "Sitting Pretty," which (like these two Gershwin shows) did not produce any hits but is delightful from overture to Finale Ultimo.

5 comments about Human Heart.

1. This collection is much more romantic and tender than the previous collection. If you listen closely, you can hear the passion.



2. Once again the folks at DINK Records bring us a collection of Broadway love songs sung BY men TO men. The orchestrations are ever so slightly richer, the songs are (with a couple of exceptions) slightly more obscure but nevertheless gems, and the singers are stronger, with more solid vocalization.

   The shivers in the first album are full-fleged thrills here, as one of my favorite songs, "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" is given the gay male treatment. What Broadway queen would not nearly weep to hear a man sing "Fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly, I gotta love one man 'til I die, can't help lovin' dat man of mine"?

   The songs clearly run the gamut of emotions, from the helpless love of "Can't Help" to the comfortable "A Place Called Home" to the almost-bitterness of the newly dumped "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" to the bittersweet resignation of "Old Friend".

   Once again, a superb collection of Broadway songs.




3. Same as hoo, I need lyrices too.



4. I'm from China Mainland, I got CDs(stage 1 2 3)from my friend in a great chance. I love it rhythm, solo, and everything. So i wanna find lyrics, I search many website, but I can't find it,Help!



5. The idea of this album--gearing showtunes to a predominantly gay male audience--intrigued me, but I had my doubts about the success of anyone messing with the "sacred" music of broadway. After listening to it a few times, however, I found the disc a very pleasant surprise, showcasing talented singers and a variety of romantic broadway songs showing the many complex expressions of love.

   The talent of the two singers can't be denied. Tracks like #11 ("I Wish I Could Forget You/I Have A Love"), #5 ("Blame It On The Summer Night"), #4 ("Let's Not Waste A Moment"), #9 ("Old Friend") and #12 ("In Whatever Time We Have") show the two men beautifully relating the depth of the pieces they sing, ranging from sexy to wistful to melancholy (and constantly romantic).

   These same songs, perhaps the best on the disc, are also excellent examples of its unfortunately few effective musical arrangements. When kept simple, the pieces on the album are beautiful and graceful. When attempts are made to "jazz up" or to add "drama" to the arrangments, as in tracks #1 ("He Loves and She Loves"), #3 ("Can't Help Lovin' That Man/Something Wonderful"), and #13 ("The Human Heart"), the works unfortunately seem to fall a bit flat.

   Also, despite their obvious talent, certain tracks could benefit from the two men being a bit less "musical" in delivering "dialogue" portions of tracks such as #7 ("It's Never That Easy/I've Been Here Before") and a bit *more* musical in parts (usually the chorus) of tracks #1 and #10 ("Another Suitcase in Another Hall").

   Altogether, however, this album is worth picking up, especially if you believe in, as I do, supporting the ventures of bisexual, gay, lesbian and transgendered people. Despite its sometimes problematic delivery and arrangement, buy it for Valentine's Day, turn down the lights, curl up with your lover and wrap yourselves in each other and the sounds of love between men.

2 comments about Doin' What Comes Naturally.

1. Though I prefer Dinah Shore's jazzier sessions like the one she did with Andre Previn"Dinah Sings, Previn Plays." This CD gives one a glimpse into the pop sessions of Dinah Shore, the difinitive middle of the road pop singer.



2. A pleasant collection of Dinah Shore's early Columbia Records recordings from Sony Music Special Products. Many of these songs were recorded by Shore later in her RCA and Capitol tenures, but are presented here in their early incarnations. This collection does not really have a focus, so many of the songs must stand alone in a sometimes odd assortment. It is a pleasure to listen, with pristine mastering. Worth the nominal price.

5 comments about My Broadway.

1. Not a bad CD, and admittedly a pretty big voice. But in many of these songs the singer is reaching beyond his ability to interpret the music, and comes off sounding like a big queen at some birthday party singing showtunes. A Broadway leading man needs to take command of his songs, and on this CD it seems to be the other way around. Diction lessons should be on Sean's list of dreams to fulfill, without them, in ten years he may be doing nothing more than singing lounge music at The Monster on Fire Island.



2. This is a magnificent CD by a wonderful performer. Sean sings all of his favorite Broadway numbers with passion. The CD is recorded very nicely by Jay Records and is enjoyable to listen to. I find it a great CD to work away while listening to it.



3. I can understand the fascination -- an attractive tenor with a voice that can both make you drowsy and startle you awake. But Mr. Mcdermott needs to search beyond the notes to find a sense of life in each song. His interpretations are anything but inspired. Seldom does he move beyond the score to any sense of discovery of what separates the characters to which each of these songs belong. Instead, we get a litany of vibrato which, no thanks to the orchestrations, feels like musac without any kind of distinction between songs. What the album needed was a producer worth their salary helping to coach this fine vocalist into new explorations of these mostly over-recorded songs.



4. Sean McDermott has a great, glorious sound, and it's such a treat to hear him sing. I've seen him in ''Starlight Express'' and ''Falsettos,'' and he oughta be a big, big Broadway star. I just saw him at Joe's Pub in N.Y. and he bowled us over. And while this CD gives you a good sense of McDermott's powerful, rich sound, the arrangements are too straightforward and unimaginative. Plus, this CD doesn't give you enough of his vulnerability or sense of humor. At Joe's Pub, McDermott sang an incredibly moving song called ''Yard Sale'' by Tom Andersen. I'm hoping he'll record that, and other more tender tunes on his next CD, to balance the vocal blockbusters he can do with his eyes closed.



5. A really nice collection of Broadway songs, with strong arrangements and McDermott's impressive, wide-ranging voice at the front. This is a good Broadway disc, much better than recent releases from Kim Criswell (ugh!) and Betty Buckley.

3 comments about Guys & Dolls (1995 London Studio Cast).

1. This is not the complete soundtrack to Guys and Dolls, however it is a great interpretation of some of the music. These are hit songs, with some good singing and good orchestra, for a pretty reasonable price. Also included is the song "Adelaide", that is an addition in the movie, but is taken out in the broadway play. I bought this CD for that song, and am pleased with the whole thing! Highly Recommended.



2. The London recording of "Guys and Dolls" has one thing going for it that none of the other releases have--it's true to the original score.

   Perhaps it is the influence of Emily Loesser, the composer's daughter, who does a fine job as the ingenue Sarah Brown.

   This edition includes songs from the movie, which were also written by Frank Loesser, and one that was cut from the pre-Broadway show.

   It is a lovely version of the time honored hit, "Guys and Dolls."




3. THIS IS A CD YOU CAN NOT MISS! "PET ME POPPA" IS AN AWESOME SONG!