Oklahoma Broadway Soundtrack

What Broadway Musical soundtracks would you recommend for capturing the essence of musical theater?

My collection is fairly small – Cats, Phantom, Oklahoma!, Les Mis, J.C. Superstar, The Sound of Music, and West Side Story. I’m looking to expand this, but other than some familiar names of others (e.g. A Chorus Line) this is a genre I don’t know much about.
Okay, maybe “capturing the essence” isn’t the best way to put it. I’m really after some of the history, and songs that have great arrangements, interplay between characters in the lyrics, that sort of thing. Hope that helps

Your collection as it stands is kind of heavy on recent hits. You need a little history in your CDs. Some earlier shows include Anything Goes (although there were revivals) and Showboat (fabulous show!). With Rodgers and Hammerstein and Oklahoma, you get a more seamless working in of songs to help push the story line along instead of stopping the plot with the line “That reminds me of a song!” In addition to Oklahoma and SOund of Music, you should also have South Pacific (early “overtones” that racism might be bad), King and I (“Racism is Bad, m’kay?” but in a subtler East meets West context), and Carousel (very dark material for a Broadway musical) 1943-1964 is considered The Golden Age of the Broadway Musical and you need a few in there from composers other than R&H: Guys and Dolls (by Frank Loesser), Fiddler on the Roof (Bock and Harnick), Wonderful Town by Leonard Bernstein), My Fair Lady (by Lerner and Loewe), and Hello, Dolly! (by Jerry Herman). The other MAJOR omission is Stephen Sondheim; he is the latest innovator of the musical. Try his Company (recently revived), Follies (the best kept secret on B’way), Sweeney Todd (Get the original B’way production with Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou not the Johnny Depp version; you’ll hear with Cariou what Johnny Depp was trying to measure up to), Into the Woods ( a 3-hanky show). And of course, recently, you have The Producers and Wicked.

In between all of the major shows and composers are small cast shows (Dames At Sea — 6 people, …Charlie Brown — 7 people, Jacques Brel … — 4 people), musical revues (Red, Hot and Cole, Side by Side by Sondheim, It’s a Grand Night for Singing, and Forbidden Broadway.

And somewhere along the way, for no good reason at all except that they are joyous celebrations of the stage, I hope you come across Annie, Pippin, I Do, I Do, Babes in Arms, Brigadoon, Shenandoah, Cabaret, Godspell, Little Shop …, Working, Sunday in the Park with George, La Cage aux Folles (the movie The Birdcage is based on this one), Gigi, The Music Man, and 42nd St, where you’re invited to “come on along and listen to …. the lullaby of Broadway!”

And have fun … I know I did.

The Music Man (1962 Film Soundtrack) $4.55 In light of all the hit Broadway musicals that have stumbled in their translation to the big screen, The Music Man stands out as an exception; it is one of the best-loved movie musicals of all time. A great deal of the credit goes to composer Meredith Willson, who resisted studio pressure to hire a big name for the title role (Frank Sinatra or Cary Grant) in favor of the Tony-winning stage star, R…

Oklahoma! (1955 Film Soundtrack) $8.70 All products are BRAND NEW and factory sealed. Fast shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed….

The King and I (1956 Film Soundtrack) $5.15 Compared with the Broadway cast recording, the 1956 soundtrack to the film version of The King and I wins hands down. Yul Brynner is the king (literally and figuratively) in both formats (how could anyone else own such a role?), but the movie’s score has better sonics, Brynner’s voice is stronger, and the tunes are more memorable (thanks to Alfred Newman’s conducting and Ken Darby’s scoring) than …

The Rodgers & Hammerstein Collection (The Sound of Music / The King and I / Oklahoma! / South Pacific / State Fair / Carousel) $52.62 RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN BOX SET COLLECT – DVD Movie…

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! (London Stage Revival) $9.01 When Mary Rodgers, daughter of the composer Richard Rodgers, was reported as saying she never wanted to see another Oklahoma!, it was her way of paying the highest tribute to Trevor Nunn’s production at the Royal National Theatre which was subsequently taken into the studio and filmed. The camera follows the playgoers into the auditorium of the Olivier where in their company we watch the show and …

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