If you had to choose just one.
For me, right now, it's probably the Gypsy 2008 revival recording.
It changes everyday.
I suppose going back to my childhood the OBCR's GYPSY and FLOWER DRUM SONG and the Reader's Digest studio cast of BABES IN TOYLAND are the recordings that I have played most frequently. Even today I would not want to eb without any of these.
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
Chorus Member Joined: 12/20/10
Jekyll and Hyde, although I like the concept album better. The amazing Anthony Warlow may have something to do with it. understatement
OBC Ragtime
OBC Rent
OBC Once On This Island
OBC A Little Night Music
OBC West Side Story
OBC My Fair Lady
Covers some favorites
OBC Ragtime
OBC Rent
OBC Once On This Island
OBC A Little Night Music
OBC West Side Story
OBC My Fair Lady
Covers some favorites
Umm... I have the potential to get totally berated for some of these, but in terms of cast albums I just love and can hear again and again:
THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS
THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA
AIDA
DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS
THE LAST FIVE YEARS
THE FULL MONTY
The original cast of "The Most Happy Fella" and "Sweeney Todd"
I don't know why, but the OBC of "9to5: the musical", and the original cast of "Irving Berlin's White Christmas".
Ragtime
Les Mis 25th Anniversary Re-do
Legally Blonde
Matilda (RSC)
Beauty and the Beast
Wicked
Witches of Eastwick
City of Angels
The Wild Party (LaChiusa)
The Sweet Smell of Success
The Light in the Piazza
Company
Merrily We Roll Along
I find myself on the same page as FRONTROWCENTRE2. Two albums that I never tire of are the OBCR of GYPSY and the OBCR of FLOWER DRUM SONG. The latter may come as a surprise to some since it has been labeled as politically incorrect, a charge that I don't agree with. How many people who make that charge have seen the original production of FLOWER DRUM SONG in 1959? The score is so likable, with the standouts being "Like a God", "Love Look Away", and the humorous nightclub scene with the MC scoring.
I would add the complete OBCR of THE MOST HAPPY FELLA whose music soars every time I play it. These 3 albums could sustain me on a desert island.
Chorus Member Joined: 6/4/11
Title of show- its addicting for the last 3 months!!! or 4 months
OBCR Sunday in the Park with George
OBCR RENT
OBCR Into the Woods
Assassins
Tick, Tick,...Boom!
OBCR Avenue Q
just to name a few......
Broadway Star Joined: 4/17/10
My Fair Lady OBCR. I think it was the first cast recording I had.
OLC Chicago with Ute Lemper and Ruthie Henshall
OLC Billy Elliot
NBC A Chorus Line
Chorus Member Joined: 12/26/10
OBC/OEC AIDA (OEC=Orignal Essen (Germany) Cast)
OBC Avenue Q
OOBC The last 5 years
OBC Rent
OBC Xanadu
Les Misérables (25th anniversary tour/UK)
OLC Ghost
OEC Elisabeth
NBC Ragtime (Revival)
...and many others!
Year in and year out..mmm Going back on the iPod and looking for the most played albums that are musicals:
OSC Tanz Der Vampire
OLC Lord of the Rings
OCR Assassins
OBC Annie
OCR The Likes of Us
Chorus Member Joined: 6/26/11
Next to Normal
10th Anniversary Dream Cast of Les Mis
Into the Woods
Avenue Q
The Book of Mormon
Stand-by Joined: 8/10/11
caroline or change
floyd collins
house of flowers
OWC Rudolf. Anytime I drive anywhere, there it is, humming away in the car; it's been there for the last 2.5 yrs (since it came out) and I have yet to tire of it.
Other musicals I will cycle through times of interest and disinterest when I listen, then put that CD away and pull out a new one, but not this.
Honorable mention to the 10AC Tanz der Vampire. If I could only listen to one song for the rest of my life, it'd be Rote Stiefel / das Gebet...
I would choose the cast recording that most effectively transports me back to the experience of seeing the show live, and for me, that would be The Drowsy Chaperone.
Taboo
Company
Merrily We Roll Along
Songs For A New World
Allegro
RENT
TOP: NEXT TO NORMAL
Close behind is: Rent, WICKED, HAIR, and possibly Ghost (just started to get into it).
The 1993 studio cast recording of "Pardon My English"
Arnetia Walker, William Katt, John Cullum, Michelle Nicastro
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