The Best Collection: Musicals

Starring:Best Musical 4pak
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Broadway's Lost Treasures Collection (Broadway's Lost Treasures 1-3 & The Best of the Tony Awards - The Plays)

Average customer rating:

Classic Broadway Shows
Broadway Stars
Almost Perfect
Finally some good music!
Met my expectations

Broadway's Lost Treasures Collection (Broadway's Lost Treasures 1-3 & The Best of the Tony Awards - The Plays)
Starring: Wanda Richert , Steven Hack , Angela Lansbury , Mandy Patinkin , and Nana Visitor
Director: Chris Cohen
Manufacturer: Acorn Media
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Musicals & Performing Arts | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Music Video & Concerts | Genres | DVD | Video

Musicals & Performing Arts | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Broadway's Lost Treasures II
Broadway's Lost Treasures III - The Best of the Tony Awards
Broadway - The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
Liza with a "Z" - A Concert for Television (Collector's Edition)
My Favorite Broadway - The Leading Ladies

ASIN: B000EDWLU0
Release Date: 2006-05-02

Amazon.com

The Broadway's Lost Treasures Collection consists of the three volumes previously released on DVD plus a never-before-available fourth disc, The Best of the Tony Awards: The Plays. The first three discs deliver what the title promises: historic performances of great moments in American musical theater televised on the Tony Awards starting in the 1960s and into the new millennium. Unlike some other arts, theater has rarely been well-documented, so it's a treat to see these numbers performed by the original artists rather than experience them through audio recordings or tepid movie adaptations. Sure, sound and picture quality are only adequate, some of the numbers are minimally staged and some appear to be lip-synched, and some of the performances that do have excellent film counterparts seem rather lackluster here. But those are minor drawbacks compared to the chance to see Gwen Verdon performing "All That Jazz" and "Nowadays" from Chicago and "Whatever Lola Wants" from Damn Yankees; John Raitt singing The Pajama Game's "Hey There"; Alfred Drake singing Kiss Me Kate's "Where Is the Life That Late I Led"); a 33-year-old Jerry Orbach performing Promises, Promises' "She Likes Basketball"; and 12-year-old Andrea McArdle breaking hearts in Annie's "Tomorrow."

The second and third volumes feature newer, fully staged performances that are almost indistinguishable from an actual show, including scenes from splashy, high-energy revivals such as Anything Goes (Patti LuPone and company performing the title tune) and Guys and Dolls (the fabulous "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat"), and new shows such as Grand Hotel (Michael Jeter and Brent Barrett in a gloriously exuberant "Take a Glass Together"), Les Miserables ("One Day More"), La Cage aux Folles (George Hearn solo and with a chorus line in drag in "I Am What I Am"), Ragtime (the opening number), and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Kristin Chenoweth's "My New Philosophy"). The new generation of splashy dance-oriented musicals are also represented by the likes of the 42nd Street revival (the title tune and "We're in the Money"), Fosse ("Sing, Sing, Sing"), and Crazy for You ("I Can't Be Bothered Now").

The Best of the Tony Awards: The Plays features 19 of the dramatic and comedy excerpts showcased on the Tony Awards telecasts between 1969 and 2001. From 1969 are James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander in The Great White Hope and Art Carney in Lovers, and other performances include Maggie Smith and Margaret Tyzack in Lettice and Lovage (1990), John Lithgow and B.D. Wong in M. Butterfly (1988), Joan Allen and Peter Friedman in The Heidi Chronicles (1988), and Joe Mantegna and Ron Silver in Speed-the-Plow (1988). The performances aren't specifically organized by date or performer, but the collection concludes with four excerpts from August Wilson works followed by three Shakespearean works. The excerpts are brief, lasting 2-3 minutes each, and even though each segment is introduced by a narrator, this format clearly works better for musicals than it does for plays. Regardless, it remains a rare chance to see stage performances that for the most part are not available on home video. Collectors who already own the three musical volumes, however, will have to weigh how badly they want The Plays when they consider mostly duplicating their purchase with the Broadway's Lost Treasures Collection. --David Horiuchi

Description

A comprehensive collection of great performances captured on film as part of the annual Tony Award® broadcasts. Broadway royalty and Tony® winners, including Lauren Bacall, Bebe Neuwirth, Robert Goulet, and Harvey Fierstein, serve as hosts and share their own Broadway and Tony® memories.

Produced as PBS specials, Broadway's Lost Treasures I, II, & III feature legendary stars—including Patti LuPone, Nell Carter, Jerry Orbach, Gwen Verdon, Ethel Merman, Kristin Chenoweth, Angela Lansbury, Joel Grey, and many more—performing musical numbers from legendary shows—including Anything Goes, Man of La Mancha, Guys and Dolls, Ain't Misbehavin', Chicago, Fosse, Miss Saigon, Crazy for You, and many many more.

The Best of the Tony® Awards-The Plays features acting greats, such as James Earl Jones, Maggie Smith, Annette Benning, Kevin Kline, and Morgan Freeman, performing key scenes from 19 celebrated plays, including The Great White Hope, The Heidi Chronicles, Fences, Hamlet, and Long Day's Journey Into Night.

For theatre lovers, it doesn't get any better than this!

Customer Reviews:

Classic Broadway Shows.......2007-03-30

Almost every show on this DVD is a favorite of mine and has been for many years. It's great to have these true treasures at your beck and call through this DVD. Some of these talented performers will never be seen again. I am very, very happy with this DVD. beti schwartz

Broadway Stars.......2007-03-20

Broadway stars abound in these DVDs. There is a wonderful variety of clips and the narrations and interviews are good, as well. Such talent! Gregory Hines, Robert Goulet, Richard Kiley, Julie Andrews, and more and more to knock you off your feet. Don't pass this up!

Almost Perfect.......2007-02-27

I saw this on PBS and immediately decided to buy myself a copy!
While these excerpts are not from the broadway shows themselves, they are from the Tony Awards and are therefore, 'live.' And it's just wonderful to experience the level of 'energy' that great actors project when performing live on a stage.

There are a couple of songs that I don't particularly care for myself (Worst Pies in London), but most are wonderful, and the performances, while not 100% flawless (this WAS filmed live) are almost all engaging.

A few comments:
Yul Brenner manages to project more energy just standing there in the background than his co-star singing her heart out in "Shall We Dance." She is, alas, a fairly indifferent actress, and is overwhelmed by her enormous dress!

Lip-synced or no, Robert Preston in "Music Man" is wonderful. As is Joel Grey's fabulous MC in "Caberet." Again, it's all about energy.

I'd honestly never even heard of Patti Lapone before I saw this show, but she blew me away with her powerful voice. (Evita.)

"All that Jazz" and "Nowadays" from "Chicago" is, alas, much too short,but delightful.

The most unintentionally funny bit -- Twiggy looking either utterly bored or utterly terrified (but completely out of character, regardless) as she struggles with a simple dance routine in "Kicking the Clouds Away," (From "My One and Only.") She must have not realized that the camera had her in close up ...

Recommend this 100%

Finally some good music!.......2007-01-24

I loved this collection especially because there will really never again be a group of such talented performers and writers. The people nowadays just don't have the talent!

Met my expectations.......2007-01-16

I saw part of the Broadway's Lost Treasure Collection during a Public TV Fundraiser. I ordered it for myself and sent a second collection to a friend for a Christmas gift. The collection is well worth the money.

Best Picture Collection - Musicals (An American in Paris/Gigi/My Fair Lady)

Average customer rating:

Always get the original version
Expected better

Best Picture Collection - Musicals (An American in Paris/Gigi/My Fair Lady)
Starring: Leslie Caron , Maurice Chevalier , Louis Jourdan , Hermione Gingold , and Eva Gabor
Director: Charles Walters , and Vincente Minnelli
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Musicals & Performing Arts | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Musicals & Performing Arts | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Classics | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Rodgers & Hammerstein Collection (The Sound of Music / The King and I / Oklahoma! / South Pacific / State Fair / Carousel)
The Audrey Hepburn DVD Collection (Roman Holiday / Sabrina / Breakfast at Tiffany's)
The Humphrey Bogart Collection (The Big Sleep/The Maltese Falcon/Casablanca/Key Largo)
Singin' in the Rain (Two-Disc Special Edition)
American Movie Musicals Collection: West Side Story/Fiddler on the Roof/Guys and Dolls

ASIN: B000087EYD
Release Date: 2003-03-04

Amazon.com

An American in Paris
A GI (Gene Kelly) stays in Paris after the war to become an artist and has to choose between the patronage of a rich American woman (Nina Foch) and a French gamine (Leslie Caron) engaged to an older man. The plot is mostly an excuse for director Vincente Minnelli to pool his own extraordinary talent with those of choreographer-dancer-actor Kelly and the artists behind the screenplay, art direction, cinematography, and score, creating a rapturous musical not quite like anything else in cinema. The final section of the film comprises a 17-minute dance sequence that took a month to film and is breathtaking. Songs include "'S Wonderful," "I Got Rhythm," and "Love Is Here to Stay."

Gigi
Vincente Minnelli's 1958 adaptation of Colette's story about a girl (Leslie Caron) groomed as a courtesan--but desired as a wife by a Parisian playboy (Louis Jordan)--won a lot of Oscars ^®, but it also has the unusual distinction of being an MGM musical shot on location in the City of Lights. What a musical it is (by Lerner and Loewe): Maurice Chevalier and Hermione Gingold crooning "Ah, Yes, I Remember It Well," plus the songs "Thank Heaven for Little Girls," "Gigi," "I'm a Bore," and "She's Not Thinking of Me." Director Minnelli makes a sumptuous, dreamy, almost laid-back affair of it all, and the indispensable cast is forever etched into memory. Hollywood's long-running infatuation with Continental grace and manners, the memory of a much earlier time imported to American movies through such immigrant directors as Ernst Lubitsch, may have finally come to a gentle end with this film.

My Fair Lady
Hollywood's legendary "woman's director," George Cukor, transformed Audrey Hepburn into street-urchin-turned-proper-lady Eliza Doolittle in this film version of the Lerner and Loewe musical. Based on George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, My Fair Lady stars Rex Harrison as linguist Henry Higgins (Harrison also played the role, opposite Julie Andrews, on stage), who draws Eliza into a social experiment that works almost too well. The letterbox edition of this film on video certainly pays tribute to the pageantry of Cukor's set, but it also underscores a certain visual stiffness that can slow viewer enthusiasm just a tad. But it's really star wattage that keeps this film exciting, that and such great songs as "On the Street Where You Live" and "I Could Have Danced All Night." Actor Jeremy Brett, who gained a huge following later in life portraying Sherlock Holmes, is quite electric as Eliza's determined suitor. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Always get the original version.......2007-05-30

Once again MGM has packaged three great films but in their pan and scan versions. It will be better to get them seperately in the letterbox versions.

Expected better.......2007-01-09

It would have been much better with wide screen presentation, Gigi also lacks quality in soung and the magnificent viewes of Paris are lost. Of the whole collection, An american in Paris comes as the best picture in this format. Not worth the money

Best Picture Oscar Collection - Musicals (My Fair Lady Special Edition / An American in Paris / The Broadway Melody of 1929 / Gigi / The Great Ziegfeld)

Average customer rating:

Excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best Picture Oscar Collection - Musicals (My Fair Lady Special Edition / An American in Paris / The Broadway Melody of 1929 / Gigi / The Great Ziegfeld)
Starring: Leslie Caron , Maurice Chevalier , Louis Jourdan , Hermione Gingold , and Eva Gabor
Director: Charles Walters , Vincente Minnelli , and Robert Z. Leonard
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Musicals & Performing Arts | Genres | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Special Editions | Fully Loaded DVDs | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Best Picture Oscar Collection - Drama (Amadeus/Casablanca Special Edition/Driving Miss Daisy/The Life of Emile Zola/Mrs. Miniver)
The Classic Musicals Collection - Broadway to Hollywood (Easter Parade Two Disc Special Edition / The Band Wagon Two Disc Special Edition / Bells Are Ringing / Finian's Rainbow / Brigadoon)
Classic Musicals Collection - The Cole Porter Gift Set (High Society / Kiss Me Kate / Les Girls / Broadway Melody of 1940 / Silk Stockings)
Studio Classics - Best Picture Collection (Sunrise / How Green Was My Valley / Gentleman's Agreement / All About Eve)
Classic Musicals from the Dream Factory, Vol. 1 (Ziegfeld Follies / Till the Clouds Roll By / Three Little Words / Summer Stock / It's Always Fair Weather)

ASIN: B0006V6TO4
Release Date: 2005-02-08

Customer Reviews:

Excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......2006-03-20

Give me any of the musicals anytime. These performances are like a thing in the past. Some of these production companies should take a look at the old to bring back the Glitz!!!!!!!!!!!

Average customer rating:

The Best Collection: Musicals
Starring: Best Musical 4pak
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Musicals & Performing Arts | Genres | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Musicals & Performing Arts | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

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