Cast Albums Blog

Month Archive:  November 2020

REVIEW: If The Fates Allow: A Hadestown Holiday Album


Recording Cover

“Oh, my love, we’ve had our share of tears / Oh, my friends, we’ve had our hopes and fears / Oh, my friends, it’s been a long hard year / But now it’s Christmas / Yes, it’s Christmas / Thank God it’s Christmas”

Those are the poignant lyrics that open If The Fates Allow: A Hadestown Holiday Album, released by Broadway Records on November 20, 2020. This song, originally by Queen, here superbly arranged and orchestrated by Todd Sickafoose, is the anthem we all so sorely need this year. By the end of the track, I was tearing up, and happy that I broke my no holiday music before December 1 rule. In a tumultuous year of ups and, let’s face it, mostly downs, If The Fates Allow: A Hadestown Holiday Album is a balm for the soul.

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REVIEW: Anyone Can Whistle - 2020 Studio Cast


Recording Cover

They began recording it in 1997, and it's finally being released next week. If, like me, you've been waiting for JAY's complete studio recording of Anyone Can Whistle for over two decades, you may find it a little difficult to believe you finally have a copy of it in your hands. No need to pinch yourself – yes it's real, and yes, it's really good.

It has a lot to live up to. The show's now-legendary original Broadway cast recording, made the day after the Broadway production closed after a run of just twelve previews and nine performances, is one of those albums that makes you wonder how a show could possibly have failed to find an audience. As heard on that recording, Stephen Sondheim's songs for the show sound dazzlingly original, and they're given warmly characterful (if not always flawlessly sung) performances by the production's trio of stars – Angela Lansbury, Lee Remick, and Harry Guardino, none of whom had previously appeared in a Broadway musical.

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