![The Wild Party (LaChiusa) (2000 Original Broadway Cast) [CAST RECORDING]](../images/cover_lachiu15.gif)
The
Wild Party (LaChiusa) (2000 Original Broadway Cast) Michael John LaChiusa,
Mandy Patinkin, Eartha Kitt, Toni Collette, George C. Wolfe
With his controversial The
Wild Party, prolific composer-lyricist Michael John LaChiusa
continues to stretch the possibilities for contemporary musical
theater. His racy musical is based on a 1928 poem about one night
of escalating decadence, through which LaChiusa stages a
brilliant, savage, polystylistic unmasking of the lies we live by.
The original cast recording captures the manic energy of the
top-rate cast, including Mandy Patinkin, Toni Collette, and Eartha
Kitt all working together in electrifying ensemble. --Thomas
May (Amazon.com's Best
of 2000)
![Hello Again (1994 Original Broadway Cast) [CAST RECORDING]](../images/cover_lachiu16.gif)
Hello
Again (1994 Original Broadway Cast)
Michael John LaChiusa, Judy Blazer, Donna Murphy, Carolee
Carmello, Malcolm Gets, Michael Park, John Cameron Mitchell,
Michele Pawk
"After having directed a production of this
show, I find it imperative to make sure others give it a listen.
On one play through, one cannot even begin to grasp the depth that
lies beneath this brilliant score and rich text. Everyone must
purchase "Hello Again." LaChiusa holds the key to the
new millennium of musical theater." -- Anonymous Review
"Having had the chance to actually work on
this show makes, with the original cast, me a little biased, but I
think my perspective on the soundtrack is also interesting. I
would have to say working with this cast under the direction of
Graciela Daniele was brilliant, everyone contributes so much to
their roll and it was a real ensemble piece. Personal standouts
for me were Donna Murphy, even in rehearsal, she had this uncanny
presence, that her role as the whore underplayed. The trickiest
scene in the whole play was Scene 8 we went thru at least 200, but
the cast really persevered. Another favorite of mine is Michelle
Pawk, she was like a chameleon and when she hit those notes in
Mistress of the Senator I just about fainted. Hello Again does
grow on you, and I enjoy listening to it and reliving that
wonderful experience over and over again." -- Anonymous
Review
![Marie Christine (1999 Broadway Cast) [CAST RECORDING]](../images/cover_lachiu17.gif)
Marie
Christine (1999 Broadway Cast)
Michael John LaChiusa, Audra McDonald, Anthony Crivello,
Mary Testa, Michael McCormick, Darius de Haas
A retelling of Medea
transposed to 19th-century America, Marie Christine falls
short of its lofty ambitions, which still makes it more audacious
than most of the current Broadway fare. Composer-lyricist
Michael John LaChiusa's lyrics can be cumbersomely
narrative, and too often he dispatches a song without letting it
develop fully, as if refusing to be overly easy on the ear. But
the man's dramatic flair is undeniable, and this recording allows
us to fully appreciate subtleties that got drowned in Graciela
Daniele's often-dreary staging at Lincoln Center. Second-act
opener "Cincinnati" shows that when he feels like it,
LaChiusa can write the kind of boisterous big number that brings
down a house. In the title role, Audra
McDonald confirms that she is an incandescent presence. This
welcome recording may help rehabilitate a misunderstood show. --Elisabeth
Vincentelli
