Customer Reviews

Legends of Broadway (Dig)

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

 

 

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)