'Ultimate Broadway' Album Launches Website | Playbill

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News 'Ultimate Broadway' Album Launches Website Partly for theatre fans who came aboard in the late 1980s and 1990s, and partly for older fans who haven't yet heard older favorites on crystal-clear CD, Arista Records has assembled "Ulimate Broadway," a two-CD 40-song set that captures some of the greatest showtunes -- from 1943's Oklahoma! through 1996's Rent.

Partly for theatre fans who came aboard in the late 1980s and 1990s, and partly for older fans who haven't yet heard older favorites on crystal-clear CD, Arista Records has assembled "Ulimate Broadway," a two-CD 40-song set that captures some of the greatest showtunes -- from 1943's Oklahoma! through 1996's Rent.

The CD was released June 30; a website of information about the recording was just launched at http://www.aristarec.com/aristaweb/UltimateBroadway/index.html.

Clive Davis, producer and president of Arista Records, conceived and assembled this latest in the label's "Ultimate" series.

Disc one, containing 22 songs, covers the years 1943-1964 -- including "There's No Business Like Show Business" from Annie Get Your Gun, "Tonight" from West Side Story, and other cuts. Disc two, containing 18 songs, takes a leisurely journey through the last three and a half decades, including "Aquarius" from Hair, "Send in the Clowns" from A Little Night Music and "The Music of the Night" from The Phantom of the Opera.

Most of the songs are from the original Broadway cast albums -- Barbra Streisand singing "People," Carol Channing on "Hello, Dolly!," Robert Preston on "Seventy-Six Trombones," etc. In several cases the album uses the London version (Elaine Paige singing "Memory" from Cats), film version (e.g. Liza Minnelli singing "Cabaret"), and at least one startling alternate cut: Aretha Franklin singing Les Miserables' "I Dreamed a Dream" from Clinton's inaugural.

There is a four-way tie for the album's most frequently-heard singer, with Ethel Merman, Gertrude Lawrence, Carol Channing, and Elaine Page all giving voice to two numbers each.

The most-represented composers are, unsurprisingly, Rodgers and Hammerstein, who wrote seven of the 40 tunes. Coming in second is Andrew Lloyd Webber, composer of four cuts. Stephen Sondheim, however, merits only one song among the 40, if you don't count his lyrics on the two West Side Story tunes. Furthermore, that number, "Send in the Clowns, is sung not by Glynis Johns, who originated the song, but by Judy Collins, in her pop hit version. Also of interest is the inclusion of "Try to Remember" from The Fantasticks, the Off-Broadway phenomenon now in its 39th year.

Davis wrote the liner notes, and Miles Kreuger penned the track by track notes. Following is a complete track list:

Disc One:
1. "Oklahoma," Oklahoma!, 1943, Alfred Drake
2. "If I Loved You," Carousel, 1945, original cast
3. "You'll Never Walk Alone," Carousel, 1945, original cast
4. "There's No Business Like Show Business," Annie Get Your Gun, 1946, Ethel Merman and original cast
5. "Once in Love with Amy," Where's Charley?, 1948, Ray Bolger
6. "Some Enchanted Evening," South Pacific, 1949, Ezio Pinza
7. "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend," Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1949, Carol Channing
8. "Getting to Know You," The King and I, 1951, Gertrude Lawrence
9. "Shall We Dance?," The King and I, 1951, Yul Brynner, Gertrude Lawrence
10. "I Could Have Danced All Night," My Fair Lady, 1956, Julie Andrews
11. "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," My Fair Lady, 1956, Rex Harrison
12. "The Party's Over," Bells Are Ringing, 1956, Judy Holliday
13. "Maria," West Side Story, 1957, original cast
14. "Tonight," West Side Story, 1957, original cast
15. "Seventy Six Trombones," The Music Man, 1957, Robert Preston
16. "Everything's Coming Up Roses," Gypsy, 1959, Ethel Merman
17. "The Sound of Music," The Sound of Music, 1959, Mary Martin
18. "Try to Remember," The Fantasticks, 1960, Jerry Orbach
19. "Camelot," Camelot, 1960, Richard Burton
20. "If Ever I Would Leave You," Camelot, 1960, Robert Goulet
21. "Hello, Dolly!," Hello, Dolly!, 1964, Carol Channing
22. "If I Were a Rich Man," Fiddler on the Roof, 1964, Zero Mostel

Disc Two:
1. "People," Funny Girl, 1964, Barbra Streisand
2. "On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)," On a Clear Day..., 1965, John Cullum
3. "The Impossible Dream, Man of La Mancha," 1965, Richard Kiley
4. "Mame," Mame, 1966, original cast
5. "Cabaret," Cabaret, 1966, Liza Minelli
6. "Aquarius," Hair, 1968, original cast
7. "Send in the Clowns," A Little Night Music, 1973, Judy Collins
8. "All That Jazz," Chicago, 1975, Chita Rivera
9. "One," A Chorus Line, 1975, original cast
10. "Tomorrow," Annie, 1977, Andrea McArdle
11. "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," Evita, 1979, Patti LuPone
12. "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," Dreamgirls, 1981, Jennifer Holliday
13. "Memory," Cats, 1982, Elaine Page
14. "The Best of Times," La Cage Aux Folles, 1983, George Hearn
15. "I Dreamed a Dream," Les Miserables, 1987, Aretha Franklin
16. "The Music of the Night," The Phantom of the Opera, 1988, Michael Crawford
17. "As If We Never Said Goodbye," Sunset Boulevard, 1994, Elaine Page
18. "Seasons of Love," Rent, 1994, original cast

-- By Robert Simonson
and Robert Viagas

 
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