Ragtime. But, if you do get Miss Saigon you have to get the complete 1995 studio cast not the original London cast. The London cast is on two discs but it's not really complete.
The performers are much better on the London cast... IMO... though Hinton Battle and Ruthie Henshall make a strong case for the recording by themselves.
Roger, "Ragtime" is REALLY special. I think there might be one song in the show that I thought could have been cut but the extended versions of "The Night Goldman Spoke at Union Hall" and "Sarah Brown Eyes" are wonderful. The best part of the C.D. set (Broadway) for me is the dialogue that follows the second act song when Tateh (?) and "Mother" watch their kids playing on the beach:
Both See them running down the beach. Children run so fast Toward the future From the past. There they stand, Making footprints in the sand, And forever hand in hand, Our children. Two small lives, Silhouetted by the blue, One like me And one like you. Our children. Our children.
Mother Well.
Tateh You say that often. "Well."
Mother It's because I don't know what to say, Baron.
Tateh I'm not a Baron, of course. I'm a poor immigrant, a Jew, who points a camera so that his child can dress as beautifully as a princess. I want to drive from her memory every tenement stench and filthy immigrant street. I will buy her light and sun and clean wind of the ocean for the rest of her life. Now you know me. Now you understand. I am no Baron. I am Tateh.
Mother Now I know even less what to say.
Tateh Now it's my turn. Well.
Mother Thank you for your confidence. I shall keep it here. (touches heart).
I get verklempt whenever I hear that.
There is also a very powerful moment when Booker T. Washington attempts to talk Coal House into giving himself up and the dialogue prior to a reprise of "Wheels of a Dream" really ties everything up marvelously.
It's just about as close as you can get to hearing the entire show. The C.D. set should have really won a Grammy.