Producer Lynn Pinto's recording by Broadway casts of "Broadway's Greatest Gifts: Carols for a Cure 1999" has raised an estimated $70,000 in its first week of release.
As reported earlier, proceeds from the sale of the CDs benefit Broadway Cures/Equity Fights Aids (BC/EFA) and The Women's Health Initiative. Pinto said the CDs are selling briskly at 18 participating Broadway shows.
Pinto told Playbill On-Line that talk show host, theatre enthusiast and Barbra Streisand fan, Rosie O'Donnell, will be plugging "Carols for a Cure" on her talk show when it airs Dec. 17. She also described "Carols for a Cure" as the first recording to capture performances by cast members from almost every show on Broadway.
On October 25th, hundreds of performers from 18 of the biggest Broadway shows gathered at the oldest church in Greenwich Village, St. John's Lutheran Church, to record the holiday CD, which is a virtual yearbook of the 1999 Broadway season. It features cast members of Annie Get Your Gun with soloist Bernadette Peters, a collaboration by the cast of Rent and The Broadway Gospel Choir, the 1999 Tony winning cast of Fosse, and the star of the hot new musical SSwing! Ann Hampton Callaway.
It also includes performances by the casts of such long running Broadway classics as Ragtime, Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, Chicago, Smokey Joe's Cafe, The Phantom of the Opera,The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Jekyll and Hyde, as well as the new hit shows Footloose, Cabaret, and Kat and the Kings. Among the CD's 15 songs are such holiday classics as Irving Berlin's "White Christmas," "Away in a Manger," "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and "What Child is This." Also featured are exciting new interpretations of "Silent Night," "I Wonder as I Wander," and "I Saw Three Ships." Several original holiday songs make their debut, including an inspirational composition by celebrated Broadway composer Frank Wildhorn.
In addition to a collection of music, the CD features spoken holiday wishes by such Broadway luminaries as Judith Ivey, Andrea McArdle, Ken Page, Marcia Lewis, Howard McGillin, Susan Egan and many more.
The CD is a production of Rock-it Science Records and features the artwork of New York artist Ann Gontarski. Though not sold in stores, the CD is available for a donation of $20.00 in the lobbies of many shows or by calling BC/EFA @ (212) 840-0770 ext. 250.
-- By Murdoch McBride
