To many people, musicals are timeless masterpieces. While Broadway is far from South Florida and tickets prices for musicals can send a semester’s worth of tuition plummeting down the drain, the original cast recording of a musical, be it from the London, Broadway or elsewhere, will make you feel as if you’re in the prime box seats in the theater.
A good musical soundtrack must convey a story’s plot, even to listeners who’ve never seen the show. Fortunately, there are many original cast recordings that will have you “singin’ in the rain,” anytime and anywhere. You can even listen in for free, on websites like YouTube and Grooveshark.
“Les Misérables,”
A retelling of Victor Hugo’s classic 19th century novel of the same name, “Les Mis” tells a story of life, liberty and redemption during the June Rebellion in Paris. The production made its way from the stages of London to Broadway after achieving high acclaim.
The overture begins with kettle drums and horns reminiscent of an impending battle between the poor and the bourgeoisie while hammers and anvils cleverly keep the beat. Jean Valjean — labeled prisoner 24601 by his nemesis detective Javert in the powerful opening number, “Look Down” — is the show’s main character, who was unjustly imprisoned for 19 years. Now on parole, he confesses his intentions to turn his life around in the moving climatic number of Act 1 with “What have I done?,” sung by acclaimed Irish tenor Colm Wilkinson in the original 1987 Broadway cast recording.
The heartwarming and tragic soundtrack is filled with powerful ballads like “I Dreamed a Dream” and “Bring Him Home,” as well as riveting anthems like “One Day More” and “Do You Hear the People Sing?” You’ll be chanting the songs of revolutionaries long after you put the iPod away.
“Phantom of the Opera”
From the depths of the Paris opera house comes a thrilling musical about a disfigured genius whose love for resident soprano Christine Daaé is unattainable due to his facial deformity. Outcast from society, the Phantom, as the opera house denizens call him, is forced to inhabit the lower levels of the opera house in “darkness deep as hell,” as expressed in the suspenseful finale song “Down Once More.”
A stage adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s 20th century novel of the same name, “Phantom” was adapted for the stage by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricists Richard Stilgoe and Charles Hart. Featuring a 100-piece orchestra, the original 1986 London soundtrack begins with the macabre sounds of a majestic and haunting cathedral-like organ accompanied by thrashing timpanis, horns and strings. A light and airy duet featuring Christine and her childhood best friend Raoul in “Think of Me” is one of the more beautiful songs on the soundtrack as the two characters look back on their shared childhood.
The soundtrack immediately takes a sinister turn, when the rock-infused and operatic titular song begins as the phantom whisks Christine away into the lower levels of the opera house. The soundtrack includes several notable arias, including “Wishing You Were Here Again,” in which Christine reminisces about her father as she walks through a graveyard to visit his tomb. Toward the end of the soundtrack, Christine and the Phantom sing the quasi tango, “Point of No Return.” As the soundtrack comes to a close, other numbers include, “Track Down this Murderer,” in which the Phantom, Christine and Raoul sing a legendary dramatic trio. This leads to an epic and unexpected conclusion to an intriguing story, and listeners will have no qualms about listening to the whole thing over and over again.
“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”
A musical by Frank Loesser, “How to Succeed” recently made its way back to the stage, starring a slew of famous young actors, including Daniel Radcliffe and Nick Jonas. However, the original 1961 cast recording still goes uncontended. This big band musical tells the story of J. Pierrepont Finch, a window washer for World Wide Wicket, a large New York corporation. He gets his hands on a how-to book and treats it as his bible as he slowly makes his way up the business ladder and eventually becomes the chief executive director of the company.
This hilarious comedy spoofs what it takes to make it big in capitalist America. The musical mocks the 9-to-5 worker in the song “Coffee Break” where workers are reduced to shells of their former selves upon hearing that there’s no more coffee in the building. In a later number, “A Secretary is Not a Toy,” the secretaries satirically warn their employees that they are not to be “wound by key or pulled by string” and are to be respected. “I Believe in You,” is a suave, smooth jazz number that Finch sings to himself in the mirror for self-inspiration after almost bringing the company to ruin. Other significant numbers include, “Brotherhood of Man,” the jazziest and arguably the funniest number in the soundtrack, which will transport you back to the 70s. If you love a good laugh, this musical soundtrack is the one for you, even if you aren’t into jazz.
“Miss Saigon”
From the same composers as “Les Mis”, “Miss Saigon” depicts the Vietnam War through the eyes of Kim, an orphan and a bargirl, who falls in love with Chris, an American soldier. This musical, which is a modernized version of Puccini’s tragic opera, “Madame Butterfly,” has a mesmerizing overture featuring hypnotic gongs, kettledrums and even a live helicopter, astutely woven into the orchestral score.
Notable numbers include “The Movie in My Mind” in which showgirls sing about what it would be like to live in America, saying that their children will “laugh all day and eat too much ice cream.” A haunting all-male chorus in “The Morning of the Dragon” in the first half of the soundtrack is a powerful piece that retells the Fall of Saigon in 1975 and foreshadows the musical’s ending. The soundtrack is saturated with tear-jerking numbers, “This is the Hour,” and “The Wedding Ceremony,” and captivating performances by Salonga and Keith Burns, who plays Thuy, Kim’s betrothed. The soundtrack ends with a confrontation involving Kim, Chris, and Chris’ wife Ellen in “The Confrontation” and the show ends with a bang — not the good kind.
