As I got into musicals more, I uncovered cast albums and more concept albums, such as Evita (that also gave us the number 1 hit Don't Cry For Me Argentina) and even Les Miserables, being in French there was added reason to listen to it, for study purposes of course.
Bringing the concept to the stage can result in changes, not always for the better, or even for good. Jekyll & Hyde has seen songs come, go and come back again! While This is the Moment changed between the first and second album. Songs move, shorten, get cut or extended, anything goes!
Over the years my playlists have featured a number of songs from various concept albums, regardless of whether it became a hit, cult classic, or never found the light of stage. Here's a trio of them for no good reason other than I felt like sharing them.
1. Picture It (music and lyrics by Maury Yeston from Goya: A Life in Song); Sung by Gloria Estefan and Joseph Cerisano
I'm not sure where or when I picked this one up but it is on cassette, so it might give an idea how long ago it was. Legend has it that tenor Placido Domingo wanted to do a musical about the painter Goya, and felt Maury Yeston was the composer to write it. Released in 1989, the album features Jennifer Rush, Dianne Warwick, and Gloria Estefan to name a few. I did a little checking to see if the show was ever staged, and according to Joseph R. Jones, it was performed at the Hollywood Bowl in 1988, and it does get a mention in The New York Times, although in the LA Times it seems the preview was part of a larger benefit concert. The song itself is commenting on the shenanigans of the 'aristocratic life' as viewed by Goya as he paints their portrait, and is a nice atmospheric piece, and for me it is the best from the album.
I'm not sure where or when I picked this one up but it is on cassette, so it might give an idea how long ago it was. Legend has it that tenor Placido Domingo wanted to do a musical about the painter Goya, and felt Maury Yeston was the composer to write it. Released in 1989, the album features Jennifer Rush, Dianne Warwick, and Gloria Estefan to name a few. I did a little checking to see if the show was ever staged, and according to Joseph R. Jones, it was performed at the Hollywood Bowl in 1988, and it does get a mention in The New York Times, although in the LA Times it seems the preview was part of a larger benefit concert. The song itself is commenting on the shenanigans of the 'aristocratic life' as viewed by Goya as he paints their portrait, and is a nice atmospheric piece, and for me it is the best from the album.
2. L'un Vers L'autre (Music by Claude Michel Schonberg; Lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean Marc Natel from Les Miserables) Sung by Marie
The face of Cosette from the black and white pencil drawing that was the cover of the original album is now the face of Les Mis all over the world. It was this album that got into the hands of Cameron Mackintosh who decided a few tracks in that he would stage it. The rest is musical theatre history. The song that didn't make it was L'Un Vers L'Autre, originally for Eponine, who ended up with the wonderful On My Own (the music of which was for another Fantaine song 'L'Aire de la Misere'), with Herbert Kretzmer being drafted in for the English lyrics. The introduction to the cut song remained in the show.
3. Worst Day Of My Life (Music by Frank Wildhorn; Lyrics by Jack Murphy from Wonderland) Sung by Janet Dacal
Wonderland was another Frank Wildhorn musical that despite some very hummable tunes in there didn't quite catch the theatre going public in the way Jekyll & Hyde did. Before it reached Broadway, there was the album, a route Wildhorn has taken a number of times before. While it seems a different version of this song opened the show, sung by a different character (although on the Broadway Cast Recording the first song is Home), I can't help feeling that perhaps this version is the better and more explosive opening for the Alice inspired musical.