Find out about upcoming Musical related cd and dvd releases!!!

Posted: 5/22/03 at 4:14pm

Here's a website that I always attend when i want to find out all the new releases coming up like:

*Grease II DVD!
*Take Me Out Libretto
*Fiddler on the Roof, Hello Dolly, Oliver (Deluxe ed. CD)
*Passion (Sondeheim, Michael Ball, Marin Mazzie DVD)
*Summer of '42 Libretto (Hunter Foster's show)
*All That Jazz (DVD w/ extras)

and oh, so much more....

Talkingbroadway Upcoming Releases

Posted: 5/22/03 at 4:18pm

Don't miss this anecdote on the same website -- go to Talking Broadway page.

[kec]

Posted: 5/22/03 at 4:24pm

It's my understanding that the DVD is from the Broadway production, not the London production. Which means, unfortunately, that Michael Ball will NOT be on this dvd.

Posted: 5/22/03 at 4:28pm

You're correct, I'm sorry it is not Michael Ball, but Marin Mazzie and Tony Winner Donna Murphy.

[Mac in Laguna]

Posted: 5/22/03 at 5:00pm

Try as I have I still can not get a connection to the Passion CD. I have tried on different occassions to listen to the whole CD and always end up getting bored, hoping for a "big number" or a song that stands out in my memory.
Has anyone seen this production, and if so can you give me a clearer view of what I can not see/hear?...
I will watch for the DVD as another chance to enjoy this work.

Posted: 5/22/03 at 5:18pm

well... it is pretty slow, but the dvd/vhs presentation is very elegant, and exquisitely passionate. You also get to witness Donna Murphy's tony award winning turn as the ill fated Fosca that makes it worth your time. A simplistic plot, yet intricate sondheim score. Try it...

[kec]

Posted: 5/22/03 at 5:21pm

I haven't seen it, but I have listened to the London Cast CD several times, and have enjoyed it. I find the song No One has Ever Loved Me to be very powerful. Loving You is a very beautiful song as well. The first time I heard it was when Michael Ball sang it in concert last summer near London. I had just recently become a fan of his, so was unfamiliar with much of his work prior to seeing him in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and knew nothing about Passion. I've since heard Michael say that Loving You is one of the most beautiful love songs ever written. He even "chastised" :) Stephen Sondheim once for writing the best songs for women!

[Mac in Laguna]

Posted: 5/22/03 at 5:30pm

Thanks for the positive feed-back, I will search my stacks and give it another full listen.

[Rypm25]

Posted: 5/22/03 at 5:31pm

I saw Passion in previews on Broadway when it came out, I was still in high school, and didn't know much about sondheim at the time, just that i loved Sweeney Todd and Into The Woods. That was all I knew, and hearing a new SS musical was coming, I had to be there. I remember being bored to tears. It was slow, boring, confusing and the songs weren't that great to me. A few of the songs were ok, but at the time in the playbill, there was no song list. So I couldnt even tell you that I liked "such and such" song because there were no song listings. I also remember the audience many times towards the last half of the show laughing out loud at parts where there were no laughs at all, especially when Donna Murphy followed the soldier onto the train. Perhaps I was too young and maybe now would appreciate it more, but I have yet to return to cd/video to find out.

[ChrisLovesShows]

Posted: 5/22/03 at 6:31pm

Mac, don't feel bad. I bought the CD early in 2002 in anticipation of seeing the show performed that summer at the Kennedy Center's Sondheim Celebration in DC. I struggled through my first attempts to listen to the whole CD, getting bored and turning it off. Fortunately the Kennedy Center production was reveting, mostly due to the wonderful acting of the leads, Judy Kuhn and Michael Cerveris. I have several friends who hated the Broadway version but who enjoyed the Kennedy Center show. It is a "challenging" show for sure!

Posted: 5/22/03 at 6:45pm

Passion's supposed to make a comeback this summer with Lupone as Fosca, and Audra Macdonald! woah!!

[kec]

Posted: 5/23/03 at 1:24am

Mac, the cd you have -- is it the London Cast recording?

[jo]

Posted: 5/23/03 at 1:48am

A few others to look forward to --

*Oklahoma - London version ( except I don't understand why it is to be released only on VHS format...a DVD version would be much better)
*Sweeney Todd DVD ( Angela Lansbury, George Hearn, etc)
*Hugh Jackman solo CD ( not to be confused with the cast recording of The Boy from Oz).

And of course, I also look forward to the DVD version of Passion, even if I have the VHS and had seen the show several times in London ( longer than the Broadway version)... I like the music - it actually grows on you. Like most Sondheim - it may take a bit of time to discover its innate elegance. This must be his most romantic composition.

Try getting the London version of the CD - Michael Ball and Maria Friedman are great to listen to.

jo