Product Description

For the first time in China, The Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber is presented in concert as a world-class showcase incorporating the best-known and best-loved songs from Lloyd Webber's internationally acclaimed stage musicals, including The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Sunset Boulevard. This is a hit-driven production, a spectacular event starring Elaine Paige, one of the most established and highly regarded West End and Broadway stars, direct from a year-long sell-out season in the London production of The King and I, and recording sensations Coco Lee and Kris Phillips (Fei Xiang), amongst the most successful artists of their generations. For China Concert Tour 2001, this world-class lineup will be joined by a full company of established performers drawn from the U.K., U.S., and Australia and a 60-piece orchestra led by the renowned Patrick Vacciarello, who has conducted musicals for Lloyd Webber on Broadway and on national tours in the U.S. and Australia.
Tracks: Superstar Overture, Superstar, I Don't Know How to Love Him, Any Dream Will Do, Evita Suite, Buenos Aires, And the Money Kept Rolling In, Don't Cry for Me Argentina, The Heart Is Slow to Learn, Beautiful Game Overture, Let Us Love in Peace, Take That Look Off Your Face, Jellicle Ball, Acidity, Gethsemane, Aspects of Aspects, Love Changes Everything, Pie Jesus, Phantom Overture, Phantom of the Opera Journey, Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again, All I Ask of You, Masquerade, The Music of the Night, Car Chase, Sunset Boulevard, The Perfect Year, As if We Never Said Goodbye, Memory, Friends for Life, No Matter What.

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Elaine Paige headlines the international cast of Masterpiece: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, a September 2001 concert in Beijing. Paige sings songs from her roles in Lloyd Webber's musicals Evita, Cats, and Sunset Boulevard, while Kris Phillips, Sandy Lam, Tony Vincent, and others provide solid but rarely thrilling renditions of tunes from such shows as Jesus Christ Superstar and Phantom of the Opera. There are also orchestral numbers and some dances, but not much staging or costumes--whether performing "Macavity" or "Masquerade," the dance team members look like refugees from Sweet Charity.
The obvious comparison is with Andrew Lloyd Webber: A Royal Albert Hall Celebration. Filmed three years later, Masterpiece includes more from The Beautiful Game and it's a technically superior DVD with DTS sound and an anamorphic widescreen picture. Royal Albert Hall, however, has bigger stars and better performances overall. But both run over two hours and have plenty of variety, so Lloyd Webber fans don't necessarily need to pick one over the other. --David Horiuchi

Set Contains:

Surprisingly, the concert doesn't name who's singing what, though you should be able to identify the singers once you watch the DVD's substantial (46 minutes) making-of documentary. Better yet, the companion CD (included with the bonus version of this DVD or available separately) offers a performer list for its 13 songs (54 minutes), which you can then apply to the rest of the concert. --David Horiuchi, ISBN13: B00007AS0W ISBN10: B00007AS0W Material Type: dvd