Customer Reviews

The Best of Broadway

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Take one look at the songs included on "The Best of Broadway" and you would have to be impressed. The twist here is that these songs are sung by the Broadway Kids, a group of young singers with enthusiastic voices that simply put most of us to shame. This album features songs from over a dozen different musicals, from "Cats" to "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." About half of these songs were actually for youngsters to sing on stage, such as "Castle On A Cloud" and "Little People" from "Les Miserables" and the trio of songs from "Annie." But these youngsters with their dynamic voices also take on more adult fare, like "I Feel Pretty" from "West Side Story" and the title song from "Hair." The ensemble numbers have high energy and as long as your children are not totally intimidated by these voices, "The Best of Broadway" is a nice way of introducing them to Broadway Musicals. The idea would be to get them hooked on this way and the Broadway Kid's other albums first, and then play them "Oliver!" or "Damn Yankees." Recognizing a few of the songs may well give them a leg up on learning to love the entire musical score.

I bought this CD for my 4 year-old because, for some time, I have wanted to introduce her to one of my greatest passions--the Broadway Song--in a kid friendly, unintimidating way. The Broadway Kids do just that. The children featured have all been cast in Broadway shows, hence the name. Here they sing a wide variety of the most popular Broadway songs, especially those from shows geared for kids like "Annie", "Oliver!", "Peter Pan" and "Charlie Brown". My daughter loves hearing their young voices and since I love to sing to her, she wants to learn to do it herself. My little one sings all over the house now thanks to this CD. The children are naturally gifted and their beautiful voices make listening to this CD a joy. You won't be disappointed.

My 4 1/2 year old daughter loves this CD. We listin to it everyday in the car. It is fun having music we both enjoy listening too.

I bought this CD for my 4 year-old because, for some time, I have wanted to introduce her to one of my greatest passions--the Broadway Song--in a kid friendly, unintimidating way. The Broadway Kids do just that. The children featured have all been cast in Broadway shows, hence the name. Here they sing a wide variety of the most popular Broadway songs, especially those from shows geared for kids like "Annie", "Oliver!", "Peter Pan" and "Charlie Brown". My daughter loves hearing their young voices and since I love to sing to her, she wants to learn to do it herself. My little one sings all over the house now thanks to this CD. The children are naturally gifted and their beautiful voices make listening to this CD a joy. You won't be disappointed.

When my child was only a few months old I noticed that she smiled joyfully whenever I would sing show tunes to her. I bought this CD because I didn't know most of the words to the songs and figured I could gleen them from the recording. Instead she absolutely loves the CD and I can sing along with it which gives her even more joy.
It is a delightful recording offering the best of Annie, Oliver, and the Sound of Music, among others. I highly recommend this for children. It is easy to sing along with and Broadway plays are a great way to start introducing culutre to your kids without them rebelling against it. So much fun!!!

These kids show so much enthusiasm at such a young age! I'm only 13 and I think many of these kids who are younger than me know exactly what they want to do with their futures. Many of the kids on the Broadway Kids Albums have gone on to do big things! Many of these kids, for example Greg Raposo (he sings Hair on the album), have gone onto bigger music careers while others became actors or actresses. These kids show so much knowledge of the buisness and they are all very talented!!

My kids love this CD, and it's not as annoying for adults to listen to in the car as a lot of music for kids.

I first saw this CD on a commercial...you know..1-800 commercials. Anyway, my mom got it for me at Tower Records. I started to love every minute of it. It was awesome! Now I have deeply researched a couple of those kids, and they have been in hits like The Lion King, Les Miserables, Beauty and Beast, and more. No wonder they have good voices!

Every star (or group) has a gimmick, and here it's the age of the performers. That still doesn't excuse the low-quality and forgettable nature of this disc. It's a good introduction to Broadway for children under the age of 10, but for children older than that, it's just setting a bad example.

There are a lot of kids around the age of these children (12-15, I think) who have much more mature voices, and would have done a much better job with this CD. Some of the songs, such as Castle on a Cloud and the songs from Oliver and Annie, fare all right because they were written for young kids with these kind of belty voices. However, songs like "I Feel Pretty" and "Seasons of Love" call for more mature, grown-up voices.

However, if these kids were all in the 9-12 age range, I would excuse the juvenile voices. The part that frightens me is that these children all sound like 10-year-olds when some of them are actually as old as 15. I fear that the young voices on this CD have been ruined by too much vocal training, too early. There's a reason why good voice teachers won't train students until they are 11-12--it can destroy a voice to start before that. I shudder to think of what these kids will sound like in a few years. You want an example? Look at the early casts of "Annie."

I imagine any music teacher would be ecstatic to have all of these talented kids in one class. I doubt if there is any regular school that could assemble this number of skilled and gifted youngsters for a performance. Bottom line, though: these kids are still kids; and they can't deliver the nuance and impact of older performers. While I wish these young people well, I didn't hear enough great moments on this production to make me want to go out and buy more of their CD's.