Soundtracks & Musicals > First Night Soundtracks & Musicals

Best Musical of the 21st Century - so far...

Advantages: Great music, clever lyrics, amazing performances
Disadvantages: The song 'Who's The Man'

...onto the opinion. The Witches of Eastwick is the second musical by Dempsey and Rowe to hiot the West End, and is enjoying the success that the first one (The Fix) also deserved. The music is enjoyable, the lyrics are artful and funny and the performances are truly incredible. The show takes its inspiration equally from the original book and the film, which shows through in the opening number, which is far closer in feel to the gbook than the film ...
...the harmony of the three witches - absolutely delicious, if one can use such a word about music. I heartily reccommend this CD as an excellent record of the stage production and as a generally good listen. Fabulous, musical, funny performances of an excellent new score (knocks Mr Lloyd-Webber into a cocked hat) which should be enjoyed by everyone from overture to finale. ...

DavidBedford 06.06.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Witches Of Eastwick, The - Original London Cast

It's De-lovely!!

Advantages: Fantastic Music
Disadvantages: None!

...Act 1 it DE-LOVELY and ANYTHING GOES. Which are truely de-lightful. Anything Goes is one of those songs you put on repeat at least five times before listening to the rest of the album! PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE - They sing this because onboard the ship there are no famous people, which of course does nothing for the ships credibility! So imagine their joy when the find out that Americas most wanted is on board... It's a good song but feel you need ...
...end there's a reprise of anything goes and i get a kick out of you, but we're not gonna talk about them right now, because now is the time for BUDDIE BEWARE, this is another song that i think needs a little background, so you can really appriciate it, the character its song by Erma, is usualy portrayed as the petite little blonde, with quite a high pitched voice, and yet when she sings the song, she belts it out, which makes the song even better ...

ahhyespls 09.10.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Anything Goes - Original London Cast 2003

A great recording of a great show

Advantages: Great musical; very strong cast
Disadvantages: Not the full recording; some weak voices

As a show Les Misérables is flawless. It has a captivating story that keeps you hooked which is displayed in a wonderful musical. One problem often associated with musicals is the lack of originality, shows, too often, consist of two or three individual numbers with the rest of the musical being filled with reprises or slight variations. Although there are songs like this in Les Miserables it doesn't seem so bad because the variation really is different! ...
...is the same, however, because of the different moods in both of the pieces they seem different. In other occurences where the tune is re-used, enough decoration is added to the songs to make them seem original. As for this specific recording; the cast is mainly very strong. The role of Valjean is portrayed by Colm Wilkinson, the person who 'created' the role. His antagonist, Javert is also portrayed very well as Roger Allam's voice is superbly suited ...

chiggy321 28.05.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Les Miserables - Original London Cast

Les Miserables Symphonic Recording REVIEW

Advantages: Emotive, expressive story based in France during the Revolution
Disadvantages: None

...is the comical character of Les Miserables, and bound to produce a few smiles when listening to this CD. The story is seperated into the following tracks on the CD: 1. Prologue 2. Valjean's Soliloquy 3. Empty Chairs At Empty Tables 4. Every Day 5. At The End Of The Day 6. Valjean's Confession 7. The Wedding Chorale / Beggars At The Feast 8. I Dreamed A Dream 10. Lovely Ladies 11. Fantine's Arrest 12. Runaway Cart, The 13. Who Am I? 14. Fantine's ...
...Cloud 17. Master Of The House 18. The Bargain / The Watlz Of Treachery 19. Look Down 20. The Robbery / Javert's Intervention 21. Epilogue 22. Stars Second Disc 1. Eponine's Errand 2. ABC Cafe (Red And Black) 3. Do You Hear The People Sing 4. Rue Plumet / In My Life 5. Heart Full Love 6. Attack On Rue Plumet, The 7. One Day More! 8. At The Barricade 9. On My Own 10. Building The Barricade 11. Javert's Arrival 12. Little People 13. Little Fall ...

johnny12345 21.06.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Les Miserables (The Complete Symphonic Recording) [ECD] - Original Cast

The American Dream

Advantages: A Musical for everyone.
Disadvantages: This is the orignial recording.

It would be impossible to do a review on this album without an introduction to the musical itself. The first performance of “Miss Saigon” opened at the Drury lane theatre in London in 1989 and continued with cast changes up until 1999. Seen by 21 million people in twelve different counties, it is still as popular as ever, ranking third in the most popular musicals after “Cats” and “Les Miserables”. Cameron Mackintosh brought the performance to life ...
...Alain Boubil wrote the musical and lyrics. I was fortunate to see the musical in 1990 when the entire original cast were still appearing in the show. I have seen it twice since but nothing compares to my first experience, I left the theatre clutching my sweatshirt and the LP dazzled by the show and in much need of the nearest pub to repair my make-up and to come back down to earth. The story centres on the last few days of chaos and terror that resulted ...

Elffriend 21.09.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Miss Saigon (Highlights From The Complete Recording) - Original Soundtrack