Wednesday, July 27, 2011

July 27 Ahrens & Flaherty

Listen at PRX






Prologue - Ensemble, Ragtime [Original Broadway Cast Disc 1]
We Dance - The Storytellers, Once on This Island [RCA]
The Gospel According to King - Ensemble; Tim Curry; Tom Mardirosian, My Favorite Year
The Comedy of Love - David Patrick Kelly, Julyana Soelistyo, The Glorious Ones
Mama Will Provide - Kecia Lewis Evans; The Storytellers, Once on This Island [RCA] (RCA)
Journey to the Past - Liz Callaway, Anastasia [Atlantic] (Atlantic)
Come Down from the Tree - Lillias White, Lost in Boston (Colosseum)
Gliding - Peter Friedman, Ragtime [Original Cast Recording - RCA]
Ti Moune's Dance - Grands Hommes/La Chanze/The Orchestra, Once on This Island [RCA]
Preamble - Lynn Ahrens, Schoolhouse Rock
Alone in the Universe - Cast, Seussical: The Musical (Polygram)
Times Like This - Janet Metz, Lucky Stiff [Off-Broadway Cast]
Shut up and Dance - Evan Pappas, Lannyl Stephens, My Favorite Year
Opposite You [The Glorious Ones] - Marin Mazzie, Jason Danieley, Opposite You
Back to Before - Patti LuPone, Matters of the Heart (Varèse Sarabande)
Wheels Of A Dream [Ragtime] - Bryn Terfel, Under the Stars (Decca)

Sunday, July 10, 2011

July 20: Once Upon a Time

Listen online

July 13: Getting Tall

Listen online

I Won't Grow Up - Mary Martin, Peter Pan [Original Broadway Cast] (RCA)
Little Known Facts - Anthony Rapp; B.D. Wong; Llana Levine, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown [1999 Broadway Revival Cast] (RCA)
Think Big - Carolee Carmello/James Ludwig, John & Jen
Bye Room - Carolee Carmello; James Ludwig, John & Jen (Varese)
When We Grow Up - Diana Ross, Free to Be...You and Me
Growing Pains - Johnny Johnston; Nomi Mitts, Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Sony)
Maybe (Next to Normal) - Alice Ripley; Jennifer Damiano, Next To Normal [Original Broadway Cast Recording] Disc 2 (Ghostlight)
The Age of Not Believing [From Bedknobs and Broomsticks] - Christine Ebersole, Believe: The Songs of the Sherman Brothers (Fynsworth Alley)
Sunrise, Sunset - Chaim Topol; Company; Miriam Karlin, Fiddler on the Roof [Original London Cast] [Bonus Tracks] (Sony Classical)
Slipping Through My Fingers - Meryl Streep, Mamma Mia
Stop, Time (Big) - Liz Callaway, On and off Broadway: The Story Goes On (Varese)
Be Happy - Shelly Winters, Minnie's Boys (Project 3)
Part of Getting Tall (from Nine) - Malcolm Gets, The Journey Home (PS Classics)
Move On - Bernadette Peters, Sondheim, Etc.: Live at Carnegie Hall
Growing Up - Malcolm Gets, Merrily We Roll Along [1994 Off-Broadway Revival Cast]
Summer Is Over - Cast, A Family Affair [Original Broadway Cast]
Old Folks - Cast, 70, Girls, 70 [Original Broadway Cast] (Sony Classical)

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

July 5: Comden & Green

Listen Online

Taxi Song - Adolph Green; Betty Comden, Perform Their Own Songs (DRG)
If You Hadn't But You Did - Dolores Gray, Two on the Aisle [Original Broadway Cast] (Uptown/Universal)
Vaudeville Ain't Dead/Catch Our Act at the Met - Bert Lahr; Dolores Gray, Two on the Aisle [Original Broadway Cast] (Uptown/Universal)
Interview - Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Jule Styne, Do Re Mi [DRG 1999 New York Co
Just in Time - Sydney Chaplin; Judy Holliday, Bells Are Ringing [Original Br
Give a Little, Get a Little - Carol Burnett, Let Me Entertain You: Carol Burnett Sings (Decca Broadway)
Make Someone Happy - Brian Stokes Mitchell; Heather Headley, Do Re Mi [DRG 1999 New York Concert Cast] (DRG)
Ohio - Edith Adams; Rosalind Russell, American Musical Theatre: Shows, Songs and Stars, Vol. 3 (Smithsonian)
Story of My Life - Judy Blazer, Leonard Bernstein's New York (Nonesuch)
I Like Myself - Gene Kelly, S Wonderful
Carried Away - Judy Kaye, On the Town (Studio Recording)
Wrong Note Rag - Edith Adams; Rosalind Russell, Wonderful Town [Original Broad (MCA)
Never Never Land - Michelle Nicastro, Musical Adventures of Peter Pan (Varese Sarabande)
Distant Melody - Mary Martin; Kathy Nolan, Peter Pan [Original Broadway Cast] (RCA)
An Interview With Jule Styne/B - Soundtrack, Do Re Mi [DRG 1999 New York Co
The Time for Parting - Adolph Green; Betty Comden, Perform Their Own Songs (DRG)
The Party's Over [From Bells Are Ringing] - Barbara Cook, Barbara Cook's Broadway!
Some Other Time - Cast, Bernstein on Broadway: Highlights from West Side Story, Candide and on the Town (Polygram)

Friday, July 01, 2011

Free Music Downloads from Spokane Library

Interesting news for music fans in the City of Spokane: Download three songs a week from the Sony catalog for free, to keep. Legally. THE CITY OF SPOKANE PAYS FOR THIS! It simply requires a valid/current Spokane City Library card. (Which reminds me to renew....)

This is a new subscription service called Freegal (rhymes with legal). "It includes a variety of musical styles such as classical, jazz, rock and pop." AND MUSICAL THEATER CAST ALBUMS! Downloads begin MID-JULY (2011).

"Customers will be able to download three songs a week for free, to keep. Because there are no digital rights management issues the songs are not loaned, they are just available. We pay for the service, just like we pay to buy books, DVDs and CDs in order to provide them to customers. One of the reasons the library selected this service was because it is very customer friendly.

Some of the aspects of the service that make it customer friendly:

* mp3 format (no confusion about competing formats)
* web-based (no software to download)
* use in library or your own computer
* works on PCs AND Macs
* vast collection increases offerings to customers"

Because of that last section, I hope this doesn't mean that the library will stop purchasing tangible materials. I have found many unusual, rare, highly out-of-print items in libraries around the country. (I've also purchased items that libraries chose to cull from their collections because no one was borrowing them. Horror!)

Bottom line - visit your local library. Music theater fans will probably be very impressed at what they find. Just be prepared to find them in the SOUNDTRACKS section (shudder).