For the latest of my Broadway Records reviews, I've been listening to a very special recording - From Broadway With Love: A Benefit for Sandy Hook. I won't go into the details on Sandy Hook here, Google is your friend for that, but Broadway Records are donating 100% of its profits from the CD, DVD and Blu-ray to support the Newtown-Sandy Hook community via the Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation.

I've long been a fan of Broadway Concerts, and even more so when they are properly released. There haven't been many releases of late for this branch of my genre, so it was pleasing to see this was being recorded - and on video too, which is somewhat of a rarity these days.

It was also pleasing to see the line up. So, hold onto your seats. Appearing on the recording are... Brian Stokes Mitchell (Ragtime, Tony Award winner: Kiss Me Kate, 3-time Tony Award nominee), Linda Eder (Jekyll & Hyde), Stephen Schwartz (6-time Tony Award nominee including Wicked, Pippin and Godspell), Micky Dolenz (Aida, member of The Monkees), Marc Shaiman (Tony Award winner: Hairspray, TV’s SMASH), Michael Cerveris (Tony Award winner: Assassins, 4-time Tony Award nominee including Evita and Sweeney Todd), Frank Wildhorn (Tony Award nominee: Bonnie & Clyde and Civil War, Jekyll & Hyde), Nikki Blonsky (Golden Globe nominee: Hairspray movie), Alan Muraoka (Pacific Overtures, TV’s Sesame Street), Robin de Jesus (Tony Award nominee: La Cage Aux Folles and In The Heights), Ashley Blanchet (Annie, Memphis), Capathia Jenkins (Newsies, Caroline, Or Change), Christine Ebersole (Tony Award winner: Grey Gardens), Paul Scott Goodman (Rooms, Bright Lights Big City), Philip Boykin (Tony Award nominee: The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess), Richard Kind (The Producers, TV’s Mad About You), Brett Boles, Mary Testa (Guys and Dolls, Xanadu), Julia Murney (Wicked, Lennon), Janet Metz (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Falsettoland) along with Muppets and cast members from Sesame Street as well as members from various casts of Million Dollar Quartet. Oh and the full touring cast of Sister Act - The Musical.

So, can a concert with such a stellar line up, some of the top musicians in the US, and released by one of the top recording labels in the world fail. Of course not. This is one of the recordings (the few recordings these days) that I will return to again, and again. I was sent the CD and DVD to review - I've also now ordered the Blu-Ray. The whole production is superb, and to say that this was recorded in one night, and not in a studio where retakes are commonplace, is amazing. The production quality, and performance quality are all top rate.

It's hard to pull out favourites, but I will (as regular readers know) always pull toward the new and different. And toward Frank Wildhorn and Linda Eder. 'Finding Wonderland', from the much under-rated Wildhorn musical Wonderland is a track that will always feature in my top 10 anywhere it features, and especially when it's performed as it is here, by Capathia Jenkins. But my favourite track on the recording is without doubt Eder's 'If I Had My Way'. Perfection. There is no other word.

There's not a missed opportunity anywhere in the 26 tracks - you will laugh at 'The Duck Joke' from My Favourite Year, and probably shed a tear with the beautifully performed kids songs.

Quite simply, perfection captured, for a very worthy cause.

10

Ian Gude