For Immediate Release
First Time On CD!
Candide, The King And I, My Fair Lady, South Pacific
FOUR CLASSIC BROADWAY MUSICALS
SING AGAIN IN ESSENTIAL STEREO REVIVAL RECORDINGS
FROM THE MASTERWORKS BROADWAY CATALOGUE
DIGITALLY REMASTERED FOR THEIR CD DEBUT
CDs IN STORES AUGUST 29, 2006
Giorgio Tozzi, Ian Richardson, George Rose
Among The Stars Of These Long-Unavailable Recordings
A quartet of legendary Broadway musicals - Candide, The King and I,
My Fair Lady and South Pacific - gets a fresh airing in Masterworks
Broadway's restoration of four essential cast recordings never before
been issued on CD. Originally recorded in stereo and each a more
complete representation of the show than its original cast recording,
the four Masterworks Broadway titles have been remastered for this
release from original analogue source tapes using Sony's Direct
Stream Digital (DSD) System and SBM Direct to achieve the best in
restored sound. Candide, The King and I, My Fair Lady and South
Pacific will be in stores August 29, 2006.
Masterworks Broadway is a new imprint of Sony BMG Masterworks,
showcasing the label's commitment to the great music of Broadway past
and present. Masterworks Broadway will explore the riches of its
combined catalogue of show recordings, originally made for RCA/BMG
Classics and Columbia/CBS Masterworks/Sony Classical, in addition to
recordings of new musical productions, such as the current hit The
Wedding Singer, the upcoming revival of A Chorus Line and a deluxe
10th-anniversary edition of Chicago.
All four recordings have been repackaged with original cover art, and
each booklet is illustrated with rarely seen session photos from the
Sony BMG Archives.
The two Rodgers and Hammerstein titles - The King and I and South
Pacific - are recordings of lavish Music Theater of Lincoln Center
revivals, which were cast and supervised by Richard Rodgers himself in
1964 and 1967, respectively. Original cast recordings of both shows
predated stereo recording, so these are the only stereo theatrical
recordings that directly reflect Rodgers' famously specific ideas
about how the scores should sound.
For South Pacific - a recording produced by Edward Kleban, who would
later become the lyricist of A Chorus Line - the composer cast the
operatic bass Giorgio Tozzi for the role of Emile de Becque (Tozzi
"ghosted" the songs for actor Rossano Brazzi on the soundtrack of
the 1958 film version) and, as the irrepressible Ensign Nellie Forbush,
Broadway veteran Florence Henderson, shortly before she entered the
pop-culture pantheon as the mom on TV's The Brady Bunch.
The CD release of The King and I includes a brief track - "Western
People Funny" - that was recorded at the original sessions but
McGavin headline as Anna and the King of Siam, with richly sung
supporting performances by Tony winner Patricia Neway (The Sound of
Music) as Lady Thiang, Lee Venora as Tuptim and Frank Porretta as Lun
Tha. This musically impeccable interpretation - led by Stevens'
gracious Anna and McGavin as a powerful but less domineering King than
Yul Brynner - might well be taken as Rodgers' final word on the
show.
The Candide recording captures the uproarious energy - dialogue as
well as musical numbers - of director Harold Prince's iconoclastic
reinterpretation of this problematic musical, first staged in Brooklyn
in 1973 and transferred to Broadway the following year for a lengthy
run that resulted in five Tony Awards and a special citation from the
New York Drama Critics Circle. With its cheerfully profane new book,
some fresh Stephen Sondheim lyrics and zesty orchestrations, this
Candide is a radical but hugely entertaining departure from the much
grander original production, featuring infectious performances from
Mark Baker, Maureen Brennan, Lewis J. Stadlen and June Gable.
The 1976 recording of Broadway's 20th anniversary revival of My Fair
Lady gives a new lease on life to a show inevitably haunted by the
voices of Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews and Stanley Holloway on the
original cast recordings from New York and London. Christine Andreas,
who is currently starring in the national tour of The Light in the
Piazza, had her breakthrough on Broadway as Eliza Doolittle in this
production, opposite Ian Richardson's distinctive Henry Higgins and
George Rose's Tony-winning portrayal of Alfred P. Doolittle. The
sumptuous recording includes "The Embassy Waltz," which did not
make the cut on either of the show's original cast recordings.
Sony Classical, RCA Red Seal and deutsche harmonia mundi are labels of
SONY BMG MASTERWORKS. For e-mail updates and information regarding RCA
Red Seal, Sony Classical and deutsche harmonia mundi artists,
promotions, tours and repertoire, please visit
www.sonybmgmasterworks.com.
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CONTACT: cinemediapromo@yahoo.com
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