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FEBRUARY 3, 2010, 5:36 pm
Welcome to MasterworksBroadway!
I’m Peter Filichia. I’ve been an original cast aficionado for quite some time. For those of you who share my passion for show albums – be they original cast, revival cast or even studio cast – this is the site for us.
While Masterworks Broadway doesn’t quite have an inventory of 1,776 original, revival, or studio cast albums, it does have quite a few. Right now, scores of scores are available, ranging from Ain’t Misbehavin’ to Zorba. So if you did miss Miss Liberty, that Irving Berlin show from 1949, here it is again. Links to www.amazon.com and www.iTunes.com make it easy to get -- and you don’t have to be as rich as The Rothschilds to afford it.
Although the vast majority of the titles come from Broadway, the albums aren’t All-American; the London cast album of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is here, as is Notre Dame de Paris, and El Fantasma de la Opera -- the Spanish-language version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s biggest hit.
The Titanic news is that Masterworks Broadway will eventually be Movin’ Out to us all the titles ever recorded in the ol’ days by Columbia and RCA Victor (and even Arista). Yes, the day will come when, through CD or downloads, we’ll have access to every one of the musical theater albums Sony has in its vaults -- bar none (and Barnum). Won’t that be Kean? To a cast album enthusiast, this news is Out of This World. Sign up for updates via e-mail.
One of my favorite parts of the site is “Photos.” Over here, there are snapshots from Over Here – including one of a very young John Travolta – as well as pictures from more than 200 other shows. My favorites are the recording session photographs, which we seldom get the chance to see. Alice Ripley and Raul Esparza are here, long before they became stars, recording The Rocky Horror Show. And when Patti LuPone waxed Anything Goes, didn’t she look cute with her glasses and earphones on? (No? Well, these ARE work sessions.)
We’re planning videos, too. Right now, see the recording session from South Pacific come to life. That’s the 2008 cast recording of South Pacific, mind you -- though Masterworks Broadway did the 1949 and 1967 recordings, too. This gives you the chance to compare three South Pacific overtures (not to mention Pacific Overtures, too – but that’s literally and figuratively another story.)
We’ll get the chance to listen to podcasts as well. Check out the ones that celebrated the 50th anniversary of The Sound of Music. There are also some that centered on the recording of the current West Side Story. From Hair to Jerry Herman, there are many others.
All this makes musical theater Closer Than Ever, even if you live in the City of Angels, Oklahoma, or Saratoga. You don’t have to step even Once on This Island of Manhattan and into this Wonderful Town to experience musical theater’s best. After all, more than any other label, Masterworks Broadway boasts more Show Album Grammy-winners – 27, including the 2009 West Side Story recording that won on Sunday night. So there’s something here for grammy and grandson and all Guys and Dolls.
So Merrily We Roll Along. Take The Grand Tour of www.masterworks Broadway.com and have a Blast. In the meantime, to quote a lyric from a Gershwin song that became a standard (despite being cut from three musicals), “Tuesday will be my good news day” -- because that’s when I’ll get to visit with you each and every week to talk about The Sound of Music that Broadway has given the world.
And we’ll all get the chance to chat. Let’s make Contact by joining the Forum where we’ll trade opinions on the recordings and musicals. Blog, too. There’s a place for us at Masterworks Broadway.
Peter Filichia also writes for Theatermania. Visit www.theatermania.com/peterfilichia
POSTED BYPFILICHIA
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As far as your album is concern I really appreciate that it is not the bedroses
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I am thoroughly enjoying this site. I recently found a CD of 'La Cava' from England. I have an LP of an RCA LP which does not classify as Broadway but is quite rare-'Clownaround'. After you hear it, it is easy to understand why hardly any exist. Another rare LP I own is 'Sandhog' on the Vanguard label.
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Glad to have another outlet to read your output, probably the most prolific and smartest of any theatre writer.
Hope that ALL of the catelogues will be available on CD for us oldtimers who may never be comfortable with downloads. .
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Glad to have another outlet to read your output, probably the most prolific and smartest of any theatre writer.
Hope that ALL of the catelogues will be available on CD for us oldtimers who may never be comfortable with downloads. .
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Peter, you are the host with the most! So glad you'll be taking us on this journey. Please make sure and mention when there are extra cuts/alternate takes available. And do point out which label (and producer, if possible) did the original recording. To my ears, RCA Albums done at Webster Hall sound very different than Columbia albums done on 30th Street. But I'm sure glad they'll all be available for newer listeners.
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Great news for those of us who fear the demise of cast albums because of profit/loss concerns. Some recordings to add to list: RCA's "Chocolate Soldier' with Rise Stevens, Robert Merrill & Peter Palmer; the Jones Beach recording of 'Song of Norway;' excellent studio recordings of 'The Merry Widow' with Lisa Della Casa & John Reardon and the Lincoln Center Cast Recording with Patrice Munsel, Bob Wright & Frank Porretta; 'The Student Prince' with Roberta Peters, Jan Peerce & Giorgio Tozzi; an obscure off-Broadway show 'Half-Past Wednesday,' the afore-mentioned 'Secret Life of Walter Mitty;' 'A Thurber Carnival,' TV Cast Recordings of 'Androcles and the Lion, 'Mr Broadway' & 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' (from RCA); 'Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall' (Columbia); Jerry Herman's TV score for 'Mrs. Santa Claus' with Angela Lansbury; the Lincoln Center Cast recording of 'Kismet' with Alfred Drake & Anne Jeffreys . . . . the list goes on.
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Where do I begin?
First, what timetable are we talking about? One month, 6 months, 5 years?
Second, there are many very obscure recordings that both Columbia and Victor have released in the past, that have yet to see the light of CD day, even by bootleggers. For example: Columbia in the 1960s recorded several legitimate plays and released them on disc: Dylan (1964), Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolff (1964). Will these be released as well.
Others: In White America (Off-Broadway); Blackbirds of 1928, etc. etc.
Can we find out now which titles are having release problems because of estate issues or lost contracts? (ex: Donnybrook!, yes I know this is not a Columbia/Victor release).
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Delighted to have the great Peter Filichia where he belongs!
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Thrilled with the site, but many of the itunes links
don't work in Canada...no fair..I want to download
and purchase these cds too!
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"The Titanic news is that Masterworks Broadway will eventually be Movin’ Out to us all the titles ever recorded in the ol’ days by Columbia and RCA Victor (and even Arista). Yes, the day will come when, through CD or downloads, we’ll have access to every one of the musical theater albums Sony has in its vaults -- bar none ..."
Even THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY? We'll see. I just hope Sony realizes that die-hard collectors like me have no use for downloads.
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Speaking as a fellow cast album junkie, I'm delighted by this site and the opportunity to read more of your thoughts about musicals.
--Laura