Foreign Cast Albums

I love to hear foreign (and even different interpretations on) show albums. I have the Icelandic Cast Album of Little Shop of Horrors (hilarious), then there is the Spanish Cast of Evita with more castanets then I remember hearing when I saw the show. I have the the German La Cage aux Folles which has a very ompah band sound to it.
Does anyone else have any of these or any that you can recommend? They don't have to be in a language other than English, they can be Show albums from England, Australia or South Africa.

The Italian They're Playing Our Song is pretty funny. I don't understand Italian but every now and again they sing 'disco'. I guess some words don't need to be translated.

I have the Israeli Cast Recordings of My Fair Lady and Fiddler on the Roof (IMO the the Tevye in Fiddler there (Bomba Zur) was much much better than both Zero and Topol...FYI: Topol was his understudy in Israel). They're Higgins and Eliza were both great....Higgins also sprechtsings the part, and Eliza has a beautiful classical voice. Although...you cant really do cockney very easily in Hebrew. I think they should have done a poor Israeli person accent (if you go to the poor areas in Tel-Aviv there is a clear difference in the way they talk than in the better areas of Tel-Aviv...the poor ones are much harsher and the accent often sounds more like Arabic). Alas, they tried to do a cockney in Hebrew. Wha' can you do?

MY FAIR LADY in Spanish
THE THREEPENNY OPERA in German

Are among my collection.

Yours for a better Broadway!

I've heard that the Australian recording of Beauty and the Beast with Hugh Jackman is great!

Where can you get the Italian Rent Recording?!

---

I've only collected several foreign cast albums of Les Miserables - although, it is ironic to call the French recordings as foreign cast since they started the whole thing .... I do have three of these French albums - a highlights album from the original show in Paris, the full concept album ( I think this is really the soundtrack of the first show at Palais de Sport - interesting to see that some of the songs changed in the Cameron Mackintosh version, such as the French "On My Own" was actually Fantine's song) and then the French Cameron Mackintosh production ( which I also saw in Paris in 1992).

I also have the Les Mis albums from Spain, Austria, Sweden - in addition to the original London cast, the Complete Symphonic recording ( international cast), the 10th anniversary concert, the Broadway version, a regional production from Manchester, and a number of studio recordings by various artists. I'm also thinking of getting a copy of the Australian cast album.

I do have the Australian cast recording of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST with Hugh Jackman as Gaston ( try HMV-Australia if you want a copy). Unfortunately they never recorded the Australian production of SUNSET BOULEVARD with Hugh as Joe Gillis ( although I heard he recorded some songs from here with Debbie Byrne in her album "New Ways to Dream". And if UK recordings qualify as "foreign cast" on this board -lol - I do have the cast album and DVD of the RNT's OKLAHOMA! ( which is reported for release in the USA soon).

jo

I think the funniest foriegn recording I've ever heard was the German album of Hair. I just about giggled my a$$ off.

Alles shone haar! (I think)

Well, believe it or not, the German versions of The Lion King and Rent,sound pretty damn good! Check out www.Amazon.de for information!

Happy Listening!

" I remember on the Les Mis: Stage to Stage video they have a foreign cast do 'One Day More' and the only word that comes through in English is 'freedom.'"

It's Norway. Which never did a cast recording, ironically.

The Dutch Phantom of the Opera and Tel Aviv Les Miz are my favorite non-English cast recordings. Unfortunately the latter is LONG out of print; not sure about the former.

I highly recommend AllMusicServices.com.

Dee & Paul at Discount Music Connection in the UK are super-friendly & helpful. I've ordered CDs, videos & DVDs from them and shipments are sent promptly. Check out their inventory at:

http://www.discount-music.co.uk/index.htm

My top four FAVORITE foreign cast recordings are as follows..............

1) German Cast Recording: Tanz Der Vampire
- Dance of the Vampires

2) French Cast Recording: Le Fantome de le Opera
- The Phantom of the Opera

3) German Cast Recording: Der Glockner Von Notre Dame
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame

4) French Cast Recording: La Belle est la Bete
- Beauty and the Beast

See Ya!

Michael

---

Oh I know, I forgot about that one!!! I think Belle and Gaston are the best two on the Australian cast recording of Beaty and the Beast.

See Ya!

Michael

---