All tagged Leslie Bricusse

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Cast Album Review

Though critics didn’t exactly fall all over themselves with love and adoration for the confection that is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with or without their approval, the musical already has many things going for it that are bound to lure in crowds. It has a family-friendly, magical story by Roald Dahl that takes audiences (particularly children) on a wondrous journey into the world of candy. It mines the best of the Leslie Bricusse/Anthony Newley songs from the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, while calling on the usually dependable composing team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray, Catch Me If You Can) to write additional songs to fill the score. It also stars one of Broadway’s finest character actors, Christian Borle, in the role of candy-maker extraordinaire, Mr. Willy Wonka. Even anticipating the worst (or taking the critics’ assessments as gospel), this show was always going to have something going for it.

"This Is the Moment" - Guilty Pleasure Thursday visits Friday

Don't hate me in advance. I have never been an enormous fan of the musicals  of Frank Wildhorn. I found the original Broadway production of Jekyll and Hyde to be sometimes tedious, stodgily staged, and mostly laughable. I said "don't hate me." There were, however, two bright spots in that production: the glorious voice of Linda Eder (especially singing "Someone Like You), and Robert Cucciolli's soaring rendition of "This Is the Moment," my guilty pleasure for this week.