You know it hurts to get out of your cave to write this message: Stephen Sondheim passed away at 91 years old. I know everyone, including myself, already made a dedication to a man who lived 91 years on this planet earth and bestowed to us the beautiful gifts of wonderful lyrics and music.

I'll just copy and paste what I've written over at my Twitter:

RIP Stephen Sondheim

Your music and lyrics brought joy, love, and tears to many a theater arts lover.

I never met Sondheim in my life but his passing feels like we’ve lost a good friend and teacher (look at his masterclasses at Guildhall School of Music & Drama).

Thank you…

Okay, as of late, I haven't been posting much on here due to the fact that I'm on tumblr. Now without further ado, let me say something here:

If you don't have the Classic Arts Showcase channel on your cable network, you can watch the channel on the official site absolutely free!

Yes, enjoy all the classical music goodness for free on your computer.

For those who wants to know where I am these days, I'm located on these two sites now. Both accounts are meant for musical spammage and all and by no means my personal accounts, so here you go:

ichtanzenwill
ichtanzenwill

Feel free to follow! I hope to update this journal one day with more reviews and thoughts!

Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics: Richard Stilgoe and Charles Hart
DVD Info: Cast Albums
Buy The Video: Barnes & Noble (Blu-Ray)|Amazon (Blu-Ray) | Barnes & Noble (DVD w/ exclusive replica of the booklet from the Royal Albert Hall peformance)|Amazon (DVD)

Buy The CD: Barnes & Noble|Amazon


( Review...finally! )

©東宝株式会社

This may be old news but there's a Máté! :D This is going to be fun. :)

Usually I'll post this at hikaru_genji but since Máté is featured, I've figured it's best to post it here at my main musical journal. ;)

There's an Elisabeth Toho production next year with Mate in the role as Death (and as already mentioned in hikaru_genji that Haruno Sumire will take the role of Elisabeth). This will be fun. There's also a Korean Production. Fun fun fun in the world of Elisabeth.

Conductor: John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra: Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique
Buy: Amazon

For a complete outline of the symphony, go here

Written in 1827 as sort of a symphonic love poem to an actress named Harriet Smithson, this is the definitive recording that is really one of a kind. Many people would tell you that this is the recording to get if you're looking for one recording of Symphonie Fantastique. As the cover says, it uses period instruments such as the serpent and the ophicleide in which makes the 5th movement more haunting. Gardiner's conducting is incredible as well as the ORR. Listen to the 2nd, 4th and of course, the 5th movements to witness such incredible power the orchestra has (even by 1993 standards, the recording still holds up).


Definitely be on the lookout for this recording because I highly recommend it.

Lately, my mood is shot (I blame the gray skies). LOL Sorry, wrong journal once again! I have some good news though: this blog is definitely not dead. I have surprises in store and here's what I have planned. Guaranteed that I won't make any promises but here's what I have:

Elisabeth - 1992 cast recording review (in time before the 20th anniversary next year. Might throw in the Essen as well.)

Carmina Burana - Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's 1975 movie with Lucia Popp, Hermann Prey and John Van Kesteren with the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the Münchener Rundfunkorchester lead by Kurt Eichhorn. I might review the 1989 one with Thomas Allen, Kathleen Battle, Frank Lopardo and the Berliner Philarmoniker lead by Seiji Ozawa with the Shin-Yu Chorus of Japan.

(Maybe) Love Never Dies - The Concept Album

Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique with the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique lead by John Eliot Gardiner.

More of my "Musical Differences" segment. Really want to tackle "Phantom of the Opera" and probably add more for "Tanz" and "Elisabeth".

Les Mis - Original 1991 Paris Recording (I might post the complete symphonic recording review too).

The Phantom of the Opera - 25th Anniversary at the Royal Albert Hall

Time can tell when I'll post these (plus some others that isn't listed here). Stay tuned and take care everyone! :)

I'm such a bearer of late news am I? LOL! Regarding the box set in which it contains not only the OLC, Love Never Dies, the programme, the medallion and the DVD but on the OLC (as I was told), there's a surprise inside in which you can legally download one of the international albums, so choose wisely! :) Really good for those who has yet to own the international recordings (some of them being out of print/really hard to find). All good news for Phantom Phans out there. :)

In case one is curious about the recordings that are for download:

The original Canadian cast recording
The original 1988 Japanese cast recording
The original Polish cast recording
The original Hungarian cast recording
The original 2002 Korean cast recording
The original Dutch cast recording
The original Vienna cast recording
The original Swedish cast recording

After having blah days lately both RL and online (opps, wrong journal), this was something that caught my eye: The Phantom Anniversary will be filmed and will be shown in select cinemas. It'll also be on DVD as well on the 2012.

Okay, here we go again but this time with "Tanz der Vampire". I'll be editing/revising/adding things along the way and once again, others are welcome to contribute. :)


( Tanz der Vampire: The Differences )

Longtime folks from Theatre-Musical forums or Livejournal (you know who you are), would remember this. It's still in it's rough draft phase (I'll be editing/revising things here and there) and I still have more additions to add in which others are welcome to contribute. :) I'll do this for other shows whenever I have the chance (I seriously want to sink my teeth into "Tanz der Vampire: The Differences" in which I've been prolonging for quite some time).

( Elisabeth: The Differences )

Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
DVD Info: Cast Albums
Buy: Barnes & Noble|Amazon (Reissue)

More information about the show is here. Despite this video being first presented to the public on The Entertainment Channel on September 12, 1982, this was actually recorded in 1981 around July/August.

Cast:

Sweeney Todd - George Hearn
Mrs. Lovett - Angela Lansbury
Tobias - Ken Jennings
Anthony - Cris Groenendaal
Johanna - Betsy Joslyn
Judge Turpin - Edmund Lyndeck
Beggar Woman - Sara Woods
Beadle - Calvin Remsberg
Pirelli - Sal Mistretta


( Review )

Err...it was actually taped in 1989 but it does contain the 1987 Original Broadway Cast. LOL!

Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
DVD Info: Cast Albums
Buy: Barnes & Noble|Amazon

More information on the show can be found on this synopsis.

Hey! Long time no see everyone! I'm glad to be here in somewhat full form and maybe I'll get rolling on more reviews and stuff along the way in the near future.

Cast:

The Witch: Bernadette Peters
The Baker: Chip Zien
The Baker's Wife: Johanna Gleason
Narrator/Mysterious Man: Tom Aldredge
Red Riding Hood: Danielle Ferland
Wolf/Cinderella's Prince: Robert Westenberg
Rapunzel's Prince: Chuck Wagner
Cinderella: Kim Crosby
Jack: Ben Wright

Wow. That's all I can say about such a brilliant show. I'm glad that it preserved all of the original Broadway cast and the original staging. Seriously, this should be added to everyone's library. Sondheim is love. You can't get more intelligible than what I'm describing here so stick around and read this review.


Now to the review. ( Yes...Review! )

Music: Claude-Michel Schönberg
Lyrics: Alain Boublil (French lyrics)/Herbert Kretzmer (English adaptation)
Album Info: Cast Albums
Buy: Amazon|Barnes & Noble

Cast:

Jean Valjean: Colm Wilkinson
Javert: Roger Allam
Fantine: Patti LuPone
Cosette: Rebecca Caine
Marius: Michael Ball
Eponine: Frances Ruffelle
Enjorlas: David Burt

( Review )

Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics: Charles Hart, Richard Stilgoe
Album Info: Cast Albums
Buy The Complete Recording: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Buy The Highlights Recording: Amazon | Barnes & Noble



Cast:

The Phantom of the Opera: Michael Crawford
Christine: Sarah Brightman
Raoul: Steve Barton

( Review )

Music: Claude-Michel Schönberg
Lyrics: Alain Boublil (French lyrics)/Herbert Kretzmer (English adaptation)
Album Info: Cast Albums
Buy: Amazon|Barnes & Noble

Cast:

Jean Valjean: Colm Wilkinson
Javert: Terrence Mann
Fantine: Randy Graff
Cosette: Judy Kuhn
Marius: David Bryant
Eponine: Frances Ruffelle
Enjorlas: Michael Maguire

Wow. From reviewing cast albums that were from 1997, this one's a surprise to review a cast album from 1987 XD! This recording is still good for being 23 years old and has won a Grammy too (it beat the "Phantom" OLC recording at the time). To be honest, it's hard to pick a definite good recording of the show but for me, I keep coming back to this. This might have to do with the fact that this was the first recording I've heard.

Now to the actual review:

( Review )

Music: Frank Wildhorn
Lyrics: Nan Knighton
Album Info: Cast Albums
Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Musical-Shop

Cast:

Percy Blakeney - Douglas Sills
Marguerite St. Just - Christine Andreas
Chauvelin - Terrence Mann
Armand St. Just - Gilles Chiasson

( Review )

Music: Jim Steinman
Lyrics: Michael Kunze
Album Info: Cast Albums Page
Buy: Musical-Shop | Amazon | Sound Of Music

Cast:

Graf von Krolock: Steve Barton
Sarah: Cornelia Zenz
Alfred: Aris Sas
Professor Abronsious: Gernot Kranner
Herbert: Nik
Chagal: James Sbano
Rebecca: Anne Welte
Magda: Eva Maria Marold

More info on the original songs here and a complete synopsis here. Here is more information on the Roman Polaski film that it was based on.

( Review )

TBA