Broadway's Lost Treasures 2

Rating:
Summary: Looks even better than vol. 1
Review: Don't get me wrong, vol. 1 was great to see. But I have some fond memories of the listed numbers, and it's possible this volume might have less star wattage and show familiarity but more polished, enjoyable performances. The list:

The Leads:
Patti LuPone, Anything Goes
Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur, Mame
Robert Morse, How to Succeed
Jane Lapotaire, Piaf
Richard Kiley, Man of La Mancha

All Singing, All Dancing
Nell Carter and cast, Ain't Misbehavin'
Michael Jeter and Brent Barrett, Grand Hotel
Gregory Hines and cast, Jelly's Last Jam
Walter Bobbie and Nathan Lane, Guys and Dolls

Revivals and Record Breakers
George Hearn and cast, La Cage aux Folles
Cast, Les Miserables
Shirley Verrett and cast, Carousel
Jerry Orbach, Chicago

Bonus Performances
Katharine Hepburn, Coco
Robert Lindsay, Me and My Girl
Tom Bosley, Fiorello!
Kathi Moss and cast, Nine
Bill Hutton and cast, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Rating:
Summary: More Great Performances
Review: I am so happy to see that this sequel is out there. I hope that they keep putting them out over and over. I actaully like this one more than the first. I am crazy about Patty LuPone and she is phenomenal as usual.

This is one to watch again and again.

The only thing I didn't care for much were the interviews, which I found to be very light weight and not adding much to the show. But, that is a small quibble in something so valuable.

Rating:
Summary: Broadway's Lost Treasures 2 a Triumph!
Review: If you love musical theater this is an absolute must. I enjoyed this program even more than the first Broadway's Lost Treasures. How fortunate we are to have these fantastic performances preserved for us to enjoy. Buy it!

Rating:
Summary: Worth it -- but another mixed bag
Review: Once again, I'm grateful for what good we do get in the mix of performances captured in Broadway's Lost Treasures II -- for what is good is quite good.

Among the best are Michael Jeter and Brent Barrett having a ball in Grand Hotel, Patti LuPone brassily belting in Anything Goes, Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur radiating charm and affection in Mame, Robert Lindsay acting and singing very much like Anthony Newley in Me and My Girl, and Walter Bobbie and chorus bringing down the house in Guys and Dolls.

But we also get plenty of less-exciting segments, and several once again are lip synched (generally the performers recreating their performances for the 1971 Tony show's retrospective). The latter include Richard Kiley in Man of La Mancha and Tom Bosley in Fiorello. The whole lifeblood of Broadway is LIVE performance, so these artificial segments should have been left in the vault and more time should have been given to other truly live performances.

The most curious segment is Katherine Hepburn in Coco. In the end, though, it doesn't do much for the reputation of the show -- or Hepburn, for that matter. She can't sing -- that's no surprise -- but she's also unable to immerse herself in the character. You never forget it's Hepburn doing Chanel, and she tends to bellow to be heard across the footlights. Since Hepburn insisted on having this segment pretaped without an audience, we also get a very intrusive laugh track. But for many, Hepburn's star wattage will be enough.

All that said, every Broadway fan needs to have this DVD in his/her collection. And we can only hope that more will be forthcoming.

Rating:
Summary: Some spectacular material, some disappointing
Review: Though there is a little weak material on this DVD, the whole is an item absolutely essential to the Broadway lover's collection. You will replay many of the sequences over and over, like Jeter and Barrett's smashing scene from Grand Hotel (even my musical-disliking friends liked this one), Gregory Hines and his peerless company in Jelly's Last Jam, and Jerry Orbach's turn as Billy Flynn in Chicago. On the other hand, the Coco sequence is long, dull, and forgettable; the girl playing next to Hepburn is incredibly bad, and it's a surprise that someone like her would be on the Broadway stage. I thought the Me and My Girl sequence was also long, dull, and forgettable, with a repetitive song and a dance that seemed less than brilliantly choreographed. I just wish they would ultimately release all the Tony performances; in most cases, these are the only surviving snippets of much classic theatre, and whether they're "treasures" or not they're always worth seeing and preserving.