Legends of Broadway (Dig)

Angela Lansbury (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 26, 2006)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony Classics
• ASIN: B000KHX7A8
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #89,188 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Parade in Town [From Anyone Can Whistle]

2. It's Today [From Mame]

3. If He Walked into My Life [From Mame]

4. I Don't Want to Know [From Dear World]

5. Kiss Her Now [From Dear World]

6. And I Was Beautiful [From Dear World]

7. Some People [From Gypsy]

8. Small World [From Gypsy]

9. You'll Never Get Away from Me [From Gypsy]

10. Everything's Coming Up Roses [From Gypsy]

11. Rose's Turn [From Gypsy]

12. The Worst Pies in London [From Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Stre

13. Wait [From Sweeney Todd, The DeMon Barber of Fleet Stree]

14. A Little Priest [From Sweeney Todd, The DeMon Barber of Fleet Stree]

15. By the Sea [From Sweeney Todd, The DeMon Barber of Fleet Stree]

16. Not While I'm Around [From Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Stre

Editorial Reviews

16 songs from Broadway's Anyone Can Whistle - Dear World -0 Mame - Gypsy - Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars bravo, Angela!, April 12, 2010

By 

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

This review is from: Legends of Broadway (Dig) (Audio CD)

Free-wheeling flapper Mame Dennis... Countess Aurelia, "the madwoman of Chaillot"... Cannibalistic meat pie cook Mrs Lovett... The ultimate stage harridan Mama Rose...

Those stage characters could hardly be more unique, yet they are all tied to the same amazing performer...Angela Lansbury.

Broadway Legend is a tough title to live up to, but ever since Lansbury's first appearance on the New York stage in Sondheim's nine-performance wonder ANYONE CAN WHISTLE in 1964, it's a moniker that's been carried with grace and humility by this most beloved performer. If ANYONE CAN WHISTLE was Lansbury's baptism by fire, then it was the role of MAME in Jerry Herman's smash hit 1966 musical that cemented her status as the reigning leading lady of Broadway musical comedy. Although Lansbury had been a jobbing Hollywood actress since the early 1940's with such hits as "Gaslight", "The Manchurian Candidate" and "National Velvet" under her belt, no-one was quite prepared for how beautifully defined her musical skills were (she was actually dubbed for one of her rare MGM musical roles in "The Harvey Girls"!). MAME was and remains one of the most demanding roles you could ever hope of playing; and although the original run boasted a fine roster of replacements in the role (Jane Morgan, Celeste Holm and Janis Paige among them), Lansbury's Tony Award-winning performance is yet to be equalled.

Three years later, Angela reunited with MAME tunesmith Jerry Herman for what they hoped would be an even bigger hit, DEAR WORLD, a musical version of the French classic "The Madwoman of Chaillot". It ran only four months, in stark contrast to steamroller MAME, which still had a year to go in New York. Still, Lansbury enchants with her bittersweet performance, briefly sampled on this CD with "And I Was Beautiful", "Kiss Her Now" and "I Don't Want to Know".

In the early 1970s, Lansbury traveled to London to play Mama Rose in GYPSY, a production which subsequently toured America, playing a limited six-month season on Broadway in 1974. The role of Cockney meat pie maker Mrs Lovett in Sondheim's SWEENEY TODD came in 1979. The darkly humourous musical thriller stretched Lanbury's musical skills in unexpected directions; suddenly she was singing in a higher soprano register and grappling demanding songs like "The Worst Pies in London", and "By the Sea". She reprised her role for the national tour, which was filmed live and released on home video.

As of this review's writing, the seemingly indefatiguable Lansbury has made yet another memorable appearance on Broadway, playing the wry Madame Armfeldt in Trevor Nunn's stripped-back revival of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (cast album recently released on the Nonesuch label). One of the last great figures from the golden age of the Broadway musicals. This compilation CD is a nice tribute.

For ease of collecting, this disc features tracks drawn from the following albums:
Anyone Can Whistle (1964 Original Broadway Cast)
Dear World (1969 Original Broadway Cast)
Gypsy (1973 Original London Cast)
Mame (1966 Original Broadway Cast)
Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979 Original Broadway Cast)