Talkin' Broadway Sound Advice Recap 11/25/14

Complete information on all known upcoming releases of theatre related audio and video recordings can be found on our Upcoming Releases page. Recordings released last week and earlier can be viewed here.

This recap is available by email. Join the e-blast list to receive the recaps each week (choose the Sound Advice Weekly Recap interest group).

Earlier recaps:

November 18, 11, 4 | October 28, 21, 14, 7, 1 | September 16, 9, 2 | August 26, 19 | 12 | 5 | July 29, 22, 15, 8, 1 | June 24, 17, 10, 3 | May 27, 20, 13, 6 | April 29, 22, 15, 8, 1 | March 25, 18, 11, 4 | February 25, 11, 18, 11, 4 | January 28, 21, 14, 7, 2014 | 2013


Quick list of all Amazon links for this week.


CDs Now Available:

American Masters: Bing Crosby Rediscovered - The Soundtrack
(Universal - new on CD/iTunes)
Some of Bing Crosby Decca recordings, with radio tracks and film/TV soundtrack excerpts. "I've Got A Pocketful of Dreams" (rehearsal), "Star Dust," "A Fine Romance" (with Dixie Lee), "Medley: Mississippi Mud / I Left My Sugar Standing in the Rain" (with Harry Barris and Al Rinker), "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams" (outtake), "San Fernando Valley," "You're Just in Love" (with Judy Garland), "Moonlight Becomes You," "Sweet Leilani," "Swinging on a Star," "Put it There, Pal" (with Bob Hope), "White Christmas," "It's Been a Long, Long Time" (featuring Les Paul), "Temptation," "Just One More Chance," "The Second Time Around," "The Oldest Established" (with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra), "Now You Has Jazz" (with Louis Armstrong), "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho," "Medley: I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore / I Wish I Were In Love Again" (with Maurice Chevalier), "Where the Blue of the Night" (Meets the Gold of the Day), "I Surrender Dear."

Bing Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook
(Universal - new on CD/iTunes)
Compilation of Decca and radio tracks. "Alexander's Ragtime Band" (with Connee Boswell), "Call Me Up Some Rainy Afternoon," "When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabam'," "When I Lost You," "Tell Me Little Gypsy," "All By Myself," "Always" (with Eugenie Baird), "Let's Start the New Year Right," "Abraham," "Kate (Have I Come Too Early, Too Late?), "Blue Skies (featuring Les Paul), "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm," "I Got the Sun in the Morning," "Easter Parade" (with Trudy Erwin), "Some Sunny Day," "Call of the South" (with Gary Crosby), "Play a Simple Melody" (with Dick Powell), "There's No Business Like Show Business" (with the Andrews Sisters and Dick Haymes), "Puttin' on the Ritz," "A Man Chases a Girl (Until She Catches Him), "The Song is Ended (But the Melody Lingers On), "White Christmas" (with Michael Buble).

Carnival of the Animals
(Fanfare Cincinnati - new on CD/iTunes)
93rd Cincinnati Pops album. Title track by Camille Saint-Saens with a new orchestration by Cincinnati Pops conductor John Morris Russell. Also features the world premiere recording of Waiting for Wings, a musical adaptation of Lois Ehlerts childrens book composed by Jason Robert Brown and Georgia Stitt. "Tuning up," "Carnival of the Animals: I. Introduction and Royal March of the Lion," "Clucks and Cock-a-Doodles," "Carnival of the Animals: II. Hens and Cockerels," "Carnival of the Animals: VI. Kangaroos," "A Trumpeting Trunk," "Carnival of the Animals: V. Elephants," "Carnival of the Animals: VII. Aquarium," "Hee-Haw," "Carnival of the Animals: III. The Donkeys of the Wild," "A Feathered Philharmonic," "Carnival of the Animals: X. Aviary," "Carnival of the Animals: XII. Fossils," "Carnival of the Animals: XIII. The Swan," "Roar!," "Carnival of the Animals: Grand Finale," "Baah-Baah Bacchanale," "Shepherd's Hey," "Divertimento for Orchestra: V. Turkey Trot," "Waiting for Wings Overture," "A Little Night Music," "Nachtigall-Polka, Op. 222," "8 Russian Folksongs, Op. 58: IV. Humorous Song, "I Danced with a Mosquito"," "Pictures at an Exhibition: V. Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks," "Off the Clock," "The Birds, P. 154: V. The Cuckoo," "Tale of Tsar Saltan, Op. 57: Flight of the Bumblebee," "Growl!," "The Wand of Youth Suite No. 2, Op. 1b: VI. The Wild Bears," "Walking the Dog (Promenade)," "The Red Pony Suite: VI. Happy Ending."

Peter Pan Accompaniment CD
(Stage Stars - new on 2 CDs)
Includes two versions of every song, one with guide vocals and one with instrumental accompaniment only, totalling 28 tracks. Tracks 1-14 contain guide vocals; tracks 15-28 contain accompaniment only. This allows the performer to learn a song by singing along with the vocals and music, then to practice their technique accompanied only by the background tracks. All Stage Stars albums are re-recorded by actors and actresses and are in the original show keys and tempos. Two versions of each: "Tender Shepherd," "I've Gotta Crow," "Never Never Land," "I'm Flying," "Pirate March," "Hook's Tango," "Wendy," "Tarantella," "Oh, My Mysterious Lady," "I Won't Grow Up," "Ugg-A-Wugg," "Distant Melody," "Captain Hook's Waltz," "Finale."


DIGITAL DOWNLOADs Now Available:

Ellen Greene: Songs for a Winter's Night
(new digital album/iTunes)
Ellen Greene with Christian Klikovits, on piano, cellist Stephen Erdody, Sara Parkins on violin, Sarah Thornblade on violin, Brian Dembow on viola, David Washburn on trumpet, Steve Becknell on French horn, Eric Rittner on bass and Tim Mcintyre on drums as well as a choir. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "Santa Baby," "Angels We Have Heard On High," "Christmas Time Is Here," "Stille Nacht," "Wintersong (For My Donn), "Universal Child," "Angel," "Suite Francaise, Op 114: Chanson D'Alsace" (with Christian Klikovits), "Song for a Winter's Night," "Morning Has Broken," "Let It Be Me / The Christmas Song." Album-only bonus tracks: "The Lives of Me," "Kol Nidre / Marry Me a Little." Sample clips, individual tracks and digital album available at CD Baby.


DVD/Blu-Rays Now Available:

All My Sons
(Universal Vault/Amazon - new on DVD-R)
1948 film adaptation of Arthur Miller play. Burt Lancaster, Edward G. Robinson, Mady Christians, Louisa Horton, Howard Duff, Frank Conroy, Lloyd Gough, Arlene Francis, Harry Morgan, Elisabeth Fraser. Directed by Irving Reis. Black & white. 95 minutes. See all of the Universal Vault series here

Billy Elliot The Musical Blu-ray
(Universal Pictures - new Blu-ray/DVD)
Live recording of West End production. The production stars Matteo Zecca, Mitchell Tobin, Bradley Perret, Elliott Hanna, Ruthie Henshall and Deka Walmsley. 160 minutes. Pre-ordering at Amazon UK.

Goin' to Town
(Universal Vault/Amazon - new DVD-R)
1938 musical film. Includes songs by Sammy Fain. Mae West, Paul Cavanagh, Gilbert Emery. Directed by Alexander Hall. Black & white. 71 minutes. See all of the Universal Vault series here

High, Wide and Handsome
(Universal Vault/Amazon - new on DVD-R)
1937 musical western film. Randolph Scott, Irene Dunne, Dorothy Lamour. Songs by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II (screenplay). Directed by Rouben Mamoulian. Black & white. 105 minutes. See all of the Universal Vault series here


BOOKs Now Available:

Blue-Collar Broadway: The Craft and Industry of American Theater
(Univ of Pennsylvania Press - Hardcover Book)
By Timothy R. White. The history of craft and industry in American theater, including scenery, costumes, lights, etc. From pre-Broadway years to current day. Includes case studies of Oklahoma! (1943) and Evita (1979), and an exploration of the craftwork of radio, television, and film production around Times Square. 288 pages. Kindle edition coming December 5.

Charles Walters: The Director Who Made Hollywood Dance (Screen Classics)
(Univ Press of Kentucky - Hardcover Book)
By Brent Phillips. First full-length biography of the man who staged many iconic musical scenes in films of the golden age. From his days as a featured Broadway performer and protégé of Robert Alton to his successes at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Behind the scenes of many of the studio's most beloved musicals, including Easter Parade, Lili (1953), High Society and The Unsinkable Molly Brown. Also, accounts of his associations with Lucille Ball, Joan Crawford, and Gloria Swanson; the director's uncredited work on several films, including Gigi; and his contributions to musical theater and American popular culture. Also considers Walters's personal life and explores how he navigated the industry as an openly gay man. Draws on unpublished oral histories, correspondence, and new interviews. 344 pages.

Judi Dench: Behind the Scenes
(Weidenfeld & Nicolson - Hardcover Book)
By Dame Judi Dench. Fully updated and expanded edition of her first photograph album Scenes from My Life, published in 2005. Personal take on her life and career, showing her off stage as well as on: in the wings, off sets, in dressing rooms and happily larking about. Illustrated with photographs from her own collections. Introduction by John Miller. 272 pages.

Ming Cho Lee: A Life in Design
(TCG - new Paperback Book)
By Arnold Aronson. Personal and professional history of National Medal of Arts and Tony Award recipient, theatrical designer Lee, chronicling three hundred productions. Aronson spent hundreds of hours interviewing Lee at his legendary New York apartment. The book is both a study of and a conversation with Ming Cho Lee. Each image selected for this book was chosen personally by Lee from thousands of photos, drawings, sketches, renderings and models, all carefully cataloged by Lee's wife and lifelong archivist, Betsy. 336 pages.


Recordings RECENTLY MADE AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER:

I've Been Played: Alysha Umphress Swings Jeff Blumenkrantz
(Yellow Sound Label - new on CD)
Alysha Umphress (On the Town) sings original jazz songs and arrangements by Jeff Blumenkrantz. "Two Cents," "Why Can't I Kiss You?," "I Don't Need Anything But You," "I've Been Played," "Mayday! M'Aider!," "Time Does Not Bring Relief," "Celebrate," "Steal Away," "Spring Is Here/Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most," "Man in the Moon," "You Are Never Away/Ten Minutes Ago," "Giving Thanks," "You Smell So Good."

Stars of David: Story to Song
(Yellow Sound Label - new on CD)
World premiere recording of musical song cycle based on Abigail Pogrebin's non-fiction book. Conceived by Aaron Harnick (book by Charles Busch). Songs by William Finn, Tom Kitt, Duncan Sheik, Sheldon Harnick, Jeanine Tesori, Michael Friedman, Marilyn & Alan Bergman, Amanda Green, Nathan Tysen & Chris Miller, Susan Birkenhead, and Marvin Hamlisch. Alex Brightman, Janet Metz, Alan Shmuckler, Aaron Serotsky, Brad Oscar, Joanna Glushak, Donna Vivino. "Stars of David," "Yitzy Magence," "As If I Weren't There," "Lenny the Great," "High Holy Days," "Music to My Ears," "Smart People," "Balance," "Book of Norman," "Who Knew Jew," "The Darkening Blue," "Broken Pieces," "Just Be Who You Are," "Horrible Seders," "The Women Who Had No Names," "L'Dor V'Dor/Finale."