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Cover Snapshot
Amazon.com
Jay Records08.10.19991327
1CD79:38No Lyrics
[TRACKS][CAST]

Nightingale
Musical by Charles Strouse
Original London Cast

From the story by Hans Christian Andersen

Description / My Opinion
Amazon.com - Ordered 09/27/1999 - Shipped 10/12/1999 - Received 10/25/1999

Director: Peter James, Musical Director: David Firman

The Emperor's Nightingale was first performed at the First All Children's Theatre, produced by Meridee Stein. Nightingale was first performed in Great Britain at the 1982 Buxton Festival in a version directed by Hugh Wooldridge. This version's first performance was at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London, on December 18, 1982.

The booklet contains three B&W pictures of the main performers: Sarah Brightman, Gordon Sandison and Susannah Fellows. There is a half a page text by Charles Strouse which is somehow a synopsis.

The 'non-main' characters are played by children from several schools (listed in the small booklet).

A rare gem. This recording is fantastic. The performances are fantastic, the Emperor (Gordon Sandison) is incredible, the Death (Michael Heath) is as frightening as possible (even if she's only present in one track, I was so impressed that I absolutely wanted to mention it here). Of course, Sarah Brightman has a perfect voice for playing the Nightingale, but the Maid (Susannah Fellows) performs at least as well.
The score is also very nice, and contains lots of wonderful themes (For a song to be beautiful, the singer must be free, And when the Nightingale sings, she brings..., etc.). It is a really beautiful score which leads the listener from the beginning to the end without a break. Of course, the tale itself is quite nice but the way it's told is much nicer. There is a lot of humour, even in some tragic moments. This sense of humour is also very present through the narrator's description of what happens. It lightens the situation while it would have been too dark otherwise.

To conclude, what impressed me the most in this recording is the way the tale, the score and the voices melt together into something particularly beautiful.

Musical Numbers
11:09PrologueOrchestra
22:23Perfect HarmonyCompany
34:16Perfect Harmony (Reprise)The Emperor, Company
42:46Nobody Ever Sang For MeThe Emperor
55:02Why Am I So Happy?The Maid
62:37Take Us To The ForestCompany
712:30Who Are These PeopleThe Nightingale
84:05Never Speak Directly To An EmperorPalace Guards
95:31NightingaleCompany
103:17The Emperor Is A ManThe Maid
113:27I Was LostThe Emperor, The Nightingale
121:17Entr'acteOrchestra
135:26CharmingTwo Peacocks
145:49A Singer Must Be FreeThe Nightingale
152:23The Mechanical BirdCompany, The Mechanical Bird
164:03Please Don't Make Me Hear That Song AgainCompany, The Mechanical Bird
175:49Rivers Cannot Flow UpwardsThe Maid, The Nightingale
184:19Death DuetDeath, The Emperor, The Maid, The Nightingale
193:27We Are China / FinaleThe Nightingale, Company
The Cast
Narrator Andrew Shore
Emperor Gordon Sandison
Nightingale Sarah Brightman
Maid Susannah Fellows
Aides Bruce Ogston
Grant Smith
Peacocks Dinah Harris
Jill Pert
Death Michael Heath
Mechanical Nightingale Carole Brooke
Doctors & Scientists Michael Heath
Roy Skelton
Court Choreographer Debbie Goodman
Other characters (sung by children) Allison Baker
Shirley Barham
Philip Barr
Giselle Bayou
Samantha Benezra
Jamie Blisset
Simon Bowen
Beverley Braybon
Vicky Butler
Naomi Campbell
Julie Cannon
Jason Carpenter
Lee Carpenter
Jacey Clarke
John Connaughton
Matthew Edwards
Nicholas Foster
Linda Frith
Andrea Hanson
Amanda Harte
Justine Harte
Josephine Kelly
Smiljka Kostic
Jennifer Mitchell
Zeta Page
Rahmann Qureshi
Maria Rodriguez
Sheryl Sappleton
Sarah Sellings
Stephanie Stevens
Stylianos Stylianou
Amanda Thomson
Amanda Tomlins
Priti Umarania
Michelle Welch
Michelle Whitlock

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