Purchase My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies -On Video & DVD-

Cast:

JULIE ANDREWS as the Host

NELL CARTER

LEA DELARIA

LINDA EDER

LUTHER HENDERSON

JENNIFER HOLLIDAY

ANNA KENDRICK

JUDY KUHN

PRISCILLA LOPEZ

REBECCA LURKER

MARIN MAZZIE

ANDREA MCARDLE

AUDRA MCDONALD

LIZA MINNELLI

BEBE NEUWIRTH

ROSIE O'DONNELL

FAITH PRINCE

ELAINE STRITCH

KAREN ZIEMBA

Synopsis: This film presents highlights of a concert given on September 28, 1998 at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Some of the ladies offer songs with which they have been closely associated over the years, while others explore the road not taken. There are also a couple of stunts: Rosie O'Donnell sneaks onto the stage and begins singing "Liza With a Z," only to be interrupted by Liza Minnelli, for whom the song was written. Later, the child actress Anna Kendrick sings "Life Upon the Wicked Stage," backed up by a chorus of cynical, strung-out Kit-Kat Girls from the 1990's revival of "Cabaret." Their fate, apparently, is what young Miss Kendrick can look forward to should she remain in her chosen profession!

By David Horiuchi
A live concert at Carnegie Hall filmed in September 1998, My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies gathers a glittering lineup of Broadway's best, past and present. Some marquee names such as Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, and Betty Buckley are conspicuously missing, and Julie Andrews hosts but does not sing, but it still has Liza and stars aplenty from the '90s (Bebe Neuwirth, Faith Prince) as well as the '70s and '80s (Elaine Stritch, Jennifer Holliday, Nell Carter). The older stars sing songs from landmark original roles, while the '90s stars tend to sing either songs they've performed in revivals or songs from older shows--curiously, modern headliners such as Audra McDonald and Linda Eder sing older material rather than the contemporary shows (Ragtime, Jekyll & Hyde, respectively, among others) with which they are strongly associated.

A number of these performances might be slightly inferior to those on the original recordings, but there are a number of gems, and the star power of the whole lineup is undeniable. In addition, even though only a few numbers provide action to watch, video is a valuable format for this concert because it gives faces to stars who most viewers outside of New York might recognize only by name or still photographs, and also allows fans to catch up with yesterday's stars. (Those who were dazzled by Andrea McArdle's cameo in the 1999 TV remake of her original star-making vehicle, Annie, will love her sweet, understated performance here.) Furthermore, the 99-minute video program provides more footage than the PBS telecast (85 minutes) or the CD release (61 minutes). This is highly recommended for Broadway fans.

[ Copyright© DH, Courtesy of Amazon.com ]

By Rob Keenan
Do you like showtunes? Better yet, do you like women singing showtunes? Or, even better yet, do you like Divas singing showtunes? This televised concert manages to string together a fantastic cast of fantastic women singing fantastic songs. While the "Lloyd Webber Love Trio" is trite and could have been left out, there is a plethora of excellent material here, much of it under-performed. Highlights include Karen Ziemba's "I Wanna Be a Rockette," complete with the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes right behind her, Audra McDonald's hilarious turn with "Down With Love," and Liza Minnelli singing the [expletive deleted] out of "Some People." I can see that some of you are still shaking your heads -- but this show has not one, not two, but three "must-see" performances that absolutely stopped the show cold. The first is Linda Eder ("Jekyll and Hyde") brilliantly singing "Man of La Mancha." The second appears shortly thereafter -- Jennifer Holliday's heartbreaking ballad "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going." But the third, the concert's last solo, is Elaine Stritch singing Stephen Sondheim's witty (and bitchy!) diatribe against "The Ladies Who Lunch." This great actress, singing this great song, is alone worth the purchase price of this concert.

[ Copyright© RK ]