Composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim and librettist James Goldman's landmark 1971 musical returns to Broadway in a production The New York Times raved '[makes] you realize anew just why Follies is one of the greatest musicals ever written.' A bittersweet look at the follies of youth seen through the eyes of age and experience, this new production stars two-time Tony Award-winner Bernadette Peters as Sally Durant Plummer, four-time Tony Award-nominee Jan Maxwell as Phyllis Rogers Stone, two-time Tony Award-nominee Danny Burstein as Buddy Plummer, three-time Emmy Award-nominee Ron Raines as Benjamin Stone and four-time Olivier Award-nominee Elaine Paige as Carlotta Campion, under the direction of Eric Schaeffer. The cast of 41 is backed up by a 28-piece orchestra, conducted by James Moore. The Tony Award-winning score -- 21 songs in all -- reveals the full range of Sondheim's brilliance, nimbly alternating between incisive, insightful book numbers ('Waiting for the Girls Upstairs,' 'The Road You Didn't Take,' 'Could I Leave You') and stunning pastiches of yesteryear ('Broadway Baby,' 'Beautiful Girls,' 'Losing My Mind'). Now, PS Classics and producer Tommy Krasker -- who has helmed over a dozen Sondheim cast recordings -- preserve this unparalleled work of genius in an expansive two-disc set.
A Classic Stephen Sondheim Musical Available Now at a New Low Price!
Features bonus tracks, digitally remastered and new liner notes.
The Story So Far.. Music Artist : Stephen Sondheim Music Label : SONY CLASSICS Release Date : 2008-09-30 Artistopia's Price :$49.28
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Album Summary
From West Side Story and Gypsy to Into the Woods and The Frogs , here's the first set to cross the whole career of Broadway's foremost living composer/lyricist! Along the way you'll dig into a treasure chest of unreleased tracks (33 including 12 performed by Sondheim, pieces from eight un-produced shows and films, songs cut from Company, Into the Woods, A Little Night Music and more) plus Everything's Coming Up Roses Ethel Merman; Comedy Tonight Zero Mostel; A Parade in Town Angela Lansbury; (If You Can Find Me) I'm Here Anthony Perkins; I'm Still Here Carol Burnett; Children Will Listen Bernadette Peters; Finishing the Hat Mandy Patinkin, and more. The visuals and stories in the 80-page book top off a loving tribute to this titan of the Tonys.
Give credit (and thanks) to Goddard Lieberson and Columbia Records for preserving the original cast recording of Anyone Can Whistle despite a blink-and-you-missed-it run of nine performances in 1964. That's often blamed on the challenging and confusing book, which features a Mayoress (Angela Lansbury) whose town is economically depressed until the fortuitous arrival of an apparent miracle. Unfortunately, the resulting influx of tourists clashes with 49 patients (known as "cookies") from a local mental hospital led by nurse Fay Apple (Lee Remick) when a traveling physician named Hapgood (Harry Guardino) arrives to sort things out. The score is fascinating early Stephen Sondheim and includes numerous songs that have become staples of Sondheim song collections: "There Won't Be Trumpets," the gentle title tune, "A Parade in Town," "Everybody Says Don't," and "With So Little to Be Sure Of." Almost exactly 31 years later, Anyone Can Whistle was recorded as a gala benefit concert, with 20 additional minutes of music and dialogue, an all-star cast including Lansbury and Bernadette Peters, and the excitement of a live performance. For heart, though, it still doesn't measure up to the original cast recording. --David Horiuchi
