... Oliver-1994 London Palladium Cast Recording First Night Cast CD 47 No British musical since the Second World War has quite so many good tunes as Lionel Bart's masterpiece. From Food, Glorious Food, the opening song in the show, to the last, Reviewing the Situation, they stick in the public conscious ness, and this CD gives the chance to appreciate the fine new orchestrations by William David ...

... Paris! Oh! Que J'aime Paris Flapper PAST CD 7069 A sampler of artists who have other Rapper compilations to themselves, this includes a song from Edith Piaf's first recording session in 1936, Les momes de la cloche, in which she is backed by an accordion band. The earliest tracks, from 1930, feature Josephine Baker, and Maurice Chevalier, and there are later items from France's other ...

... Professor Pip's Songs and Prances Pip 9401 CD Ian Cameron, who used to lead the band at Danny La Rue's club and then built up a society band- leading connection, has an origi nal concept in records for children here. Basically it is music for young children to march up and down to, familiar melodies but arranged in a modem instrumerv tal style, interspersed with jolly chorus and action songs, ...

... Night when one star shone the brightest Compiled by Peter Hepple Self-congratulatory or not, Cameron Mackintosh's tribute to himself. Hey Mr Producer!, must be counted as one of the significant one-night presentations of the nineties and the double CD (First Night Encore CD9) will provide a treasured memento for those who were there and some consolation for those who weren't. Mackintosh is ...

... No calamities On the Town Pride of place in recent recordings of musicals must go to TER's new version of On the Town, with five American principals, Gregg Edelman, Tim Ravin, Ethan Freeman, Kim Criswell and Judy Kaye, plus Louise Gold, Valerie Masterson and Tinuke Olafimihan, the exciting score bril liantly played by the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Owen Edwards. We know ...

... A grand affair fit for a Prince Nobody in this country seems to have known much about the gala concert in honour of Hal Prince, which Bavarian Radio in Munich staged last October and which Hugh Wooldridge directed. But to judge from First Night's CD (DOCRCD 2), it appears to have been a grand affair, enthusiasti cally received, with many American performers, some known here, like Len Cariou ...

... More than enough Etting for now NOSTALGIA Ruth Etting is a singer who has been more written about than heard, her life story, Love Me or Leave Me, having been filmed 40 years ago, concentrating on her relationship with her gangster husband Moe 'The Gimp' Snyder. Full marks then to Flapper for ging uui ^3 ui ner leuuiumgs diiu releasing them under the same title as the film (PAST CD 7061). ...

... Weill riches to savour MUSICALS COMPILED BY PETER HEPPLE The most interesting CD for many months for collectors of musical theatre material must be Kurt Weill- from Berlin to Broadway (Peart GEMM CDS 9189), two discs-another is promised-full of rarities. The first contains excerpts from three versions of Die Dreigroschenoper, including the original on Homocord, with the first Mack the Knife, ...

... Musical's gentle charms COMPILED BY PETER HEPPLE 110° In the Shade was one of those transitional musicals as far as the London stage is concerned. It followed some years after a succession of big American shows and, as I recollect, was regarded as something of a let down--particularly as to us, at least, it traversed some of the same territory as Oklahoma!, though it is set in Texas. ...

... TIMELY AND THOUGHTFUL John Adams' work I Was Looking at the Celling and Then I Saw the Sky falls into that category that is betwixt and between, usualry called music theatre. As such, it is best to approach it with an open mind, mindful of the fact that it is more likely to appeal to the young than the seasoned operagoer brought up on a diet of Mozart, Puccini and Wagner. It is a striking, ...

... TERRIFIC TRUMPETS Perhaps it was because I saw Nat Gonella mainly as a bandleader and, for a brief time, as a solo act in variety, that I did not appreciate at the time what a good jazz trumpet player he was. Although he obviously mod elled himself to a certain extent on his idol Louis Armstrong, the Nat Gonella Tribute (President PLCD 571) is a fascinating retro spective of his career from ...

... STRONG CAST Most of the older generation of musical theatre lovers have got a soft spot for Brigadoon, despite a plot knee-deep in Scottish whimsy as seen from the other side of the Atlantic. And it does have some very good songs all crammed into an hour's worth of CD by TER (CDTER 6003). There is a strong cast too, what with Ethan Freeman as Tommy and the opera singer Janis Kelly as Fiona, ...