Track Listings (21) - Disc #1| All Artists: Various Composers, David Patrick Kelly, Bob Gunton, Lenora Nemetz, Craig Carnelia, Stephen Schwartz Title: Working (Original 1978 Broadway Cast) Members Wishing: 2 Total Copies: 0 Label: Varese Sarabande Release Date: 7/10/2001 Album Type: Cast Recording Genres: Pop, Rock, Soundtracks, Broadway & Vocalists Styles: Adult Contemporary, Singer-Songwriters, Soft Rock, Vocal Pop, Folk Rock, Musicals, Traditional Vocal Pop Number of Discs: 1 SwapaCD Credits: 1 UPC: 030206211429 |
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Search - Various Composers, David Patrick Kelly, Bob Gunton :: Working (Original 1978 Broadway Cast)
 | Various Composers, David Patrick Kelly, Bob Gunton Working (Original 1978 Broadway Cast) Genres: Pop, Rock, Soundtracks, Broadway & Vocalists
The original 1978 Broadway cast recording of Stephen Schwartz's Working has long been awaited on CD, and this great-sounding 2001 release proves it was worth the wait. Surely one of the more unlikely sources for a musical ... more » |
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Amazon.com The original 1978 Broadway cast recording of Stephen Schwartz's Working has long been awaited on CD, and this great-sounding 2001 release proves it was worth the wait. Surely one of the more unlikely sources for a musical was Studs Terkel's 1972 book that compiled interviews of American working people discussing their jobs and what they liked and disliked about them. Schwartz transformed these interviews into a series of songs written by himself, Craig Carnelia, Mary Rodgers and Susan Birkenhead, Micki Grant, and pop singer James Taylor, and accordingly the variety of songs is as great as the variety of the workers featured. There's the lyric beauty of "The Mason," the rueful "Just a Housewife," the retiree's wry "Joe," the waitress's lilting "It's an Art," Taylor's pop-country "Brother Trucker," and the powerful emotion of "Fathers and Sons," realized by a compelling cast that features David Patrick Kelly, Joe Mantegna, Bob Gunton, and Lynne Thigpen, among others. Six bonus tracks include a new version of the grocery checker song written for the 1999 L.A. Theatreworks production, Carnelia and Grant performing their own songs (unfortunately, Grant's track comes from a poor-quality audio source), and Schwartz's moving performance of "Fathers and Sons" from 1999's The Stephen Schwartz Album. Also welcome are 2001 notes from Schwartz paired with 1978 notes from Terkel, and a detailed listing of the composers and performers of each song. Working was filmed for American Playhouse in 1982. --David Horiuchi Similarly Requested CDs
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CD ReviewsA 1978 Favorite Finally Makes It To CD! Robert Edler | Saint Louis, Missouri USA | 08/08/2001 (5 out of 5 stars) "I've been waiting for the CD version of this show for a long time! I saw the original while it was still in previews on Broadway -- a Saturday afternoon matinee. My seat was in the balcony almost at the end of the row on the right side. A couple of empty seats away there was a gentleman wearing a wrinkled trench coat; halfway through the show I finally realized he was actually Studs Turkel. I worked up the nerve to ask him to sign my program, and was waiting for a break in the action to ask him to do so. Unfortunately, he used that break to get up and go backstage. Never did get the autograph, but I loved the show.And I still love it on this CD. The premise of the show is simple -- it's about real people telling us what they do for a living and what they like or dislike about their work. Their stories based on Stud Turkel's original interviews are told here in words and songs. And the music and lyrics used to do this covers a wide variety of styles; since they were created by six very talented people. However, each of them does what most songs created for the stage fail to do these days. They tell you who the character is and why he or she is in the show! That's what made this show great.Back when I bought the original LP of this show, I felt that some of the numbers I saw on stage had not made it to the album. Since I lost my program on the flight back to Saint Louis, actually the airline sent the whole bag to the Bermuda Triangle, I was never able to compare the song listing from the show to the album. This CD give you several bonus tracks of songs performed by the composers They're nice, but the show versions are better. Congrats, to Bruce Kimmel and his new label for providing us with this lost gem. Now, I wonder if he could come up with a CD of the complete Broadway recording of the Hal Prince revival of Candide, which Sony Columbia has failed to do so far.. And if you really like WORKING, you might want to get the video of the American Playhouse version of the show. It is highly abridged and it lacks the dynamic unit set and staging of the Broadway show but the second half is really unbeatable theatre! I think Amazon offers it, too." Finally on CD Robert G Levy | Shippenville, PA United States | 07/21/2001 (5 out of 5 stars) "I have waited years for this to be issued on CD, and finally. Each of the songs stands on its own and while some of the James Taylor pieces may be more poignent on his "Dad Loves His Work" album, it's good to hear them again in the context of the show.The late 70's rising string orchestrations may seem cheesy to a modern listener, but they placed me squarely in 1978 when I first heard the show. A must for any serious collector of musicals, and any fan of the work of Mr. Schwartz." About time efrex | New York, NY USA | 07/02/2002 (4 out of 5 stars) ""Working" has competed for the last decade with "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" for the title of Most Performed Show Without an In-Print Original Cast Recording. Now, we've got both of them, and the world is a better place. This recording features an impressively diverse group of songwriters and song styles to flesh out Studs Terkel's book of ordinary and not-so-ordinary American workers. From the peppy bounce of "Newsboy" (I LOVE that song, and will not countenance any suggestion as to its being annoying) to the moving "Just a Housewife," Working delivers the goods with well-crafted lyrics and melodies. A bunch of bonus tracks performed by the original composers and the L.A production add some heft to what was originally a fairly skimpy LP. Just a few minor complaints: The liner notes could be a bit more complete in describing the original production, and if a complete lyric sheet wasn't possible, one would like at least a translation of "Un mejor Dia Vendra." Not anything too terrible, but definitely noticeable. Fynsworth Alley did a great job here, though, and a much-noticed hole in the original cast recording world has now been filled."
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