Soundtracks and cast albums: 1. My Fair Lady (broadway cast - Julie Andrews=Eliza Doolittle, musically anyway) 2. A Little Night Music (broadway cast) 3. Yentl (so what if it's all Babs, she sings beautifully and passionately like she means every word and it doesn't get any better than that) 4. Dr. Zhivago (I know, I know, 'Lara's Theme' has been done to death but I love this movie and I love the music in it) 5. Godspell (soundtrack) 6. Beaches (soundtrack - get over 'Wind Beneath My Wings' - this has some great covers by the one & only Divine Miss M) 7. Mary Poppins (first one I ever owned - knew every song by heart at one time) 8. The Sound of Music (I was a real Julie Andrews queen) 9. Cabaret (soundtrack) 10. A Star Is Born (soundtrack, Garland - at her peak and it doesn't get any better than *that*)
I also love the music from 'West Side Story' but for some reason don't own a recording of it. Honorable mention: 'Funny Girl' (soundtrack), 'On a Clear Day You Can See Forever' (soundtrack), 'The King and I' (soundtrack), Carousel (soundtrack), '2001: A Space Odyssey' (soundtrack), 'Pippin' (broadway cast), 'Star!' (soundtrack - yet another Julie Andrews), 'Camelot' (soundtrack), 'Company' (broadway cast), 'Do I Hear A Waltz' (broadway cast - Stephen Sondheim meets Richard Rogers - no great songs but some wonderfully witty lyrics), 'The Wizard of Oz' (soundtrack - Harold Arlen's sublime melodies and E. Y. Harburg's effervescent lyrics - Harburg was the Sondheim of his day, lyrically), 'For the Boys' (soundtrack), 'Gypsy' (TV movie soundtrack - you can have Merman, you can have Russell, I'll take Bette anyday, thank you!), 'Hello Dolly' (both soundtrack & broadway cast - love Babs belting 'Before the Parade Passes By' and 'Put On Your Sunday Clothes' but love the whimsy of Carol Channing, too), 'Hair' (broadway cast - this one would have been number 11)..... and you know there may be more....... Mark E in Seattle
