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I've got about a hundred of them.
That does NOT make me a fanatic. My closest friend in the world, though, IS. He's got THOUSANDS of them, on both CD and LP.
I have close to a thousand film score CDs. Compared to his monumental collection of Broadway/Original Cast albums, it's a drop in the bucket.
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I definitely have hundreds of cast albums on vinyl and CD, plus a couple of dozen of rarities on tape cassette. I always think it's a shame that musicals aren't seen as "cool" by many people. It's as though half of the people think musicals are too lowbrow and the other half find them too esoteric. But what I love about them is how their music and lyrics combine the popular and the vernacular with intelligence and high craftsmanship.
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I've got the one's I like which, admittedly, isn't as many as true fans. Not a fan of most musicals from the past 30 or so years.
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I've got lots, though not as many as my soundtracks.
I've been collecting both since approximately the mid-50's, and began seeing shows in New York in the fall of 1965. Then I lived in New York from 1972-87, and saw even more, and still go back on theatre vacations, the last time last November, when I saw 7 shows.
I also have been able to obtain a lot of collectors' items here and there, though I don't always seem to have enough time to hear or see them.
I saw CRY FOR US ALL when it was trying out in Boston, under the title of WHO TO LOVE? The first time I saw it was with Joan Diener's understudy, Willi Burke, who was magnificent, playing the reticent, guilt-ridden wife. The second time I saw it Diener was back, and it was an entirely different show, with her center stage, throwing her many petticoats up in the air, playing a sort of Irish Aldonza, which was not what the character was about at all. In fact, with Diener, the show was terrible, though I still loved the score, of which I'd say only about 2/3 is on the lp, if that. There were some lovely songs which have gone completely unrecorded.
Still, the CD now preserves the great title song, as well as Robert Weede's powerful, "Aggie O Aggie," which was very moving onstage.
I can go on and on about all sorts of stuff I've seen.
My e-mail's on my profile if you want to continue this discussion further....
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I have about 30 or so. Some of my faves:
SONDHEIM
- Company
- A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (I think both the Zero Mostel and Nathan Lane versions are great)
- Sunday In The Park With George
- Sweeney Todd
- Assassins (very underrated and though controversial, or maybe because it's controversial, I think it has a lot to say)
- Into The Woods
WILLIAM FINN
March Of The Falsettos
Falsettoland
(anyone know if Trousers has ever made its way to CD?)
OTHERS
Showboat (revival with Elaine Stritch)
Chicago (Bebe Neuwirth)
Annie (original cast)
Gypsy (Angela Lansbury)
Annie Get Your Gun (Bernadette Peters)
ALL-TIME FAVE
Guys And Dolls (Nathan Lane/Faith Prince revival)
Geez, I haven't listened to any of these for a long time. This thread has me realizing I need to iPod-transfer some of my cast albums. Thanks! 
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I have about 30 or so. Some of my faves:
SONDHEIM
- Company
- A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (I think both the Zero Mostel and Nathan Lane versions are great)
- Sunday In The Park With George
- Sweeney Todd
- Assassins (very underrated and though controversial, or maybe because it's controversial, I think it has a lot to say)
- Into The Woods
WILLIAM FINN
March Of The Falsettos
Falsettoland
(anyone know if Trousers has ever made its way to CD?)
OTHERS
Showboat (revival with Elaine Stritch)
Chicago (Bebe Neuwirth)
Annie (original cast)
Gypsy (Angela Lansbury)
Annie Get Your Gun (Bernadette Peters)
ALL-TIME FAVE
Guys And Dolls (Nathan Lane/Faith Prince revival)
Geez, I haven't listened to any of these for a long time. This thread has me realizing I need to iPod-transfer some of my cast albums. Thanks!
Yes, IN TROUSERS was recorded on CD, though not with the same cast as MARCH OF THE FALSETTOS or FALSETTOLAND.
When the latter 2 shows, each essentially an extended one-act, were combined, under the title of FALSETTOS, one song from IN TROUSERS was included.
I bought IN TROUSERS, thinking it would be as quirky and melodic as the other two, but it really isn't, at least not to my ears. But I believe you can find it on Amazon, or Footlight.com.
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I tend to link 1970 to the disappearance of melody in the Broadway showtune. There are exceptions, of course, but that's around the time when I started getting cranky going to see Broadway musicals. I've virtually stopped going, these days. It's just far too expensive to be repeatedly underwhelmed.
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My wife got me into showtunes on our first summer together, although I discovered Sondheim all
on my own. I remember my mother playing the Capitol original cast for MUSIC MAN endlessly in
1958 and exposing me to the film version of GUYS AND DOLLS. My favorites remain COMPANY
and SWEENY TODD (and maybe ANYONE CAN WHISTLE.) By the way, try to find a copy of
Craig Zadan's SONDHEIM & COMPANY--it's a wonderful book on Sondheim's early and middle
period hits.
I'm tempted by CRY FOR US ALL because someone I knew had the LP version and I was addicted
to the title song.
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Anything Sondheim
Anything Rodgers and Hammerstein
THE BAKER'S WIFE
MACK AND MABEL
DEAR WORLD
CYRANO
One of my oldest friends inherited a pile of money, and was looking to invest it in a Broadway show. He put it into DEAR WORLD, by Jerry Herman, and starring Angela Lansbury, who were both very hot at the time, what with MAME and all being such a hit. DEAR WORLD, despite the fact that I love the cast album (I hadn't even done the puberty thang when the show was briefly on Broadway), was definitely NOT a hit. That said, once in a while, he still gets some money from revivals and CD royalties, but not nearly enough to recoup the losses from his investment.
Even sub-par Sondheim is better than pretty much anything else, IMHO. I often go on Sondheim benders, playing my entire collection repeatedly for weeks on end. No wonder my last girlfriend thought I might be gay, LOL.
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I saw DEAR WORLD when it was trying out in Boston. At the time, everyone thought it would be the next big hit. It had Lansbury, and a score by Jerry Herman; so how could they lose?
Perhaps it was the subject matter, a sweet Gallic fantasy, a souffle of a story, which numerous rousing marches, seemingly one after another, in Herman's score, seemed to make into a martial frontal attack on the subject. Additionally, Lansbury played the Madwoman of Chaillot as a real character, someone entirely removed from the high style of Mame Dennis. This French lady is written as living in the past, entirely out of touch with the contemporary world. Unlike Mame, who, if anything, is a decided trend-setter... Audiences loved Lansbury looking stylish, opening new windows; they felt uncomfortable here with her looking weird. (Interestingly, the heavy dark eye makeup was an look she later repeated in SWEENEY TODD to great effect...)
So, the result was full of mixed messages: a gentle, rather deluded soul decides to buck the Establishment, leading to her leading the cast in numerous marching songs. Or so it seemed in the preview I saw.
There were times, however, when Herman, Lansbury & Co. hit the tone just right, such as some of the solo numbers, and especially in the marvelous "Tea Party," when the gentleness of Giraudoux's original fantasy sounded just the right tone for the proceedings. These moments shine through on the recording, making the show seem much more lyrical than it actually seemed in performance.
It lasted a while, chiefly due to advance sales, but they petered out, and audiences dwindled. I may have seen the show again in New York, and thought they had toned down all the marches, but I honestly can't recall if I did or not. I gave away all my Playbills long ago, and have no documentation of it.
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