The Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) March 16, 2018 4-CD release of "Andrew Lloyd Webber Unmasked: The Platinum Collection" aptly celebrates the 70th birthday of a good friend of friends of Dorothy (and the rest of the world) by being of a scale that almost equals the tremendous (in both senses of the word) body of work by this living legend of both Broadway and the West End. It is equally cool that "Unmasked" comes to life at the legendary Abbey Road Studios.
One cannot imagine any other compilation to be diverse enough to include a cast of 100s that ranges from Beyonce and the cast of "Glee" to Donny Osmond and Elvis. This is not to mention early soft-rockers The Everly Brothers, hard rocker Alice Cooper, and virtually every Broadway notable in even not-so-recent memory.
A sin of omission that warrants a slap on the wrist reflects the curse of these grand undertakings. Any effort to provide a "best of" inevitably bothers some by excluding a favorite. That offense in this case is seemingly not including ANY recordings that put star of stage, film, and television Betty Buckley in the spotlight. Her work arguably merits inclusion more than that of the "Glee" kids.
Not only is recent "Split" star Buckley a tremendous musical theater talent, she is a real trouper. The story of her Broadway stardom involves flying from Los Angeles to New York auditions on weekends during her tenure filming the family dramcom "Eight is Enough." Only having Tommy and the Action backing her up would have enhanced this story.
Turning the tables, this obvious labor of love by UMe does a much better job honoring Webber than this review can hope to regarding this release. The apt total of 70 compositions is too overwhelmingly for meaningful discussion but deserve a decent effort.
At the outset, the scope of the shows runs from "Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" (mostly featuring Osmond) to the more recent creation "The School of Rock." The treatment of "Evita" arguably is the most cool in that it includes selections from the stage play, the Madonna film, the album, and a segment on the the Fox dramedy "Glee."
Disc One starts things well with a strong blend of opening numbers and many other popular songs from classics that include "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Evita," "Phantom of the Opera," "Cats," and (personal fave) "Sunset Boulevard." This aptly opens with "Superstar" from "Superstar," produces the aforementioned solid melange, and concludes with classic fan fave "I Don't Know How to Love Him" also from "Superstar."
Disc 4 can be considered a bonus in that it largely consists of overtures and orchestrations of other music from Webber musicals.
All of this comes in a sturdy hardcover book with a gracious note from Webber, detailed liner notes for every song, and written tributes from some of the aforementioned musical greats.
The bigger picture that makes the shows and "Unmasked" succeed is that Webber has fantastic visions that he successfully conveys to his casts and others who sing his compositions; these folks in turn do a great job getting the audience swept up in the spirit of these epics. Very few composers in any genre have comparable talent.
Anyone with questions or comments regarding "Unmasked" is strongly encouraged either to email me or to connect on Twitter via @tvdvdguy.
No comments:
Post a Comment