Collecting original cast albums?

As one of the Broadway fans here, do you:

A) Collect EVERY cast album you can get your hands on?

B) Collect cast albums only of shows you have seen?

C) Collect certain stars, or performers?

D) Buy the ones you like and ignore the rest?

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I fall into group A, so my library includes some scores that I don't care for but have to have just in case! :)

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I collect the albums that sound interesting to me, or have been recommended by trusted friends. I always used to say that if I was given a life sentence in prison, I could pass the time by trying to sing through every score ever recorded from THE ACT to ZORBA, but now I'm a little more selective. If I know I'm never going to play an album more than once, I don't bother.

I buy pretty much every cast album I can--but, like Munk said, I couldn't bring myself to buy BROOKLYN.

D

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I generally want to buying everything I possibly can, but of course I don't. Even if I know I won't be listening to something much, I prefer to have it around in case I need to hear it in the future. And I definately pick stuff up I suspect will be deleted rather quickly.

Obviously there are things I get immediately because of my interest in them, while others will have to wait. During slow periods in CD releases, I make it a habit to "fill in the holes" of my collection by getting CDs I put off purchasing initially.

I usually buy the CD issues of "old" shows right away, since I'm more interested in hearing material from the days when people knew far better what they were doing when writing scores. I'm particularly thrilled with the recent CD issues of 1940s and 50s studio recordings of operettas which have finally seen the light of day. This is a severly neglected category.

I don't hesitate to acquire multiple issues of scores. For instance, I must have about 9 or 10 versions of The King And I. I love hearing differing versions and interpretations of scores which have been done over the years.

I used to not really concern myself with purchasing soundtracks except in certain instances, but a good job is now being done with soundtracks from the classic movie musicals and I find myself keeping an eye on what's coming out. I want to commend Rhino Handmade in this regard. They've done outstanding work on the old MGM soundtracks and have given me great recordings of stuff I've desired for years.

Finally, not that anyone asked, but I keep my collection in order of opening date for show or movie. I prefer to put in the effort to keep each era together rather than have the CDs in alphabetical order (which I consider to be both lazy and lacking sense), or alphabetically by composer.

I use to buy everything regardless of whether I thought I'd like it or not just because it was theater related. If it said those two words...ORIGINAL CAST, I was a sucker for it. However, a couple of years ago I decided to stop buying obscure off Broadway shows, especially if they only had piano accompaniment. I just never seemed to listen to them and many were downright atrocious. I also would buy CD'S released by singers who had appeared on the Broadway stage but found my enjoyment of these CD'S also diminished after several hearings. The nicest thing about collecting shows through the years though is that with the introduction of CD burners, I've made a small fortune copying my shows and selling them on eBay. It sort of made my need to collect cast recordings seem less like an obsession and more of an investment which though delusional works for me...:). Off track thought here but "collecting" related. Does anyone else, while sitting through a turkey Broadway show, ever have the thought.."Gee, I could have bought so many good show CD'S with the hundred bucks I've spent on this ticket?...lol.

i like to get the shows i've seen [if i liked the show] but i do have a few that i wanted to see but never got achance to. so i guess it's a combo of b & d

i am an A i have over 1000 cd's of muiscal and i can not wait for good vibrations cd to come out because i collcet all shows.

I'm one of those people who are supremely careful about how I spend my money for some reason so I usually only buy the recordings that I'm interested in previously. I tend to look online for all the new recordings and then read the reviews, listen to samples etc to decide which ones would be money best spent.

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A combination of c and d. I'm not rich enough for anything else.

I buy the ones that I like or have certain performers that I know I like or will like. And when there is a show that I really really like, I buy the cast album in every language recorded.

Yeah if its a show I really REALLY like then I'll end up buying every version of it if they have them. For example, I had a live recording of the tour for LSoH then went out and bought the revival cast and am contemplating buying the original cast recording. For some reason I just like to hear each cast's different versions of the songs and their individual takes on teh characters etc.

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i have so many old LPs and CDs that i only have room to get new ones that i really like, or that i'm really interested in hearing and then if i don't like it i sell it ... otherwise there'd be no place to lie down and sleep

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