DVDs
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Music from the Movies Lesley Garrett is one of Britain's best-loved classical singers. This DVD features her stunning soprano voice on a selection of classic songs from the movies. The concert was recorded with the Orchestra of Opera North at the 2004 "Opera In The Park" concert in Leeds. It was broadcast by the BBC at Christmas 2004.As well as Lesley Garrett, the concert features guest contributions from Ruthie Henshall and Michael McCarthy. Ruthie performs The Man That Got Away, Mein Herr, Cabaret and All That Jazz. |
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A Christmas Carol: The Musical Ruthie plays the mother of young Scrooge in the NBC adaptation of the Menken & Ahrens musical A Christmas Carol, Ruthie's film debut. The two-hour movie stars Kelsey Grammer as Scrooge, Jason Alexander as Jacob Marley, Jane Krakowski as the Ghost of Christmas Past and Jennifer Love Hewitt as Emily. A musical version of the Dickens classic adapted by Mike Ockrent and Lynn Ahrens, the show opened at the Madison Square Garden in 1994, where it played every Christmas for ten years. |
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Voices for Darfur "Voices for Darfur", the UNHCR concert in which Ruthie performed in December 2004. Recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall, the DVD includes additional backstage footage of all artists expressing their views on the Darfur conflict and explaining their decision to perform for free. Ruthie performs the Cole Porter songs Let's Do It and You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To. |
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Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There An invaluable and moving salute to the art form composed of interviews with the people who were there in the 1940s through the 1960s. There are too many to list, but they include John Raitt, Angela Lansbury, Hume Cronyn, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Carol Channing, Jerry Orbach, Robert Goulet, Robert Morse, Jerry Herman, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Stephen Sondheim, and Harold Prince. There are also some rare performance clips, such as Ethel Merman in Gypsy, Patricia Morison in Kiss Me Kate, and Angela Lansbury in Mame, as well as more familiar television performances, but very few film versions (for either authenticity or rights reasons).Ruthie does not appear in the main feature, but short clips appear in the previews of the sequel, Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age. |
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Richard Rodgers: Some Enchanted Evening This star-studded 80-minute concert, previously broadcast on BBC4 in the UK and PBS in the USA was recorded in May 2002 at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket as part of the Richard Rodgers centennial celebrations.Rodgers, whose contribution to musical theatre was extraordinary (over 900 published songs, 40 Broadway musicals and several film scores), with Lorenz Hart and later Oscar Hammerstein II wrote Babes in Arms, Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music, still among the most successful shows of all time. Directed by Simon Callow, this production features song, dance, and anecdotes featuring leading stars from both Broadway and London's West End, including Maureen Lipman, Judi Dench (performing a definitive "Sixteen Going On Seventeen"), Lesley Garrett and Kim Criswell. Ruthie performs My Funny Valentine, and other songs include: Manhattan, Some Enchanted Evening, Johnny One-Note, Getting to Know You, Kansas City, I Have Confidence, To Keep My Love Alive, If I Loved You, You'll Never Walk Alone and Oklahoma! |
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Putting It Together An all-star cast performs the music of one of the greatest composers of our time... Stephen Sondheim. Anxiously anticipated by the myriad of fans of the legendary composer, Putting It Together marked the return of Carol Burnett to the Broadway musical stage for the first time in over 35 years. Stephen Sondheim has won a record seven Tony Awards for his songwriting, and the Pulitzer Prize for Sunday in the Park with George. His Broadway smash shows and movies include Gypsy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Sweeney Todd, Dick Tracy, and West Side Story. Putting It Together features many hit songs from some of Sondheim's biggest hits, including "Lovely" (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), "More" (Dick Tracy), "Pretty Women" (Sweeney Todd), "The Ladies Who Lunch" (Company), and many more.Joining Carol Burnett is Tony Award winner George Hearn (La Cage aux Folles, Sunset Boulevard), John Barrowman (The Fix), Ruthie Henshall (She Loves Me), and TV and film star Bronson Pinchot (Perfect Strangers, Beverly Hills Cop). This Cameron Macintosh stage production was captured live in performance during its Broadway run and recorded in high definition with a widescreen format using ten cameras and over 40 microphones. You get the feeling of being there live! |
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Hey, Mr. Producer! Subtitled The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh, this video compilation is an unapologetic, self-produced valentine by and for Mackintosh, England's most omnipresent theatrical impresario. Conceived and taped as a royal gala for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the production sprints smartly across Mackintosh's long list of hit musicals and revivals including Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, and Oliver! with a huge principal cast, choruses and dancers, and full orchestra, introduced by Julie Andrews. While no substitute for any of the individual shows represented, Hey Mr. Producer! offers a fast-paced revue aimed at both casual theater fans and devotees of both New York's Broadway and London's West End.The cast spotlights both American and English marquee talent, including both familiar musical troupers and dramatic actors who have proven themselves game, if untutored, singers. Jonathan Pryce (Brazil), who proved himself a latter-day Rex Harrison through 1980s stage hits, is perhaps the most ubiquitous, reprising his turns from Miss Saigon and in Harrison's signature musical role, Dr. Henry Higgins, from My Fair Lady (inevitably a set-up for Andrews's arrival onstage). Judi Dench (Mrs. Brown) provides one of the dramatic high points in a devastating reading of "Send in the Clowns," from Mackintosh's production of Side by Side by Sondheim. Sondheim himself pops up, as does one of his favorite leading ladies, Bernadette Peters, who basks, as always, in the spotlight and repays the adulation with several of the show's best moments. |
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Les Miserables in Concert The 10th anniversary concert video of the international musical sensation Les Misérables might be the best thing to appease fans until a full-fledged movie comes along. Or it might be even better, as feature films are often subject to extramusical casting considerations and this 1995 dream cast is superb. Reprising their roles from the original London company are Colm Wilkinson (Valjean), Michael Ball (Marius), and Alun Armstrong (Thenardier). From Broadway come Judy Kuhn (Cosette), Lea Salonga (Eponine), and Michael Maguire (Enjolras); from a later London production comes Ruthie Henshall (Fantine); and from Australia comes Philip Quast (Javert). Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg's score vividly captures the passion of Victor Hugo's epic tale of pre-Revolutionary France, combining tear-jerking ballads ("I Dreamed a Dream," "Bring Him Home") and rousing anthems ("Do You Hear the People Sing"). The format of this concert is closer to that of a dramatic cantata rather than a fully staged production; the singers stand at their microphone stands with an orchestra and chorus behind them, but they do wear costumes and participate in some movement. At certain points such as the climax of the barricade scene, the video switches to action from a stage production. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra sounds great, and it can be thrilling when 200 choristers (dressed in logo T-shirts) rise to their feet for a full-company number such as "One Day More." Also, subtitles provide date and scene information and help move the story along.The 147-minute video contains footage not seen when Les Mis was a PBS pledge-drive staple, most notably the encore in which a progression of 17 actors who have played Valjean around the world share "Do You Hear the People Sing?" Each sings a line in his native language, a testament to the enduring power of this show to audiences everywhere. |
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The Making of Miss Saigon The definitive documentary film companion to one of the greatest Broadway hits of all time. Witness the evolution of this monumental production from its inception in the sumptuous hills of Provence to its glamorous London debut on a fascinating insider's voyage into the world of the theater.Features brief behind-the-scenes footage of Ruthie. |