Which cast recording could you listen to over and over again? — Page 2

The ones I listen to most often:

Two Gentlemen of Verona
Tanz der Vampire
Legally Blonde (London)
Next to Normal

New obsession:

Matilda

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Easy choice... Parade

Wonkit: I saw the revival of MY FAIR LADY with Ian Richardson and George Rose and was very impressed with these two, less so with the actress who played Eliza. I did not realize that there was a recording of this 1976 production. I shall have to get it.

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Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Kiss Me Kate, SITPWG, Guys & Dolls, The Producers, Company, Urinetown

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Never a day goes by!

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My current favorite: Catch Me If You Can -- and I never got to see the show. The music is addictive.

I've always imagined -- though never actually conferred with anyone about it -- that musical-theater fans go through "periods" with different shows. When I was a teenager, I listened to LES MIZ so obsessively for about 3+ years straight that to this day I almost never put it on casually. It doesn't help that my opinion of the show has changed for the worse since then, but now when I revisit it, the most I get is a charge of nostalgia, especially with the "Dream Cast" recording. I'm very critical of it, but I do also think that I wore myself out on it. It's sort of like the first time you get sick on beer or liquor. For some time after that, even the smell makes you nauseous.

Then there have been other shows I've obsessed over for long periods, but didn't burn myself out on, and so now when I revisit them, it's like seeing an old friend, with all those old famliarities and appreciations flooding back. These are the shows that still make me emotional, especially after returning to them, having been a long time away. These are the scores I sometimes forget how much I love and then wonder how I ever forgot.

PARADE
THE PAJAMA GAME
RAGTIME
DAMN YANKEES
ANNIE GET YOUR GUN
PIPPIN
MAN OF LA MANCHA
KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN
MY FAIR LADY
THE MUSIC MAN
CHICAGO
JANE EYRE
EVITA et cetera


That's a huge list. Smaller is the roster of shows that never seem to go away long enough to ever warrant feelings of "rediscovery," and for me that's all of Sondheim's work.

And then there's the smallest handful of shows that, once discovered, have never really left me and still feel completely brand-new with every single spin. (I guess MP3s don't spin; music doesn't "spin" anymore.) Those are pretty special. I guess on some level that makes them my favorites. It seems like there are a couple others that I could maybe include in this list, but here are four that I'm absolutely sure about.

CAROLINE OR CHANGE
NINE
AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'
MOBY DICK

And of those, MD and CoC especially.

So I guess that was the really long way to name those two recordings.

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Updated On: 10/3/11 at 05:11 PM

The two I could listen to for the rest of my life are the OBC of Into the Woods and the revival of Hair.

Currently I'd have to say "The Book of Mormon". I've had the CD in my car for what feels like forever, and I haven't tired of listening to it or singing along to it (badly, mind you) yet.

Sweeney Todd- OBC & Philharmonic
Hello, Dolly- OBC & Pearl Bailey Record
The Baker's Wife- W/ LuPone
Gypsy- OBC, 1974 Revival & 2008 Revival
La Cage- OBC & Revival
Follies- OBC & Paper-Mill
My Fair Lady- OLC & LRC
The King & I- 1996 Revival
Coco & Applause- OBCs (Guilty Pleasures)

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Updated On: 10/3/11 at 06:49 PM

Sweeney Todd, OBC (the best CD I own of ANY kind, and I have a lot of CD's!)
Caroline, or Change
Next to Normal
Catch Me if You Can
Gypsy, 2008
New passion: Ghost the Musical

I couldn't possible pick just ONE.

So I'll pick as many as I want:

Carrie - Because I'm just that sick

Miss Saigon (an unofficial recording I have that I just love.)

I could listen to the original cast of NINE forever.

Company (I have to throw a Sondheim in.)

City of Angels - I listen to the L.P. a lot.

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Regarding the Lincoln Center 1965 revival of CAROUSEL with the terrific John Raitt, I don't know the answer to your question about "The Soliloquy". But I can say that the recording is excellent and has towards the end "The Highest Judge of All" which I had never heard before seeing this revival. The CD is worth getting. The entire cast is great.

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