First cast album: THE SOUND OF MUSIC with Mary Martin. (First movie soundtrack: THE PAJAMA GAME with Doris Day.)
Most recent cast album (#3,693 in my database): THE LITTLE MERMAID
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks." Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."
A voice here from the aged...My first one was the original cast album of "Flower Drum Song" from the Columbia Record Club. They offered two cast albums as I recall - "FDS" and "My Fair Lady". I didn't know from either one (I was in 6th grade at the time) and so went with "Flower Drum Song" because an episode of The Ann Southern Show a popular sit com of the day, featured a plot line involving Ann's character trying to get enought tickets for her friends for the opening of FDS. In my household it became a "family" album - we still can probably all sing the entire score, it was played so often.
The revival cast recording of Once Upon a Mattress I was in Middle School, and I won a gift certificate to some music store, so I bought that. I still have it (even if it was only like 12 years ago or something), although the case is broken and the booklet is messed up and torn.
http://theaterfag.blogspot.com/
Reviews and the like
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (vinyl). I was in 5th grade. It was quite by accident. I loved the movie and had an overly permissable mother who was willing to purchase it for me. I thought I was getting the movie soundtrack.
I grew up on my mother's OBCR on vinyl (My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, South Pacific, Camelot, etc). I think the first OBCR that was INTENDED to be mine was probably "Chess". I think I bought that my 8th grade year around the same time I bought "Miss Saigon".