world in progress...: Theatre & music Archives

Theatre & music Archives

A Man of No Importance OCR 2004/11/18
Ahrens and Flaherty are the spiritual inheritors to Rodgers and Hammerstein. Their shows are accessible, lyrical and don't shy away from sensitive or important themes. That said, A Man of No Importance doesn't have the sweep of Ragtime or the...

Anthony Warlow to return as the Phantom of the Opera 2006/10/21
What's really enticing is the hope that this new production could lead, at long last, to an Australian cast recording.

Assassins (Bump In) 2005/05/28
Curiously, this amateur production left out "Something just broke".

Baz Luhrman's La Boheme on Broadway OCR 2005/01/06
No strong reaction one way or another... but only listened to it with one ear while finishing my Phantom review. The three tenors sharing Rodolfo are all stronger singers than David Hobson from the original Australian cast (though Hobson's appeal...

Chess 2001/02 Danish tour cast recording 2005/01/21
Chess is the only musical which could get real use out of RCS, there've been that many variations since the release of the concept album 20 years ago. This release of the 2001/2002 Danish tour cast CD is a near...

Combo Fiasco - Illegal Harmonies 2005/01/21
On their third live album, Combo Fiasco offer up their usual mix of show tunes, standards and lesser known gems. "Como te gusta mi pinga" isn't the chance for Sean Murphy to show off his operatic training that I expected....

Democracy (STC) 2005/04/28
Guillaume has only two identities and two positions. Brandt has many, he contains multitudes.

Elegies 2004/11/16
Falsettos is my second favourite musical theatre show ever and A New Brain, In Trousers and the Infinite Joy revue are also very good. So my expectations for William Finn's Elegies song cycle were very high. Maybe too high. Finn...

Fiddler on the Roof Israeli/Yiddish Cast Recording 2006/10/30
Sometimes listening to musicals in another language can be a disorienting experience. But Fiddler on the Roof is completely at home in Yiddish ... which will come as a surprise to nobody.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch OCR 2006/11/10
"The Origin of Love" goes down in my book as one of the great rock songs of the past few decades, approaching the evocative heights of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah".

House of Flying Daggers OST 2006/10/17
Some of the tracks are achingly beautiful, drawing a tear from the eye. Others threaten to deteriorate into Kitaro-like blandness.

Into the Woods Broadway Revival Cast 2005/01/10
The 2002 Broadway revival cast album packaging is very nicely put together; the actual performances themselves are a mixed bag however. Some of the cast acquit themselves really well, some struggle vocally a bit (Jack and Jack's mother... who sounds like Bea Arthur had taken over the role), and then there's Vanessa Williams as the Witch.

Jesus Christ Superstar OBC 2005/01/21
Judging by the familiar cover this may have been one of the very first cast albums I ever listened to, borrowing the casette from the public library way back in the early 80s. Strange now to hear JCS cut down...

Joe Starts Again OCR 2005/01/22
Joe Starts Again is an intimate Australian musical one-hander about a 49 year old banker who comes to terms with love and loss as he embarks on a trip through the world of dating agencies.

Kronos Quartet - Released & Unreleased 1985-1995 2006/11/06
Eclectic mix of modern classical and other pieces by this string quartet so well known even I've heard of them.

Lucky Stiff & Wicked CRs 2004/11/24
Lucky Stiff is one of the earliest Ahrens & Flaherty collaborations and one I hadn't heard before. The York Theater cast recording is based on a "mufty" production and so features only piano accompaniment. That implies a lower quality recording...

Martin Guerre OLC 2005/02/05
Been a few years since I listened to this. B&S seem to do their best work when mixing personal stories with epic historical events as their success with Les Miz and Miss Saigon demonstrate. Martin Guerre (which I've never seen...

Mich En Scene - Songs of Jacques Brel 2005/01/21
I haven't been this engrossed by a CD for ages. Experiencing it is like walking in on a slow act of fellatio.

Opus Cactus - Momix Dance Theatre 2005/02/06
Not much into dance but when I do see it prefer the modern to the classical. Opus Cactus by the Momix Dance Theatre was such a piece, and worth seeing. The first act segments were inspired by the desert; the...

Oxygene - Jean Michel Jarre 2006/11/03
Even the best known tracks, the ethereally moody "Oxygene (Part II)" and the ethereally jaunty "Oxygene (Part IV)" don't feel anachronistic.

Philip Glass - Glassworks 2006/10/27
Typical Glass, I guess.

Philip Quast - Live at the Donmar 2005/04/29
Philip Quast - Live at the Donmar isn't going to become a favourite album based on a live show. But it does make me regret having missed the show.

Satango 2004/11/04
So ventured back to the Stables to see Satango a new Australian musical (!) starring Simon Burke and Sharon Millerchip (!!). If there's one thing to make me come out of the burrows, that would be it....

Somewhere in Time OST 2006/11/07
John Barry has written perhaps the most romantic soundtrack ever.

Superman: the Movie OST 2006/11/09
In a word: definitive.

Sweeney Todd (Hearn/Lansbury DVD) 2004/11/18
Now out on DVD after over 20 years since it was first filmed (and nearly as long since I first saw it). Undeniably Sondheim's grandest, most operatic work. This production reinforces the view that Sweeney is best served by magnificent...

Sweet Smell of Success OBC 2005/01/22
It's the dark moral world the characters inhabit. It's the whirligig jazz-inspired score. And it's Brian d'Arcy James every time he opens his mouth to sing. Yes, in Sweet Smell of Success, Marvin Hamlisch, Craig Carnelia and John Guare have...

Tap Dogs (10th anniversary tour) 2005/05/17
Toilet humour was the last thing I expected to see in a tap dance show - but there it was: "urine" streaming down from behind a barrier suspended from the ceiling in the second number of the night.

The Baker's Wife OCR 2005/01/22
Technically, the source material (CD remaster of a 1976 ... mono I think ... recording) demonstrates its age. But musically the score reveals its timelessness.

The Drowned World 2005/05/06
Ultimately The Drowned World is nothing more than an actors' exercise in performance and a playwright's exercise in form. As the former it was a nice show piece for three of the four cast members, as the latter it failed.

The Lady in White OCR, An Evening With Alan Jay Lerner 2005/01/05
One of these days I'll finish my Phantom movie review, but in the meantime picked up the cast recording of The Lady In White while in New Zealand. This cast album was recorded straight off the opening night using the...

The Last Five Years (Echelon/Railway Street) 2005/05/22
Despite what could be an alienating format and potentially confusing structure The Last Five Years engages the mind and the heart.

The Life OCR 2005/01/23
Sex and sordidness has never sounded catchier than in The Life.

The Lion King 2004/12/23
Have to say the gloss has worn off somewhat. TLK was never a great musical, but it was one of the most brilliantly theatrical conceptions ever to grace the stage. Julie Taymor is a visual genius (confirmed by her films...

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