Favorite Bernadette Peters cast recording? — Page 2

The only one I actually love hearing her sing - SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE.

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Into the Woods. I love her rap!

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SUNDAY is my all-time "desert island" disc.

I love her GOODBYE GIRL and MACK AND MABEL.

Her version of SONG AND DANCE (The Songs) (RCA didn't record the Dance segment) is the only version of that score I can tolerate.
(As most of you know I have a major hate on for almost anything Andrew Lloyd Webber touches.)

Her GYPSY disc is very good though I still prefer Ethel in the role of Rose.

I don't reallly care for the shows DAMES AT SEA or GEORGE M and seldom play those cast albums. Also seldom play her ANNIE GET YOUR GUN as I didn't like the production although I thought she was very good and her track of "Lost in his Arms" is the most achingly beautiful take of that particular song.


But why did she waste so many years in hllywodd doing bomb movies! PENNIES FROM HEAVEN anybody??

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Double post. Sorry.

Updated On: 10/19/05 at 09:53 PM

It was vastly different. Each has its partisans; I prefer the film.


Here's what Pauline Kael once said: " Dennis Potter always said he wanted his material done in M-G-M musical style, and finally it was, and the movie was attacked because it wasn't like the television version, which didn't have anything like the dramatic staging or the dynamic performances of an M-G-M musical. It's heartbreaking when something really gets done right and doesn't get support....you really need enormous press support for something that's diificult and complex, and Pennies from Heaven didn't get it. You begin to despair when people do their finest work and don't get credit for it."

Her OBC work is stellar, of course. But if I want to hear Bernadette, I go to her solo recordings - the ones with the Vargas covers.

1) The tv pilot "Adopted" that Bernadette did for ABC was not picked up for the Fall season. She has mentioned that it may (emphasis on may) be picked up for the 2006 season.

2) Song and Dance--this will be brief, I'm sure others can fill in. Important note--Act 1 is completely sung. An English woman (Emma)comes to America to be with her lover; she is a hat designer. She breaks up with lover immediately and then begins her journey in America--to become a sucessful hat designer and to meet a man. She goes through several men, gets her green card, but looses her moral and emotional way. Finally she meets "Joe" --she thinks he is her true love--and so ends Act 1. All this time she is on stage alone--she creates these other characters and we can see them, sort of. Act 2 is all dance, involving "Joe". At the end, Emma comes on stage and she and Joe are finally together.

The show ran for 474 performances (Sept 18, 1985-Nov 8, 1986)and, as you know, Bernadette received her first Tony. Hit--flop--I don't know if it recouped.

I did not see Bernadette in Song and Dance; I did see Alice Ripley in the first act, called "Tell Me on A Sunday".

This is one of my favorites of Bernadettes, I think she really does some of the ballads so hauntingly and shows that great combination of strength, humor, and vulnerability.

A good web site is here:

http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/Stage/3327/sandd.html

If you'd like to read more, just google "Song and Dance"; the Really Useful site has photos from the London production.

Updated On: 10/20/05 at 06:58 AM

I would have to say: Gypsy... I'm a big fan of all her work but Gypsy is one of my favorite shows of all time... I'm actually directing it right now... We open tonight!

Into The Woods and Gypsy.

annie get your gun
gypsy
into the woods

i know they aren't cast recordings, but, i also like her songs on the anastasia soundtrack and the annie movie soundtrack.

Updated On: 10/20/05 at 01:37 PM

Thanks, Flamingo. i actually went to my college's music library today and listened to the Song & Dance album for the first time. As usual, I find Lloyd Webber's music less than stellar, and well Don Black's lyrics are not that awesome either, but I have to accept that there are some very touching songs, and well, I can understand why Bernadette won the Tony, she must've been amazing in this show.

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Without a doubt SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. Her maturity in voice and acting ability are truly at their peak.

Updated On: 10/22/05 at 01:20 PM

No contest, SUNDAY

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