Gift Suggestions for
MUSIC LOVERS
 

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 Les Miserables - The Dream Cast. Tenth-anniversary concert with Colm Wilkinson (Valjean), Michael Ball (Marius), and Alun Armstrong (Thenardier). From Broadway came Judy Kuhn (Cosette), Lea Salonga (Eponine), and Michael Maguire (Enjolras); from a later London production came Ruthie Henshall (Fantine); and from Australia came Philip Quast (Javert). The players are in costume, but sing at microphones rather than while performing. They’re backed (as they never are in a Broadway performance) by a 200-member chorus and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. “One Day More” on this DVD will blow you away. Plot information needed to tie the songs together is provided in subtitles. Les Miserables - The Dream Cast is also available on VHS.

WILKINSON, Colm. Stage Heroes. Wilkinson originated the role of Jean Valjean in the musical Les Misérables: a marvelous voice, here singing songs from Man of La Mancha, Chess, West Side Story, Phantom of the Opera, South Pacific, Camelot, Porgy & Bess and Les Miz.

NEK.   La Vida Es. Nek, an Italian-born pop singer, learned Castilian Spanish in order to sell records abroad. Although my Spanish is rudimentary I love the way he enunciates, and it’s interesting that sentiments that would seem common in English seem much more interesting if I have to translate them. The music’s also very addictive; my husband and daughter, who know almost no Spanish, also love this CD.