93 classic performances by Broadway's legendary stars
Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 04/09/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
""Front Row Center: The Broadway Gold Box 1935-1988" presents 93 classic performances by the legendary stars of Broadway. Strange to believe, but before October 1943 when Decca Records President Jack Kapp arranged to record selection from the Rodgers & Hammerstein smash hit "Oklahoma!", there was no tradition of recording orignal cast albums of Broadway shows (the British had been doing it for years). This means we only have Carmen Miranda doing "South American Way" from "Streets of Paris" and Mary Martin singing "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" because these songs were recorded on their own as singles. The entire first disc of this four CD set is devoted to songs that pre-date "Oklahoma!", an alternate finale of which is the first track on disc two. Personally, I picked this collection up because it had Katharine Hepburn singing the title song from her one Broadway musical, "Coco" (today the entire album is available on CD). Chances are that if you love Broadway musicals you already have "If I Love You" from "Carousel," "The Impossible Dream (The Quest)" from "Man of La Mancha," and "Don't Cry for Me, Argentia" from "Evita." But some of these tracks are familiar songs sung by different artists you might not have (e.g., Ben Vereen doing "Superstar" from "Jesus Christ Superstar"). Still, the chief attraction here are songs that you might have heard about but never actually heard like Irving Berlin doing his own song "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" from "This is the Army" and Pearl Bailey's "There Must Be Somethin' Better Than Love" from "Arms and the Girl." Then there are just those songs that you have always loved and just need to add to your music library, like Ray Bolger's "Once in Love With Amy" from "Where's Charley?" and Lauren Bacall's "Welcome to the Theater" from "Applause." Look over the songs that are on these four CDs and see how many you recognize. For those you do not, think of them as glimpses of new musicals for you to discover and new cast albums for you to track down. Right now I am interested in finding "Mack & Mabel," "Seventh Heaven," and "Follow The Girls." Eventually, it might happen. Hopefully the musicals that most intrigue you from this collection are already available (e.g., "Big River")."
Important collection of Broadway musical classics
notmicro | Seattle, WA USA | 08/15/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I have owned this set for some time, and Disc 2 is one of my all-time favorite CDs. Its packed with fabulous important milestones from the 1940's, like "You Can't Get A Man With A Gun", "South America, Take It Away", the original of the incomparable "September Song", and lots of fun smutty lyrics from various Cole Porter numbers. A must-have for fans of classic Broadway musical theater."
Track Listings (23) - Disc #1
