Best Musical Cast Albums Ever

1        This is a list of all the cast albums I have listened to in my life. Theses are my personal rankings and they are constantly changing, feel free to leave a comment

1      1     Falsettos
2       Follies
3       Bat Boy
4       Grey Gardens
5       Sweeney Todd
6       Ragtime
7       South Pacific
8       The Light in the Piazza
9       Next to Normal
10    Guys and Dolls
11    My Fair Lady
12    Carousel
13    Nine
14    Fiddler On the Roof
15    Fun Home
16    Adding Machine
17    Sunday in the Park with George
18    West Side Story
19    1776
20    Cabaret
21    Company
22    Gypsy 
23    The Fantasticks
24    The Music Man
25    A New Brain
26    Avenue Q
27    The Bridges of Madison County
28    A Little Night Music
29    Hello Dolly!
30    Show Boat
31    Pacific Overtures
32    Floyd Collins
33    Wicked
34    Jesus Christ Superstar
35    Mack and Mabel
36    Kiss Me Kate
37    Chicago
38    The King and I
39    A Chorus Line
40    Fiorello!
41    Titanic
42    In Trousers
43    Wild Party
44    Merrily We Roll Along
45    Evita
46    On A Clear Day You Can See Forever
47    The Secret Garden(Simon)
48    Paint Your Wagon
49    Parade(Brown)
50    Songs For A New World
51    Once On This Island
52    Brigadoon
53    Finian’s Rainbow
54    Assassins
55    Seussical
56    Marie Christine
57    Mame
58    Pal Joey
59    On the Town
60    The Pajama Game
61    Wonderful Town
62    Into the Woods
63    Oklahoma
64    Street Scene
65    Les Miserables
66    Giant
67    Hello Again
68    Phantom
69    Urinetown
70    Annie Get Your Gun
71    Matilda
72    Rent
73    Camelot
74    Big Fish
75    13
76    Prettybelle
77    Hands On a Hardbody
78    Kiss of the Spiderwoman
79    Milk and Honey
80    Hairspray
81    Dreamgirls
82    Side Show
83    The Cradle Will Rock
84    Hair
85    The Happy Time
86    Anything Goes
87    Far From Heaven
88    On Your Toes
89    Annie
90    The Phantom of the Opera
91    Man of La Mancha
92    In the Heights
93    Zombie Prom
94    The Grand Tour
95    Sweet Charity
96    The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
97    Little Shop of Horrors
98    La Cage Aux Folles
99    Bye Bye Birdie
100  Bombshell
101  The Last Five Years
102  Chess
103  Grand Hotel
104  The Secret Garden(Studio Cast)
105  I Do! I Do!
106  Damn Yankees
107  The Book of Mormon
108  Gigi
109  Kinky Boots
110  Heathers
111  Man of La Mancha
112  If/Then
113  The Rothschilds
114  Sail Away
115  Xanadu
116  The Sound of Music
117  Do-Re-Mi
118  Aida
119  Bring It On
120  Pippin
121  Cats
122  Roberta
123  Two By Two
124  Parade(Herman)
125  A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder
126  The Unsinkable Molly Brown
127  The Drowsy Chaperone
128  Rags
129  How to Succedd in Business Without Really Trying
130  High Spirits
131  Song and Dance
132  Once
133  Thoroughly Modern Millie
134  Applause
135  A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
136  Starlight Express
137  Sherry
138  Sweet Smell of Success
139  Life Begins at 8:40
140  Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
141  The Wiz
142  The Rink
143  Miss Saigon
144  Godspell
145  Tommy
146  Big River
147  Rocky
148  42^nd Street
149  Steel Pier
150  Scandalous
151  Legally Blonde
152  Jekyll and Hyde
153  Love Never Dies
154  Ghost
155  Legs Diamond
 

The Most Beautiful Theatre Songs

Beautiful Theater Songs

"Didn’t We"- Adding Machine 

“I Got Lost In His Arms”- Annie Get Your Gun

“Unworthy of Your Love”- Assassins

“A Home For You”- Bat Boy

“I Don’t Need a Roof”- Big Fish

“How It Ends”- Big Fish

“Mr. and Mrs. Smith”- Bombshell

“Falling Into You”- Bridges of Madison County

“Almost Real”- Bridges of Madison County

“Always Better”- Bridges of Madison County

“Why Should I Wake Up?”- Cabaret

“What Would You Do?”- Cabaret

“If Ever I Would Leave You”- Camelot

“I Loved You Once In Silence”- Camelot

“Make Our Garden Grow”- Candide

“What’s the Use of Wond’rin’”- Carousel

“You’ll Never Walk Alone”- Carousel

“Memory”- Cats

“Anthem”- Chess

“What’s I Did for Love”- A Chorus Line

“Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”- Evita

“What More Can I Say?”- Falsettoland

“Unlikely Lovers”- Falsettoland

“What Would I Do?”- Falsettoland

“Soon It’s Gonna Rain”- The Fantasticks

“They Were You”- The Fantasticks

“Autumn in Connecticut”- Far From Heaven

“Far From the Home I Love”- Fiddler On The Roof

“How Are Things In Glocca Morra?”- Finian’s Rainbow

“’Til Tomorrow”- Fiorello!

“When Did I Fall In Love”- Fiorello!

“How Glory Goes”- Floyd Collins

“Too Many Mornings”- Follies

“Losing My Mind”- Follies

“Days and Days”- Fun Home

“People”- Funny Girl

“The Music That Makes Me Dance”- Funny Girl

“Love Can’t Happen”- Grand Hotel

“Marianne”- The Grand Tour

“Will You?”- Grey Gardens

“Another Winter In a Summer Town”- Grey Gardens

“I’ve Never Been In Love Before”- Guys and Dolls

“Ribbons Down My Back”- Hello Dolly!

“Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again”- The Phantom of the Opera

“Alabanza”- In the Heights

“It Never Entered My Mind”- Higher and Higher

“Love Me For What I Am”- In Trousers

“No One Is Alone”- Into the Woods

“Children Will Listen”- Into the Woods

“Hello Young Lovers”- The King and I

“Something Wonderful”- The King and I

“Hold Me In Your Heart”- Kinky Boots

“So In Love”- Kiss Me, Kate

“I Dreamed A Dream”- Les Miserables

“Dividing Day”- The Light In the Piazza

“Fable”- The Light In the Piazza

“Every Day A Little Death”- A Little Night Music

“Send In the Clowns”- A Little Night Music

“Love Never Dies”- Love Never Dies

“Time Heals Everything”- Mack and Mabel 

“If He Walked Into My Life”- Mame

“To Each His Dulcinea”- Man of LA Mancha

“Father to Son”- March of the Falsettos

“My House”- Matilda

“Not A Day Goes By”- Merrily We Roll Along

“Good Thing Going”- Merrily We Roll Along

“Till There Was You”- The Music Man 

“I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face”- My Fair Lady

“Sailing”- A New Brain

“The Music Still Plays On”- A New Brain

“Heart and Music”- A New Brain

“I Feel So Much Spring”- A New Brain

 “A Light In the Dark”- Next to Normal

“Unusual Way”- Nine

“Geting Tall”- Nine

“Gold”- Once

“It’s Hard To Speak My Heart”- Parade

“All The Wasted Time”- Parade

“Sarah Brown Eyes”- Ragtime

“Make Them Hear You”- Ragtime

“I’ll Cover You(Reprise)”- Rent

“In My Own Lifetime”- The Rothschilds

“Lily’s Eyes”- The Secret Garden

“How Could I Ever Know”- The Secret Garden

“Alone In the Universe”- Seussical

“Solla Sollew”- Seussical

“Ol’ Man River”- Show Boat

“Make Believe”- Show Boat

“Who Will Love Me As I Am?”- Side Show

“I Will Never Leave You”- Side Show

“Flying Home”- Songs For A New World

“Hear My Song”- songs For A New World

“Edelweiss”- The Sound of Music

“Younger Than Springtime” South Pacific

“This Nearly Was Mine”- South Pacific

“Sunday”- Sunday In the Park With George

“Move On”- Sunday In the Park With George

“Godspeed Titanic”- Titanic

"Autumn”- Titanic

“Still”- Titanic

“Dolce Far Niente”- The Unsinkable Molly Brown

“One Hand, One Heart”- West Side Story

“The I Love You Song”- The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

“Yours, Yours, Yours”- 1776

“Seventeen”- Heathers

“Melinda”- On A Clear Day You Can See Forever

“Easy To Say”- Zombie Prom

Quick Reviews

Just a round-up and review of some of the cast albums I've taken in the past few months:

Annie OBC: Yes, I had never listened to Annie or seen the movie as a child, so I came in to the cast album with a fresh set of ears, and hopefully an opinion unbiased by nostalgia. The beginnings of the cast album are certainly well constructed, with the tuneful and hopeful, "Maybe", "It's A Hard-Knock Life", and "Tomorrow". And Miss Hannigan's solo number "Little Girls" is an appreciated bit of comedy from composer Charles Strouse. The score then tours through several forgettable numbers till we reach intermission. And we get the clever, "You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile", and a bit of an 11 o'clock song in "Something Was Missing", but, we also get the unfortunate title number, and a heart-warming finale. Overall, it is a charming, family-friendly cast album that does occasionally rise above mediocre, that contains a worthy message. Grade: B-

Annie Get Your Gun NBC w/Bernadette Peters: The ageless Peters fulfills her star billing with rapturous beauty in the Irving Berlin classic. Her accent is certainly a bit grating, but especially in songs like, "Moonshine Lullaby" and "I Got Lost In His Arms" her purring vocals shine. But, ah listening to Berlin's score is like watching a good baseball team: hit after-hit after-hit after-hit. Though his songs may not rise above the crowd-pleasing, each one is surprisingly well-crafted, for a man who rarely wrote music to match a book. Tom Wopat alongside Peters is good, but not outstanding, maneuvering through an upbeat "My Defenses are Down" with a solid baritone sound and slide. Grab this album even if you know the tunes, or already have Merman's version just for the revisualization and the star-power of Bernadette Peters. Grade: B+

Applause OBC: Applause(another Charles Strouse score) is more comparable to a little league baseball team, a lot more big misses than big hits. The show was a star vehicle for film star Lauren Bacall, and although her voice is simply awful and quite bear-like in moments, she manages to deliver a star performance. Her "Hurry Back" is surprisingly emotional despite being just an awful piece of music, and when she sings, "Welcome to the Theatre", she entrances and delights. But the score is plagued with misfires like "Fasten Your Seatbelts", "One Halloween", "Who's that Girl". Really just destroying most of the score's momentum. But the more romantic and sweet "One of a Kind" and the folksy "Good Friends" won me over, and this one actually ends up being a sentimental favorite of mine. And the semi-rousing title number is a real piece of work, though it feels a bit more tuneful when Mr. Strouse sings it on the bonus tracks. Side
note: A drunk Lauren Bacall is strikingly equivalent to Carol Channing. Grade: C

The Secret Garden Cast Album Review

Music by Lucy Simon

Book and Lyrics by Marsha Norman

The Secret Garden, the musical based on the popular children's novel of the same name, was a moderate success on Broadway. The score is unquestionably lush, if not quite unfocused and sloppy at times.
I was hesitant to start listening to the cast album because of it's origins, but that disappeared as soon as I saw the cast: Mandy Patinkin! Robert Westenberg(the Prince in Into the Woods)! Allison Fraser(In Trousers)!, Rebecca Luker! John Cameron Mitchell! I couldn't remember where I had seen the name John Cameron Mitchell, but then I realized he sang a bonus track on Into the Woods, one of my first cast albums, that I devoured and listened to constantly. And the talent of the cast is thrilling even when the music seems to be muddled.
Lily's Eyes is fantastically emotional, Patinkin is stunning. It is easily the most accessible tune from the score. Hold On is a hidden gem of a female solo, that comes right before the beautiful 11 o'clock number, How Could I Ever Know.
One thing that could have helped the score is more vocal distinction. Often times 6 or 7 different people are singing over each other and it turns into just wasted music. The orchestrations however are exquisite, and really set a beautiful tone for the story. The cast album is somewhat divided between a folksy sound from Fraser and Michell, and an opertic tone from Luker. Also, the ghost chorus is cheesy and delivers some of the worst lyrics. Grade: B+

Below is my song breakdown:
+ I Heard Someone Crying, A Bit Of Earth, Lily's Eyes, Race You To The Top Of The Morning, Hold On, Where In the World, How Could I Ever Know
= It's A Maze, Winter's On the Wing, Storms, The Girl I Mean To Be,Come To My Garden/Lift Me Up, Come Spirit Come Charm
- A Girl In the Valley, Show Me the Key, Wick, There's A Man, 

Review: Hands On A Hardbody Cast Album

Music by Amanda Green and Trey Anastasio
Lyrics by Amanda Green

The creative team behind this unconventional musical was enough to turn my attention to it, but Hands on A Hardbody the musical closed quickly and without much to show for their efforts, the upcoming talent of Amanda Green, still hasn't... came. The recently released cast album does preserve some of the uniqueness and even beauty of the show. Amanda Green(High Fidelity, Bring It On) and Trey Anastasio(Phish?) combine to create some very interesting country/rock tunes. The book is by Doug Wright, who previously wrote the libretto to one of my favorites, Grey Gardens, which like, HOAHB is a documentary. I watched the documentary a few months ago, and enjoyed it immensely. The people portrayed seemed very real, and it kept my attention. Though by the end it drags and the winner was one of the least interesting ones in the film.

Hunter Foster

The songs themselves are mostly forced character ballads and generic showtune fodder. Each character is given a musical identity, and naturally most of them get country songs. But there is some pop and even a gospel number thrown in. The intro was intriguing and distinguished, but its far too obvious that the authors are trying to introduce the characters quickly while still telling a story. So we get lots of emotional, "I Know Where I've Been" type ballads. Standouts include the bordering on showstopping, "Joy of the Lord", the gospel number that proves both a lift to the dismal, emotional nature of the music, and a toe-tapper. Hunter Foster gets the 11 o'clock number, "God Answered My Prayers" which, is somewhat of an emotional climax. "I'm Gone" manages to stray above a stereotypical love duet, and find some melody, and "Stronger"(which I thought at first was very artificial emotion) proves to be one of the more moving numbers.
But, the song that disappointed me the most was the finale, titled wait for it... "Keep Your Hands On It". So cliche, it's unbearable.: "If you love something, just keep your hands on it". Oi.
HOAHB was a valiant musical endeavor, but at the same time a poor choice for a piece of serious musical theatre. Although as a positive, Green has done some fantastic choral work with the cast that uplift some of the meager tunes. B-
Below is my song breakdown:

+ Human Drama Kind Of Thing, Alone With Me, Joy of the Lord,
Stronger, God Answered My Prayers
=If She Don't Sleep, I'm Gone, Hunt With the Big Dogs, It's A Fix, Used to Be
-If I Had This Truck, My Problem Right There, Burn That Bridge, Hands on A Hardbody, Keep Your Hands On It

Review: Once the Musical Cast Album

I was hesitant to approach Once because as an Official Unofficial Theatre Blogger there is a clause in my contract that says- "Thou shalt not enjoy jukebox musicals, or musicals with songs unrelated to the plot." But, I overcame these hesitations and gave Once a try, with mixed results.
Let me start by praising the fantastic voice of Steve Kazee. He makes otherwise useless and emotionless songs like "Leave" and "Say It To Me Now" relevant just because of the sheer power and rawness of his voice. He is definitely deserving of the Tony he won based on his vocal performance.

Cristin Milioti's songs on the other hand come off as boring and uninspired. Her songs really put a damper on the entire affair. "If You Want Me" may contend on my list of worst show tunes ever written. But to her credit her voice has a bit of a haunting quality that fits well with Kazee. Though, to be fair, one would be hard-pressed to find a voice that doesn't sound good with the rapturous Kazee.
There is evidence of good song-writing throughout Once, but not necessarily effective show tune writing. There is (count it) one song with relevance to the plot. Grade: C+

Below is my song breakdown:
CAST ALBUM REVIEW
+ means a song helps the show, = means a song does not hurt a show, - means a song hurts a show.
+Falling Slowly, Leave, Say It to me Now, Gold
=Sleeping, When Your Mind Is Made Up
-The Moon, Ej Pada Pada Rosicka, If You Want Me, Broken-Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy, Abandoned in Bandon, Sleeping, The Hill, It Cannot Be About That

CAST ALBUMS REVIEW
+ means a song helps the show, = means a song does not hurt a show, - means a song hurts a show.
Grey Gardens
+The Five-Fifteen, Hominy Grits, Will You?, The Revolutionary Costume For Today, The Cake I Had, Jerry Likes My Corn, Around the World, Another Winter In A Summer Town
=Mother Darling, Goin' Places, Drift Away, The House We Live In,
-The Girl Who Has Everything, Marry Well, Peas in a Pod, Daddy's Girl, Entering Grey Gardens, Choose to Be Happy

Guys and Dolls
+Fugue for Tinhorns, Adelaide's Lament, Guys and Dolls, I've Never Been In Love Before, Luck Be A Lady, Sit Down, You're Rockin' The Boat
=The Oldest Establishment, I'll Know, A Bushel and A Peck, My Time Of Day, Sue Me, Marry the Man Today
-Follow the Fold, Havana, If I Were A Bell, More I Cannot Wish You






Gypsy
+Some People, Mr. Goldstone, I Love You, Little Lamb, Everything's Coming Up Roses, Rose's Turn, Nice She Ain't (Cut Song)
=Let Me Entertain You, Small World, You'll Never Get Away From Me, You Gotta Have A Gimmick
-If Momma Was Married, All I Need Is The Girl, Together Wherever We Go






Hello Dolly!
+I Put My Hand In, Put On Your Sunday Clothes, Ribbons Down My Back, Before the Parade Passes By, Hello Dolly, It Only Takes A Moment
=It Takes A Woman, Dancing, Motherhood, Elegance, So Long Dearie