Original Cast! 100 Years of the American Musical Theater: The Fifties, Part 1

• Artist: Various Artists
• Release Date: 1993
• Type: Collection (various artists), Soundtrack
• Genre: Soundtrack

Review

The Metropolitan Opera Guild inaugurated a series of compilation albums of music from Broadway musicals with this two-CD set. The recordings come from the vaults of MCA, Sony, and Capitol, and 32 shows are represented on 45 selections in 141 minutes. That includes performers such as Ethel Merman, Pearl Bailey, Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner, Barbara Cook, Elaine Stritch, Jack Cassidy, Rosalind Russell, Richard Kiley, Alfred Drake, Kay Ballard, John Raitt, Mary Martin, Ezio Pinza, and Eartha Kitt, and songs such as "I Have Dreamed," "They Call The Wind Maria," "No Other Love," "Never Never Land," and "You Took Advantage Of Me." But the real delight of the set is finding obscure songs and singers who illuminate the era. The anthology approach is of course somewhat jarring when it abbreviates shows that have already been edited down for their respective cast albums, but especially for the newcomer (and much of this stuff has been out of print for decades) this album will open up the world of Broadway during the early part of its golden age. (A 90-page CD booklet written by Paul Gruber annotates the selections.) ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi

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