Decca Broadway continues its commitment to theatrical works with the release of two Andrew Lloyd Webber recordings never before available in the U.S.
On Nov. 26, Decca Broadway, which holds the largest cast album library in the states, will release the London cast recording of The Beautiful Game and the Canadian cast recording of The Phantom of the Opera. Both Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals are single CDs.
The Beautiful Game, which concerns the lives of John and Del, two teenagers in the turbulent world of late sixties Belfast, features music by Lloyd Webber and a book and lyrics by Ben Elton. The musical played 11 months in London's West End and features such tunes as "God's Own Country," "Let Us Love in Peace," "Our Kind of Love" and "All the Love I Have."
Colm Wilkinson — of Les Misérables fame — headed the Canadian company of The Phantom of the Opera. Excerpts from that critically hailed production can be heard on Decca's "Highlights from Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera: Original Canadian Cast," which also features Rebecca Caine as Christine Daaé and Byron Nease as Raoul. The 17-track disc boasts such Lloyd Webber tunes as "Think of Me," "The Phantom of the Opera," "Music of the Night," "All I Ask of You," "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" and "The Point of No Return." Some fans regard the Wilkinson disc as the best-sung Phantom preserved on disc.
Both discs will be in stores Nov. 26.