Tag Archives: David Frost

Renee Fleming’s new CD, “Broadway”, reminds everyone why she is a goddess

She is a goddess. Really.
Currently wowing audiences with her Tony-nominated performance in Carousel, Grammy-winning soprano Renée Fleming has released Broadway (Decca Classics), a CD celebrating musical theatre. The album features a diverse array of  songs for the stage by composers including Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Pasek & Paul, and Rodgers & Hammerstein, as well as a special guest duet with the Hamilton, television and film star, Leslie Odom, Jr.

Says Fleming, “The great, classic Broadway musicals were central to my childhood. I sang Eliza Doolittle twice before I was even out of high school. This repertoire is so rich, and the sheer quality of the music is so high, that it’s been a joy to record these songs. And along with the growth of popular music, the sound of musical theater has evolved over time. Composers like Jeanine Tesori, and Pasek and Paul, and even popular music icons like Sting, have enriched the genre. It’s a living art form, enjoying a real boom right now, and it was a thrill for me to be able to include phenomenal songs that are absolutely current.”

The new recording features a wide range of Broadway hits from the ’20s to the present, in sumptuous orchestrations, many commissioned specially for this album.

Among the songs are “The Sound of Music”, “The Glamorous Life” from A Little Night Music; “Tell Me on A Sunday” from Song and Dance; “Wonderful Guy” from South Pacific; “Fable” from The Light in the Piazza; and “So Big So Small” from Dear Evan Hansen. Fleming’s collaborators include Rob Fisher as music supervisor and conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, as well as the incomparable bassist and jazz great Christian McBride, rising star pianist Dan Tepfer and Grammy-winning producer David Frost.

Listen closely: Listen and you will understand why she is a goddess.

 

Andrew Lloyd Webber becomes “Unmasked,” dropping names and sharing tales both serious and snarky

“I have long resisted writing an autobiography,” coos Andrew Lloyd Webber. “Autobiographies are by definition self-serving and mine is no exception. It is the result of my nearest and dearest, moaning at me ‘to tell your story your way.’ I meekly agreed, primarily to shut them up. Consequently this tome is not my fault. I intended to write my memoirs in one volume and I have failed spectacularly. Quite how I have been able to be so verbose about the most boring person I have ever written about eludes me.”

Published to coincide with his 70th birthday (on March 22), Unmasked: A Memoir (Harper, $28.99) is a candid memoir by the legendary composer,  recounts his fascinating life and remarkable career.

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Norma Desmond would say it was “big.” Like her pictures.

A natural storyteller, with his signature humor and self-deprecating tone, Webber shares the details of his early personal and professional years, including his early artistic influences. In the book, Webber takes stock of his achievements, the twists of fate and circumstance which brought him both success and disappointment, and the passions that inspire and sustain him.

A record of several exciting and turbulent decades of British and American musical theater and the transformation of popular music itself, Unmaked is ultimately a chronicle of artistic creation. Lloyd Webber looks back at the development of some of his most famous works and illuminates his collaborations with luminaries such as Tim Rice, Robert Stigwood, Harold Prince, Cameron Mackintosh and Trevor Nunn. Taking us behind the scenes of his productions, Lloyd Webber reveals fascinating details about each show, including the rich cast of characters involved with making them, and the creative and logistical challenges and artistic political battles that ensued.

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Reflecting a life that included many passions (from architecture to Turkish Van swimming cats), full of witty and revealing anecdotes, and featuring cameo appearances by numerous celebrities–Elaine Paige, Sarah Brightman, David Frost, Judi Dench, A.R. Rahman, Mandy Patinkin, Richard Rodgers, Placido Domingo, Barbra Streisand, Michael Crawford, Betty Buckley–Unmasked at last reveals the true face of the extraordinary man beneath the storied legend. Make sure you check out the snarky Liza Minnelli “stories.”

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Full of colorful characters, rich storytelling and illustrated with 16 pages of color photos, Unmaksed provides unique insight into the life of the man who has entertained millions of audiences around the world with his music.