Essential Musicals (album)
Encyclopedia
Essential Musicals is an album by Elaine Paige
, released in 2006. The album was produced by Mike Moran, vocals were recorded at Air-Edel studio in London, orchestra backing recorded at The Hungarian State Radio Studios, Budapest. The album peaked at #46 in the UK album charts.
It features tracks from musicals
chosen from top shows as voted in a poll by Paige's BBC Radio 2
show Elaine Paige on Sunday
.
The recording is notable for the inclusion of "You Must Love Me" and "Someone Else's Story". "You Must Love Me" was a song added to the score of Evita for the 1996 movie, performed by the character of Eva whom Paige had portrayed in the original stage production in 1978. Similarly, "Someone Else's Story" was a song later added to the score of Chess
to be sung by the character Florence, a role created by Paige in 1986.
There was a personal connection to Paige for many of the tracks: she appeared as an urchin in the film version of Oliver!
, from which "Where is Love?" is taken; she played Sandy Dumbrowski in Grease
in London prior to this song being added to the score of the show; she cites West Side Story
, where "Something's Coming" features, as being influential in sparking her interest in musical theatre; she appeared in the original London production of Hair
from which "Aquarius" is taken; and "Surrender" is one of Norma Desmond's songs in Sunset Boulevard
. Paige had previously released recordings of all Norma's other solo songs, having played the role in London between 1994 and 1996 and then on Broadway from 1996 to 1997.
Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...
, released in 2006. The album was produced by Mike Moran, vocals were recorded at Air-Edel studio in London, orchestra backing recorded at The Hungarian State Radio Studios, Budapest. The album peaked at #46 in the UK album charts.
It features tracks from musicals
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
chosen from top shows as voted in a poll by Paige's BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
show Elaine Paige on Sunday
Elaine Paige on Sunday
Elaine Paige on Sunday is a showtunes radio programme on BBC Radio 2 hosted by the actress Elaine Paige. Launched in September 2004, the show is produced by Malcolm Prince and regularly attracts 3 million listeners.- Guests :...
.
The recording is notable for the inclusion of "You Must Love Me" and "Someone Else's Story". "You Must Love Me" was a song added to the score of Evita for the 1996 movie, performed by the character of Eva whom Paige had portrayed in the original stage production in 1978. Similarly, "Someone Else's Story" was a song later added to the score of Chess
Chess (musical)
Chess is a musical with music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, formerly of ABBA, and with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story involves a romantic triangle between two top players, an American and a Russian, in a world chess championship, and a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other;...
to be sung by the character Florence, a role created by Paige in 1986.
There was a personal connection to Paige for many of the tracks: she appeared as an urchin in the film version of Oliver!
Oliver! (film)
Oliver! is a 1968 British musical film directed by Carol Reed. The film is based on the stage musical Oliver!, with book, music and lyrics written by Lionel Bart. The screenplay was written by Vernon Harris....
, from which "Where is Love?" is taken; she played Sandy Dumbrowski in Grease
Grease (musical)
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...
in London prior to this song being added to the score of the show; she cites West Side Story
West Side Story
West Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins...
, where "Something's Coming" features, as being influential in sparking her interest in musical theatre; she appeared in the original London production of Hair
Hair (musical)
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
from which "Aquarius" is taken; and "Surrender" is one of Norma Desmond's songs in Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard (musical)
Sunset Boulevard is a musical with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Based on the 1950 film of the same title, the plot revolves around Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent screen era, living in the past in her decaying mansion on the...
. Paige had previously released recordings of all Norma's other solo songs, having played the role in London between 1994 and 1996 and then on Broadway from 1996 to 1997.
Track listing
- "Where is Love?Where Is Love?"Where is Love?" is a song from the Tony Award-winning British musical Oliver!, and the 1968 film Oliver! based on the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens...
" - 4.16 (Lionel BartLionel BartLionel Bart was a writer and composer of British pop music and musicals, best known for creating the book, music and lyrics for Oliver!-Early life:...
) - "EdelweissEdelweiss (song)"Edelweiss" is a show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music. It is named after the edelweiss, a white flower found high in the Alps...
" - 3.44 (Richard RodgersRichard RodgersRichard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
/Oscar Hammerstein IIOscar Hammerstein IIOscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Award for "Best Original Song". Many of his songs are standard repertoire for...
) - "Hopelessly Devoted to YouHopelessly Devoted to You"Hopelessly Devoted to You", written by John Farrar, is a song originally performed by Olivia Newton-John. The song, featured in the film version of Grease, received an Oscar nomination as Best Original Song, losing to "Last Dance" at the 51st Academy Awards. She performed the song at the 21st...
" - 3.39 (John FarrarJohn FarrarJohn Farrar is a music producer, songwriter, music arranger, singer and guitarist who is best known for his work with Olivia Newton-John with whom he wrote and produced many hit songs....
) - "You Must Love MeYou Must Love Me"You Must Love Me" is a pop ballad recorded by American singer-songwriter Madonna from the soundtrack album Evita of the motion picture of the same name. It was released in October 1996 by Warner Bros. as the first single from the album. Written by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, the song won an...
" - 3.15 (Andrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
/Tim RiceTim RiceSir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an British lyricist and author.An Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Rice is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus...
) - "Bring Him Home" - 3.30 (Claude-Michel SchönbergClaude-Michel SchönbergClaude-Michel Schönberg is a French record producer, actor, singer, songwriter, and musical theatre composer, best known for his collaborations with the lyricist Alain Boublil.These include the musicals:...
/Alain BoublilAlain BoublilAlain Boublil is a musical theatre lyricist and librettist, best known for his collaborations with the composer Claude-Michel Schönberg for musicals on Broadway and London's West End...
/Herbert KretzmerHerbert KretzmerHerbert Kretzmer OBE is a South African-born English journalist and lyric writer. He is perhaps best known as the lyricist for the English-language musical adaptation of Les Misérables.-Journalist:...
) - "Something's Coming" - 3.00 (Leonard BernsteinLeonard BernsteinLeonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
/Stephen SondheimStephen SondheimStephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
) - "If I Loved YouIf I Loved You"If I Loved You" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel.The song was introduced by John Raitt as "Billy Bigelow" and Jan Clayton as "Julie"...
" - 2.49 (Rodgers/Hammerstein) - "All I Ask of YouAll I Ask of You"All I Ask of You" is a song from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical version of The Phantom of the Opera.It was released as a single on both 7 and 12 inch vinyl in 1986 by Cliff Richard and Sarah Brightman.It was certified Silver in the UK....
" - 4.20 (Lloyd Webber/Charles HartCharles Hart (lyricist)Charles Hart is a British lyricist, songwriter and musician. He is best known for re-writing the lyrics to, and contributing to the book of Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage musical The Phantom of the Opera. He also co-wrote the lyrics to Lloyd Webber's 1989 musical Aspects of Love...
/Richard StilgoeRichard StilgoeRichard Henry Simpson Stilgoe OBE is a British songwriter, lyricist and musician. He is noted for clever wordplay as much as for his music....
) - "Someone Else's Story" - 3.46 (Rice/Benny AnderssonBenny AnderssonGöran Bror "Benny" Andersson is a Swedish musician, composer, a former member of the Swedish musical group ABBA , and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!...
/Björn UlvaeusBjörn UlvaeusBjörn Kristian Ulvaeus is a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, writer, producer, a former member of the Swedish musical group ABBA , and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!...
) - "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair" - 3.10 (Rodgers/Hammerstein)
- "Aquarius" - 3.58 (Galt MacDermotGalt MacDermotGalt MacDermot is a Canadian composer, pianist and writer of musical theatre. He won a Grammy Award for the song African Waltz in 1960. His most successful musicals have been Hair and Two Gentlemen of Verona...
/James Rado/Gerome RagniGerome RagniGerome Bernard Ragni was an American actor, singer and songwriter, best known as the co-author of the groundbreaking 1960s Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical.-Early life:...
) - "Surrender" - 3.15 (Lloyd Webber/Don BlackDon Black (musician)Don Black, OBE is an English lyricist. His works have included numerous musicals, movie themes and hit songs. He has provided lyrics for John Barry, Charles Strouse, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Quincy Jones, Jule Styne, Henry Mancini, Michael Jackson, Elmer Bernstein, Michel Legrand, Hayley Westenra,...
/Christopher HamptonChristopher HamptonChristopher James Hampton CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, screen writer and film director. He is best known for his play based on the novel Les Liaisons dangereuses and the film version Dangerous Liaisons and also more recently for writing the nominated screenplay for the film adaptation of...
) - "Broadway Baby" - 4.39 (Sondheim)
Personnel
- Elaine Paige - vocals
- The Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra - orchestra
- Mike Moran, Chris Egan - orchestra leaders
Production
- Producers - Mike Moran
- Orchestral Recording engineer - Denes Redly & Adam Vanryne
- Recording, Mix and Mastering Engineer - Adam Vanryne