Ballroom (1979 Original Broadway Cast) [Cast Recording]

Billy Goldenberg (Artist), Alan Bergman (Artist), Marilyn Bergman (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 24, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000025FD
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #143,918 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #35 in Music > Pop > Easy Listening > Ballroom Dance

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A gentle, wistful musical, December 18, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Ballroom (1979 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

After the phenomenal success and acclaim of A CHORUS LINE (1975), the late director/choreographer Michael Bennett did what the true genius so often seems to: he switched tack entirely and came up with BALLROOM, a gentle, wistful musical from 1979 that has as its central characters two "ordinary" people in the autumn of their lives meeting by chance and falling in love. It's hard to imagine a world more removed from the glitzy grind portrayed in A CHORUS LINE. Sadly, the show never found much of an audience and closed after a little over 100 performances.

Based on a TV movie, BALLROOM was written for the stage by Jerome Kass, with music by Billy Goldenberg and lyrics from the famed team of Alan & Marilyn Bergman. The score has a couple of outstanding songs, with a few more-than-useful ones, though there is a curious stylistic division on the recording: some numbers, reflecting their place in the structure of the musical, are really only background, commentary, pieces. The dramatic numbers, on the other hand, in which characters "speak" are the real highlights - and a performer of Dorothy Loudon's class makes them truly memorable. The show produced a single standard: "Fifty Percent". When Miss Loudon, with a heartrending blend of smile and tears in her voice, sings it, insisting that she'd sooner have half a love than none at all, it's plain that this deeply-felt work delivers no easy answers. Choreography can't be preserved on a CD of course, but the sincerity and originality of Bennett's vision, I think, do infuse the recording.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Old tunes, old cast, touching stories., March 23, 2003

By 

S. McCasland "Playwright and Director" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ballroom (1979 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

A touching love story told by the incredible old-timers of theater in their golden years. Dorothy Loudon soars. Buy it for "Fifty Percent" if for anything. The song makes me wrench and it will make you sob too. Buy it for that. Buy it for her. Buy it for the music that makes you want to dance.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars under-rated musical masterpiece, September 30, 2002

By 

Byron Kolln (the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Ballroom (1979 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

BALLROOM is a fantastic musical. It has a huge cult following by Michael Bennett fans and Broadway musical-lovers alike. The score is an exciting blend of old-fashioned waltzes combined with the pulsating rhythms of the 70's disco scene.

The story concerns Bea Asher (Dorothy Loudon - who also created the role of Miss Hannigan in the original cast of ANNIE), who, after losing her husband, discovers a new life at a dingy ballroom in the Bronx. There, she meets Alfred Rossi (Vincent Gardenia), a married man, whom she begins to have a love affair with. Bea knows that she will never truly 'have' Alfred for herself, but is more than willing to play second-fiddle even if her pride is what takes the fall.

The music is gorgeous; as with other "concept musicals", most of the songs have nothing to do with the plot, and most are sung by the singers at the ballroom (played by Lynn Roberts and Bernie Knee). Stand-outs in the score are "Dreams", "I Love to Dance", "A Terrific Band and a Real Nice Crowd", "Somebody Did All Right for Herself", and - the real show-stopper - "Fifty Percent", sung for all its worth by Dorothy Loudon.

A beautiful score and musical; ripe for rediscovery.