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    POSTED 25 MAY 2001

    JUST ANNOUNCED: 2001 TONY NOMINATIONS

    The nominations for the 2001 Tony Awards have been announced, with "The Producers"--garnering a record total of 15 nominations--and "The Full Monty" (under consideration for 10) leading the way. See more of this year's major nominees.

    See more nominees
    ...available here.

    NEW AND NOTABLE

    "The Rocky Horror Show [CAST RECORDING]" Alice Ripley Our price: $12.58 | You save: $5.39
    ...available here.
    Nominated for the category Best Revival of a Musical in the 2001 Tonys, this production of "The Rocky Horror Show" brings the cult classic back to the stage with a killer cast, including Dick Cavett, Alice Ripley, Tom Hewitt, and Daphne Rubin-Vega. Let's do the time warp.

    "Barbara Cook Sings Mostly Sondheim (Live at Carnegie Hall 2001) [LIVE]" Barbara Cook Our price: $24.97 | You save: $3.00
    ...available here.
    Barbara Cook is one of today's most accomplished song stylists, and if you don't believe us, just listen to this live album. It's a master class in the art of singing. It documents an evening at Carnegie Hall during which Cook proved that she can dissect and extract the substance out of the simplest of lyrics.

    "You Never Know (2001 Studio Cast)" Cole Porter Our price: $14.99 | You save: $2.98
    ...available here.
    Cole Porter's delightfully old-fashioned romantic comedy "You Never Know" receives its world premiere recording, starring Kristin Chenoweth, Harry Groener, David Garrison, and Donna McKechnie.

    "Infinite Joy: Songs of William Finn" Original Cast Our price: $14.99 | You save: $2.98
    ...available here.
    "Infinite Joy" gathers excerpts from William Finn's best-known shows, along with some rare gems--a wonderful treat, recorded live at Joe's Pub in Manhattan this past January.

    "The Beat Goes On" Liz Callaway Our price: $14.99 | You save: $2.98
    ...available here.
    Liz Callaway has one of the best voices on Broadway, with a clear-as-a-bell tone, seemingly effortless soprano range, and terrific warmth. This is her first solo album since 1995's outstanding "The Story Goes On," and it has been worth the wait.

    "Bright-Eyed Joy: Songs by Ricky Ian Gordon" Ricky Ian Gordon Our price: $14.99 | You save: $2.98
    ...available here.
    Ricky Ian Gordon is one of the Young Turks of New York's musical theater. The numbers included here span two decades and are marvelously interpreted by the likes of Audra McDonald and Dawn Upshaw.

    "Passion (1997 London Cast)" Stephen Sondheim Our price: $14.99 | You save: $2.98
    ...available here.
    Sondheim's multiple Tony Award-winning musical/chamber opera "Passion" is less about individual numbers than a constant flow of gorgeous melodies, dialogue, letters between the characters, and a group of soldiers that serves as a Greek chorus. After a 1996 London revival, the same cast recorded the score live in concert at the BBC Hippodrome in 1997.

    HOT UPCOMING RELEASE

    "Let Yourself Go With Rob Fisher and the Coffee Club Orchestra" Kristin Chenoweth Our price: $14.99 | You save: $3.98
    ...available here.
    Kristin Chenoweth won a Tony in 1999 for a supporting role, but 2001 is really her year to step into the limelight. With an NBC sitcom ("Kristin!") about to premiere, Chenoweth releases her first solo recording with "Let Yourself Go."

    FREE MUSIC DOWNLOADS

    Red Hot, the leading international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through popular culture, has produced a series of groundbreaking albums with help from leading musicians worldwide. Amazon.com is proud to offer songs from these records as downloads. You can contribute to Red Hot on every download page via the "tip box" and help fight AIDS while enjoying some great music. Download the following now:

    U2, "Night and Day"
    ...available here.

    Annie Lennox, "Ev'rytime We Say Goodbye"
    ...available here.

    David Bowie + Angelo Badalamenti, "A Foggy Day"
    ...available here.

    Sinead O'Connor, "You Do Something to Me"
    ...available here.

    Neneh Cherry, "I've Got You Under My Skin"
    ...available here.

    David Byrne, "Don't Fence Me In"
    ...available here.

    Morcheeba + Hubert Laws, "Summertime"
    ...available here.

    The Roots + Bobby Womack, "Summertime"
    ...available here.

    k.d. lang, "So in Love"
    ...available here.

    More on Red Hot downloads, CDs, and AIDS awareness
    ...available here.

    NOW ON DVD: "GUMBOOTS"

    "Gumboots: An Explosion of Spirit and Song" Our price: $21.49 | You save: $3.50
    ...available here.
    The combination of storytelling, dance, song, chant, and history in "Gumboots" is invigorating--the audience can't keep still or quiet; they chant, clap, and dance from their seats. Also included on the DVD is an engrossing 53-minute documentary on the gumboots dance movement, the Soweto riots, and the performers.

    Posted 26 APRIL 2001

      "The Producers"
      Original Broadway Cast Recording
      ...orders here
      Recently opened at the St. James Theatre in New York, "The Producers" has become one of the hottest tickets of the Broadway season. There's going to be some serious laughter going down thanks to this musical version of Mel Brooks's classic directorial debut. Choreographed and directed by Susan Stroman, the Broadway cast features Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick.

      "Jesus Christ Superstar: A New Stage..."
      Original Cast Recording
      ...orders here
      "Jesus Christ Superstar" has been the definitive rock musical ever since its 1972 stage premiere in London. Revived to great acclaim in the late 1990s, it has everything you'd expect from a blockbuster: great songs, strong characterization, and, crucially, a cracking good story. This release, based on the 1998 London production, pulls few punches in its efforts to draw a modern interpretation from a gifted cast.

      "Hair (+ Extras) [SOUNDTRACK]"
      Galt MacDermot
      ...orders here
      "America's First Tribal Love-Rock Musical" went the advertising, and nobody could argue with that. "Hair" opened on Broadway in 1968 and immediately became a smash, although no one could quite discern what it was about. This new release compiles the original 1968 London cast recording with 1970's "Fresh Hair" and includes songs cut from the original stage production.

      "Bells Are Ringing [EXTRA TRACKS]"
      Original Broadway Cast
      ...orders here
      In 1956, Judy Holliday was at the peak of her fame, and her old buddies Comden and Green were about to write a Broadway show for her. "Bells Are Ringing" may not be among composer Jule Styne's top-drawer scores, but the show benefits from Comden and Green's reliably zany book and lyrics--and "Bells" has just started ringing again in its new Broadway revival.

      "Disney Songs The Satchmo Way"
      Louis Armstrong
      ...orders here
      For this 1966 session, Louis Armstrong took on 10 Disney classics. Armstrong's deep, graceful, unmistakable voice combined with his Dixie and traditional soloing par excellence make this a record worth owning for all fans of Disneyana. It's a tad camp and somewhat dated, but so are the movies the selections are taken from--it's part of the charm.

      "Man of La Mancha (Original 1965 Broadway Cast)"
      Mitch Leigh
      ...orders here
      "Man of La Mancha," the show that introduced "The Impossible Dream" to the world (and lounge singers everywhere), was the hit of the 1965 Broadway season. This rerelease is of the 1965 original cast recording.

      HOT UPCOMING RELEASE

      "Sarah Brightman - La Luna"
      Brightman,Sarah
      ...orders here
      Superstar crossover diva Sarah Brightman greets the new millennium with a bold sense of her unique musical niche. "La Luna" is a concept album only in a vaguely free-associative sense. The selection of material here touches on images of the moon that reinforce its ambiguity as a force known to draw together "the lunatic, the lover, and the poet."

      FREE MUSIC DOWNLOADS

      "Red Hot + Blue," the now-legendary compilation that launched the Red Hot AIDS benefit series back in 1990, takes a head-spinning variety of approaches to its subject, the witty and wistful songs of Cole Porter. One of the best is Sinead O'Connor's cover of "You Do Something to Me," with its postmodern mix of old-time band and contemporary vocals. O'Connor gets both the earthy and ethereal into her delivery, concocting her own special "voodoo."
      ...orders here

      More Red Hot downloads
      ...orders here

      STEPHEN SONDHEIM STORE

      Fans of Stephen Sondheim won't want to miss our newly revamped Sondheim Store, which puts it all together with CD recommendations, an interview, articles, and lists of related videos and books.

      Go to Sondheim Store
      ...orders here

      OUR FAVORITE BROADWAY

      "My Favorite Broadway: The Love Songs" (also available on CD) once again gathers a legion of stars from the Great White Way, including host Julie Andrews, Linda Eder, and Chita Rivera. It's a worthy follow-up to 1998's "My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies."
      ...orders here

    associates of amazon.com,bn,tower,cdnow Editor, Thomas May © 2001 amazon.com and associate ncdn
    MORE NEW AND NOTABLE

    "A Class Act"
    Original Cast
    ...orders here
    Ed Kleban's success in writing the lyrics to "A Chorus Line" overshadowed the enormous talents of a composer-lyricist who was far more than a one-hit wonder. From the wealth of material he left behind--sadly unproduced--this new musical has been lovingly constructed, giving a portrait of the artist and of a lost era of showbiz.

    "Contact: Music from the Broadway Show"
    Various Artists
    ...orders here
    Susan Stroman's dance play "Contact" has been a hotly contested Broadway item since its premiere. The controversy was only magnified when the show took home the Best Musical award in last year's Tonys, for it's a musical that makes use entirely of prerecorded hits. This recording gathers the varied collection of hit songs used for the "Contact" score but--unlike the show--it also includes Boyd Gaines's new cover of the song "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You."

    "Keely Sings Sinatra"
    Keely Smith
    ...orders here
    While her last album ("Swing, Swing, Swing") paid tribute to the jump blues and swing of her early days, Keely Smith here turns her attention to another icon from those great years and delivers interpretations of songs from throughout Ol' Blue Eyes' career. Completed just before Sinatra's death, this album may be one of the most enduring of Smith's own career.

    "My Favorite Broadway: The Love Songs"
    My Favorite Broadway
    ...orders here
    This enjoyable live show from New York City is a follow-up to 1998's "My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies" and brings on the men--including Nathan Lane, Tom Wopat, and Robert Goulet--to join with such divas as Liza Minelli, Linda Eder, and Julie Andrews. The show has also just been released in DVD format.

    "3hree: A New Musical"
    Original Cast Recording
    ...orders here
    Director Hal Prince was the Prospero behind this neat trio of one-act musicals, which premiered just a few months ago at his namesake theater in Philadelphia. It's a fascinating aggregation of talent and whimsical imagination, with stories of mice and men, a '20s flapper, and a flying lawnchair. These musicalettes showcase the music of Laurence O’Keefe, John Bucchino, and Robert Lindsay-Nassif.

    "South Pacific (2001 Television Soundtrack)"
    Richard Rodgers
    ...orders here
    Premiered in 1949 (and winner of nine Tony Awards), this Rodgers & Hammerstein classic was just presented as an ABC telefilm starring Glenn Close, Harry Connick Jr., Rade Sherbedgia, Robert Pastorell, and Jack Thompson. The new cast recording includes a bonus track of "My Girl Back Home," performed by Harry Connick Jr.

    "Forbidden Broadway 2001: A Spoof Odyssey"
    Gerard Alessandrini
    ...orders here
    Prepare ye, Great White Way, for your latest dousing of abuse from Gerard Alessandrini and his band of wicked colleagues. Targets range from "The Music Man" to Sondheim and, of course, Liza's comeback. As usual, nothing is sacred, and not even the wrath of the pharaohs can scare the team away from some hilarious jabs at the musical "Aida."

    HOT UPCOMING RELEASE

    "The Producers"
    Original Broadway Cast Recording
    ...orders here
    This revival of Mel Brooks's classic farce of showbiz, starring Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, is one of the hottest tickets of the Broadway season. You can already pre-order the cast recording, due for release in April.

    WORD FOR WORD

    "I walked off the set once, not four times, and I did not get lost for a few days. I had surrendered as an actress to Lars [von Trier] and his direction, which was really good. Lars himself has said several times that he's never felt as deep a connection between him and an actress. I jumped off the cliff with no parachute, and I was his completely and put everything else aside." --Bjork on her film debut in "Dancer in the Dark"
    Read the entire Amazon.com interview
    ...more here

    FREE MUSIC DOWNLOADS

    Our newly revamped digital download area includes a number of jazz and traditional vocalists, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, and Bing Crosby.
    Go to free downloads area
    ...browse here

    SEE HOW THE FATES THEIR GIFTS ALLOT: GILBERT & SULLIVAN VIDEOS

    The beloved operettas of Gilbert & Sullivan live on in community productions as well as on video. The most comprehensive series, from Opera World, collects 12 shows in performances filmed for television in the 1980s, and many of them are available in English-subtitled versions that will help you keep up with Gilbert's intricate lyrics.

    See Gilbert & Sullivan videos
    ...orders here

    VICTOR BORGE

    The recent passing of Victor Borge reminds us how laugh-out-loud funny the Danish pianist could be when spoofing the usually serious world of classical music. The live performance captured in "The Best of Victor Borge, Acts One and Two" contains some of his most memorable moments, including Phonetic Punctuation, the Timid Page Turner, and a Liszt rhapsody for two pianists--played on one piano!
    See more Victor Borge
    ...orders here

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    reviews excerpted are copyright © 2001 amazon.com & associate ncdn and CDnow, TowerRecords, Barnes & Nobel associates