The Washington Post had an interesting story today about cast albums. Admittedly, I own quite a few, and it makes me sad to see how it's becoming harder and harder to produce them. I can't imagine the time when songs from musical theater was popular music, but there was such a time, and it's sad that we're so far past that. There are jukebox musicals, which take popular music and turn it into a musical (and I admit that I'd rather people buy ABBA Gold than the cast recording of Mamma Mia!), but I wonder whether that gets people to see other shows. I somehow doubt it. It is encouraging to see people snapping up copies of CDs at shows...they need to continue to be made. It's how I relive those experiences; I can't imagine seeing a show that really moves me, and not be able to listen to the songs over and over again.
And it's nuts to think that there used to be many versions of shows recorded. Do they still make Broadway and London recordings of shows? I mean, at one point, I had the London, Broadway, Complete Symphonic, and 10th Anniversary recordings of Les Mis. I can't imagine that they'd do that these days. Unfortunately.
(I don't have the Broadway version anymore. What's the point? No Michael Ball.)
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It's somewhat cyclical. Early musical theater consisted mostly of songs recycled from vaudeville with a book bolted on as an afterthought to link the songs together (not unlike jukebox musicals today). The songs were also added to movies and covered by popular artists (Sinatra, et al), furthering their popularity. The trend is just going the other way right now.
It WILL cycle back around soon, right? RIGHT?
*sigh*
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