Search - Various Artists - Soundtracks :: ABC (Adler, Bock, Coleman)

Brassy Broadway at It's Best

03/25/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yet another of the amazing STAGE AIDS benifit concerts with an all star cast this time featuring the music of Richard (Pajama Game, Damn Yankees) Adler, Jerry ( She Loves Me, Fiddler On The Roof) Bock and Cy (Sweet Charity, City Of Angels) Coleman.Starting with the amazing Malcolm Gets version of "Tradition/ To Life" and running right thru to the last number - Davis Gaines singing a stunning "Where Am I Going" this CD is one star turn after another. Highlights include Betty Garrett performing "No Soap Blues" by Adler, Charlotte Rae and Fiddler lyricist Sheldon Harnick doing "Do You Love Me/ Sunrise Sunset". Tyne Daly and (in her singing debut) Sharon Gless trade barbs with each other with "You're Nothing Without Me" with special lyrics by Daly! Joely Fisher does a sexy "Welcome To Holiday Inn",Nancy Dussault's "Tonight At Eight", Dorian Harewood's "Witchcraft", and Michele Lee's "I'm Way Ahead" are all standouts. Lucie Arnaz closes the first act with a sexy "The Best Is Yet To Come". But with Gregory Harrison, Alan Campbell, Sean McDermott, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Carrie Hamilton, Lind Purl, Bill Hutton, Dale Kristien,Lillias White, Maureen McGovern and Hal Linden the best is on this CD. And proceeds go to Charity! This joins the the other STAGE recordings, Cole Porter a Musical Toast, Sondheim a Celebration, Lerner, Loewe and Lane, George and Ira Gershwin a Musical Celebration and Over The Rainbow, The Music of Harold Arlen with truely the Best Of Broadway."

Bombast does not equal good entertainment

07/04/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I think the next time I want to support the LA AIDS foundation that produces these shows, I am going to write a check instead of buying the albums. I found myself hitting the fast forward button many times, as most of these performances are clearly (and painfully) underrehearsed. The majority of the singers are of the "louder is better" school, turning in overwrought and off-key renditions of very good songs. Don't look for variety here--you'll get lots of "up" songs and most of the ballads are sung full out. There are very few winners (Hail, Lilias!), unless you are the kind of Broadway fan that just LOVES everything that has a whiff of show biz or feels that the record should be advertised and purchased to support the foundation's worthy cause. There doesn't seem to have been a music director who worked with the performers to be at their best--they were left to their own devices, and in many cases (Sean McDermott and Malcom Gets howling through their material are especially irritating), they needed reining in. Could be that my tastes don't match the music director's work. And with all due respect, I wouldn't choose to listen to the more elderly singers for pleasure, and although the visual aspect might have added more to the performances, all I have is the disk. Live theatre is exciting--if it is well produced."