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Cats: Cast Recordings and Soundtrack (1981-2019)

When Thomas Stearns Eliot died on 4 January, 1965, he had left behind a body of work that included poetry: Prufrock and Other Observations (1917), Poems (1920), The Waste Land (1922), The Hollow Men (1925), Ariel Poems (1925), Ash Wednesday (1930), Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats (1939), Four Quartets (1945), and more. Plays: Sweeney Agonistes (1926), The Rock (1934), Murder in the Cathedral (1935), The Family Reunion (1939), The Cocktail Party (1949), The Confidential Clerk (1953) and The Elder Statesman (1958). Non-fiction: Tradition and the Individual Talent (1920), Selected Essay, 1917-1932 (1932), A Choice of Kipling’s Verse (1941), The Frontiers of Criticism (1956), and more. Thank you, Baron Wikipedia. By May 1981, composer and producer Andrew Lloyd Webber had written scores for musicals including: The Likes of Us (1965, unproduced until 2005), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor® Dreamcoat (1968), Jesus Christ Superstar (1970), Jeeves (1975), and Evita (1976). Three of them
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Walt Disney Feature Animation

With the help of the local second hand stores and other stores, I was able to complete the remainder (or at least most) of my Disney Feature Animation collection. That includes *breathe, we’re going to do this now* Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo (1941), Bambi (1942), Saludos Amigos (1942), The Three Caballeros (1944), Make Mine Music (1946), Fun and Fancy Free (1947), Melody Time (1948), The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949), Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951), Peter Pan (1953), Lady and the Tramp (1955), Sleeping Beauty (1959), 101 Dalmatians (1961), The Sword in the Stone (1963), The Jungle Book (1967), The Aristocats (1970), Robin Hood (1973), The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977, and I will resist mentioning Dad's joke about Winnie the Pooh), The Rescuers (1977), The Fox and the Hound (1981), The Black Cauldron (1985), The Great Mouse Detective (1986), Oliver & Company (1988), The Little Mermaid (1
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Running Back for More

Apologies for my absence from this blog! It's frustrating because I don't want to muck anything up, the info that I'm putting across, and you've really got to concentrate. But dammit, I want to get it right. Mistakes will happen though, and for that I apologize. My aim with this blog is to approach everything from a positive angle. What's the point in that, you're probably wondering, if you're reviewing something? I just feel like I want to take a positive approach. This blog is also a way of writing information down that I'm probably going to forget someday, and I'd like to keep a record of it. So there you have it, Ryan's Reviews, and my latest post! Re: the title, I finally found a copy of the original cast album of Tim Rice's 1983 musical with Stephen Oliver (an Australian composer), "Blondel". The two songs I knew from this were "The Least of my Troubles" and "Running Back for More". It took me a few years b
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Rhinegold: A Musical (1973-2023)

I woke from a dream the other morning and just couldn't get back to sleep. I was dreaming about the cabaret of the musical "Rhinegold" by Jim Steinman and Barry Keating, and somehow I'd been corralled into performing with the cast, singing the opening song "Swimming in the Rhine (And it's Fine)". It went a little something like... actually it went a lot like... because I was able to remember most of the lyrics: "Swimming in the Rhine And it's fine (So very fine) Swimming in the Rhine And it's fine (So very fine) Surging foam and a watery, watery home Guarding our deep sea shrine...” REPEAT. "Rock us O waters Rock us O waters Waft us away on a wave Lull us you waters Waft us away on a wave Lull us you waters Cradle and cuddle us (Away on a wave!) Cradle and cuddle us (Away on a wave!) Riverbed rapture Riverbed rapture we crave...!" Even though this is being sung by the Rhinemaidens, I was singing one of the parts to the song, and I
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Evita: Cast Recordings and Soundtrack (1976-1996)

The sounds of an old movie playing in a cinema somewhere in Buenos Aires, romantic music underneath on the soundtrack, two actors and one of them the future First Lady of Argentina, and then the movie grinds to an abrupt halt. A ruckus breaks out in the crowd, before the announcement is made that the First Lady of Argentina has entered immortality on 26 July 1952. The scene becomes the streets of the Argentinian capitol thronged with masses, mourning the loss of their beloved Evita. The movie version, after a flashback with Eva as a young girl trying to attend her father's funeral, leads to an outburst of symphonic music and choral sounds that is one of the most powerful, heartrending musical moments I've ever heard. A solemn reminder of why I've been a fan of the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber all of these years. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the review for Andrew's fourth musical: "Evita" with lyrics from Tim Rice and direction in its original premiere from H
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By Jeeves: Cast Recordings (1975-1996)

Looking at the discography section of the Jesus Christ Superstar Zone website, there are a whopping forty "Superstar" related albums released by 1975. Let's list them: the Original Concept Recording (1970), 101 Strings (1971), First All American Cast (1971), Henry Mancini & His Orchestra (1971), Kingsway Youth Opera Company (1971), National Rock Opera Company (1971), Nick Ingham (1971), Original Broadway Cast (1971), Percy Faith Orchestra (1971), Pickwick (1971), Sweet Peace (1971), The Living Strings and Living Voices (1971), Alan Caddy Orchestra (1971), Canadian Rock Theatre (1972), First Australian Cast (1972), Ivan Jullien Big Band (1972), Lena-Maria & Sweet Wine (1972), Music For Pleasure (1972), Original Australian Cast (1972), Original Brazilian Cast (1972), Original Danish Cast (1972), Original French Cast (1972), Original London Cast (1972), Original Swedish Cast (1972), Peter Steffen Choir (1972), Roy Meriwether Trio (1972), Studio 70 Orchestra and Choru
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Jesus Christ Superstar: Cast Recordings and Soundtrack (1970-2000)

Andrew Lloyd Webber: composer of some of the most successful musicals of the twentieth century, including "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor® Dreamcoat", "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Evita", "Cats", "The Phantom of the Opera", and more. Tim Rice: lyricist of some of the most successful musicals of the twentieth century: "Joseph", "Superstar", "Evita", "Aladdin", "The Lion King", and more. Their work has been performed by millions of people all around the world for fifty years and counting. On 27 October 1970 they released the original studio recording of their musical "Jesus Christ Superstar" on MCA-UK Records, but let's go back a bit. To the time Tim and Andrew had recorded the 35 minute version of their "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor® Dreamcoat" released by the Norrie Paramor Organization and Decca Records. Now, if I'm not mangling my history here, Tim a
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