Richard Rodgers - The Second Disc

The Hills Are Alive! ‘The Sound of Music’ Goes Super Deluxe for the Holidays

September 27, 2023 by Joe Marchese | 13 Comments

By any standard, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Howard Lindsay, and Russel Crouse’s The Sound of Music was a bona fide success from the moment the curtain rose at Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 16, 1959. The production starring Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel was described by The New York Times‘ Brooks Atkinson as a “bountiful musical drama” with an “endless fund of cheerful melodies.” It won five Tony Awards (besting stiff competition from Arthur Laurents, Jule Styne, and Stephen Sondheim’s Gypsy) and ran for 1,443 performances on Broadway and spun off…

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Julie Andrews, Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers, Rodgers and Hammerstein

March Is Bustin’ Out All Over: Stage Door Collects First Volume of RCA’s “Show Time” Series of Classic Musicals

February 22, 2021 by Joe Marchese | 4 Comments

By 1953, RCA Victor already boasted a considerable number of Broadway classics in its catalogue – from original cast recordings of Brigadoon and Paint Your Wagon to studio cast renditions of South Pacific and Finian’s Rainbow. But the label was eager to build up its musical theatre repertoire and compete with the likes of Columbia and Decca. To that end, the Show Time series was launched – a collection of 16 EPs, each dedicated to four songs from a beloved musical or operetta. The EPs were also released as eight 10-inch LPs,…

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Jack Cassidy, Jerome Kern, John Raitt, Lisa Kirk, Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers

Release Round-Up: Week of May 24

May 24, 2019 by The Second Disc | 7 Comments

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! America, Classic Album Collection: The Capitol Years (Capitol/Caroline) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) All six of America’s Capitol albums are collected in one newly remastered box set. Classic Album Collection: The Capitol Years presents newly remastered versions of 1979’s Silent Letter, 1980’s Alibi, 1982’s View from the Ground, 1983’s Your Move, 1984’s Perspective, and 1985’s In Concert in one deluxe, affordable package complete with a booklet. It’s been compiled by America archivist Jeff Larson and remastered by Andy Pearce. Read all about it…

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Release Round-Up

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Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

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Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Gospel, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks

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America, Elton John, Jr. Walker and the All-Stars, Kiki Dee, Lee Moses, Mavis Staples, Morrissey, Phil Seymour, Richard Rodgers, Stephen Sondheim, Steve Miller Band, Sting, The Trotter Trio, Todd Rundgren, Toto

Coming Up Roses: Analog Spark Reissues Classic Musicals From Sondheim, Rodgers and Hammerstein, More

April 24, 2017 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Analog Spark kicked off 2016 with a trio of cast recordings – Fiddler on the Roof, My Fair Lady, and West Side Story – on deluxe 180-gram vinyl LPs, and now, the label is welcoming this spring with another three landmark titles from the Sony vaults: Columbia Records’ original Broadway cast recordings of South Pacific (1949), Gypsy (1959), and Company (1970) – each one representing a classic period of American musical theatre. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s South Pacific, the team’s fourth Broadway musical (and fifth overall collaboration, counting the 1945…

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News, Reviews

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Vinyl

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Cast Recordings

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Arthur Laurents, Jule Styne, Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers, Stephen Sondheim

Release Round-Up: Week of April 14

April 14, 2017 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Michael Nesmith, Infinite Tuesday: Autobiographical Riffs – The Music (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Rhino Records offers a 14-track companion CD to Michael Nesmith’s memoir Infinite Tuesday – An Autobiographical Riff (due on April 18). This collection has tracks from Nesmith solo as well as The Monkees and The First National Band, charting his singular and often-trailblazing work over the decades. Read more here! The book is available next Tuesday, April 18, at Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada, and…

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Release Round-Up

Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming

Genres:

Classic Rock, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock

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Billy Porter, John Mayer, Michael Nesmith, Richard Rodgers, The Monkees

Masterworks Premieres Lost Album By Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy, Brings Rare Richard Rodgers and Ed Ames To CD

April 9, 2014 by Joe Marchese | 1 Comment

shirley jones and jack cassidy marriage type love

Sony’s Masterworks Broadway division has announced its spring slate, and it’s filled with surprises. The label is kicking it off with next week’s first-ever release of a shelved album from Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy recorded in 1959 and unreleased until now, and following that in May with the first-ever reissue of a “lost” Richard Rodgers score written for television. That gem, Androcles and the Lion, will be followed in June by a pair of albums from one of its stars: Ed Ames, formerly of the Ames Brothers. In her 2013 memoir,…

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Richard Rodgers, Shirley Jones

Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’: Sony Masterworks Boxes “Complete Rodgers and Hammerstein”

October 18, 2012 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

rodgers and hammerstein the complete broadway musicals

Back on September 10, we reported on Sony Masterworks’ Broadway in a Box, a 25-CD primer on the impressive musical theatre catalogue of Columbia, RCA Victor and associated labels. Contemplating Masterworks’ vast library, we opined, “A deluxe Rodgers and Hammerstein box could represent each of the duo’s stage musicals (save the posthumous adaptation of State Fair) with a disc from the Columbia and RCA Victor archives.” Well, such a deluxe box set is here, much sooner than we anticipated! On November 6, Masterworks will unveil Rodgers and Hammerstein: The Complete Broadway Musicals. …

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News

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Box Sets

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Cast Recordings, Soundtracks

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Richard Rodgers

Lullaby of Broadway: Classic Columbia, RCA Victor Cast Albums Collected in “Broadway in a Box”

September 10, 2012 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Curtain up! Tomorrow, Sony’s Masterworks Broadway division will release Broadway in a Box: The Essential Broadway Musicals Collection, a 25-disc collection formatted similarly to the “Complete Albums” box sets arriving from sister label Legacy Recordings. This impressive collection brings together the original cast recordings for 25 musicals recorded for Columbia Records, Arista Records and RCA Victor between 1949 (South Pacific) and 1987 (Into the Woods and a revival of Anything Goes). Columbia Records’ commitment to the American musical began in 1946 when the label recorded the Broadway revival cast of Jerome Kern and…

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News

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Box Sets

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Cast Recordings

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Richard Rodgers, Stephen Sondheim

Review: Two By Richard Rodgers, “On Your Toes” (1952) and “Carousel” (1955)

June 17, 2011 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

June is busting out all over, and so is the music of Richard Rodgers. Then again, the work of the composer (1902-1979) is always busting out all over. Even in 2010, Rodgers had the third most-covered song of the year, according to ASCAP. The song was “My Funny Valentine,” with lyrics by Lorenz Hart, and it was written in 1937, proving that Richard Rodgers’ music is, indeed, timeless. Masterworks Broadway, drawing from Sony Music Entertainment’s Columbia and RCA Victor vaults, has been a leading light in bringing classic theatre titles into the digital…

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Reviews

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Cast Recordings, Soundtracks

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Richard Rodgers