Is The OCR of "Working" Worth Getting?

I've been disillusioned by the lackluster recording of Pippin and Wicked is just bad, don't even get me started on Children of Eden so I am wary of buying another Stephen Schwartz recording. Is the recording of "Working" any better?

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I don't have the cast recording, but I do have the video of the PBS taping of the show (available through Amazon, BroadwayTheatreArchive.com, etc...) and have always found it quite entertaining. Schwartz only wrote about half of the score, but there's lots of good stuff in it.

Grab the video/DVD with Rita Moreno, Patti Labelle, James Taylor, Eileen Brennan, Charles Durning, Scatman Crothers, Edie McClurg, Barbara Hershey etc... -- it's probably just a little more expensive than the CD, but well worth it.

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What are some cast recordings I should get? Here is my list of what I have:

1776
A Chorus Line
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the Forum
A Little Night Music
A Man of No Importance
A New Brain
Aida
Assassins
Assassins (Revival)
Avenue Q
Bat Boy
Big River
Bounce
BKLYN
Cabaret (Film)
Cabaret (Revival)
Candide (Revival)
Caroline or Change
Carousel (Revival)
Cats (Highlights)
Chess (Studio Cast)
Chicago (Revival)
Chicago (Film)
Children of Eden
City of Angels
Company
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Do Re Mi
Dreamgirls
Falsettoland
Five Guys Named Moe
Floyd Collins
Follies
Gypsy (Revival)
Hairspray
Hello Again
Into the Woods
Into the Woods (Revival)
Into the Woods (London)
Jane Eyre
Jekyll and Hyde
Jekyll and Hyde (Studio Cast)
John and Jen
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Kiss Me Kate (Revival)
Kiss of the Spider Woman
La Cage Aux Folles
Les Miserables (Complete Symphonic Recording)
Little Shop of Horrors (Revival)
Mamma Mia!
Man of La Mancha (Revival)
March of the Falsettos
Marie Christine
Martin Guerre
Merrily We Roll Along
Merrily We Roll Along (Revival
My Fair Lady
Myths and Hymns
Nine (Revival)
Notre-Dame de Paris
Once on This Island
On The Twentieth Century
Pacific Overtures
Parade
Passion
Pippin
Porgy and Bess (Fitzgerald + Armstrong)
Ragtime
Side Show
Smokey Joes Café
Songs For A New World
Spamalot
Sunday in the Park with George
Sunset Boulevard (Los Angeles Cast)
Sweeney Todd (Highlights)
Sweet Smell of Success
Taboo
Tanz Der Vampire
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
The Beautiful Game
The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas
The Boy From Oz
The Civil War
The Frogs
The Full Monty
The Last Five Years
The Light In The Piazza
The Lion King
The Phantom of the Opera (Highlights OLC)
The Phantom of the Opera (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
The Phantom of the Opera (Original Canadian Cast)
The Producers
The Rocky Horror Show
The Secret Garden
The Wild Party (LaChuisa)
The Wild Party (Lippa)
The Wiz
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Tick, Tick…BOOM!
Titanic
Urinetown
Violet
West Side Story
Wicked
Wonderful Town (Revival)
You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown (Revival)

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I love Finn but was hesitant to get Elegies I can't remember the reason now. Wasn't King David the show that starred Roger Bart and was in the New Amsterdam?

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Roger Bart was in it, along with Judy Kuhn, Alice Ripley, and Stephen Bogardus...and yeah, in the New Amsterdam :0) It's really good stuff!

(and Elegies by Finn is not the best thing in the world...but it's certainly very Finn, plus it has Carolee Carmello. HA)

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Working is worth getting just for the Cleaning Women song in my opinion. Lynne Thigpen works it out in that song! I also like the song What I Could Have Been from that show..

As far as other shows I feel one needs to have that are not on your list:

Ruthless!(Off Broadway): The story of a murderous 8 year old girl obsessed with fame

No Way to Treat A Lady (Off Broadway): Musical Comedy about a washed up actor who resorts to murder to obtain fame. A cast of 4 (including Alix Corey) play over a dozen roles.

Zombie Prom (Off Broadway): Spoof of 50's musicals about a teenager who commits suicide then returns to highschool as a nuclear zombie.

Hair (Actor's Fund Recording)...it's unbelievable!

And for God's sake...stop what you're doing right now and go buy Hedwig!!!

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Hedwig is genius -- arguably the best true rock score ever written for the musical theatre. Get the OOBC album.

Jelly's Last Jam and Anyone Can Whistle are both very much worth acquiring.

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OMG..I love Jelly's Last Jam...

King David, such an awful score! Oy!

And that Broadway Archive WORKING makes a bad show look even worse! Double Oy!!

Leopold Bloom
Dublin, Ireland

I agree with what everyone said about Hedwig. Go buy the movie while you're at it...and Wig In A Box: Music Inspired by Hedwig. GO! I'm timing you.

I can't believe I didn't notice he didn't have L5Y or SFANW! And Hedwig!

eek!

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Yes it most definitely is

Hallelujah Baby is also worth it even if one melody from Fade Out Fade in is alo found in Hallelujah. Hey if you cannot steal from yourself who can you steal from? At least no worry of being sued.

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I like the show WORKING - I've been musical director on two productions - but to me, the original cast recording will always be remembered as the album on which musical theatre legend Joe Mantegna has two solo numbers, and Patti LuPone has none.

I also love the dance break in the opening number that sounds like 1970's porno background music.

Updated On: 7/7/05 at 07:33 AM