There was a time when people who wrote musicals could actually write. As unbelievable as that is, it might come as an even bigger shock to know that there were singers who could actually sing! In this day and age when so-called musicals require so-called singers to have an octave-and-a-half vibrato, and to squawk bravely through their noses like B. Peters and the unspeakably awful K. Criswell, it is refreshing to recall just how great the legendary Dorothy Kirsten was. (I blame Ethel Merman for the current plethora of crap. Sorry, no other word fits). From her appearances on the classic radio and TV shows of the day (not to mention Lucky Strike ads) to her unparalleled career at the Metropolitan Opera, Kirsten was a woman to be reckoned with.

The albums here include music of Kern and Gershwin. It is inconceivable that with the ghosts of Gershwin, Kern, Porter, et al, floating about, people seriously use "Webber" and the perennial "Sondheim" in the same breath. A listen to this will (and has in the past) remind people of what has been lost. I hope not forever.