Track Listing

1. Overture
2. Wide Open Spaces
3. What Kind Of Man?
4. Thinking Of Him
5. The Woman's Dead
6. Show People
7. Coffee Shop Nights
8. In the Same Boat
9. I Miss the Music
10. Thataway!
11. The Man Is Dead
12. He Did It
13. In the Same Boat
14. It's a Business
15. Kansasland
16. Medley: Thinking Of Him/I Miss the Music
17. A Tough Act To Follow
18. In the Same Boat
19. In the Same Boat
20. Show People
21. Wide Open Spaces
22. A Tough Act To Follow

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2359 in Music
• Released on: 2007-06-05
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording

Album Description
Curtains is an entertaining play within a play, as well as a "whodunit" new musical comedy featuring one of the last scores by legendary, Tony Award-winning songwriters John Kander and Fred Ebb (Cabaret, Chicago, New York, New York). Starring David Hyde Pierce (Spamalot, "Frasier") and Debra Monk, the Curtains original Broadway cast album is produced by nine-time Grammy Award-winner Jay David Saks.

Amazon.com
Sadly, Curtains is the final entry in the long and fruitful partnership of lyricist Fred Ebb (who died in September 2004) and composer John Kander. While the show doesn't reach the heights of the team's previous masterpieces, such as Cabaret and Chicago, it's certainly a lot better than, say, their middling 1997 offering Steel Pier. Deliberately old-fashioned (it even features a real overture, something that's fast becoming a rarity), Curtains is a whodunit rolled into a musical--or vice versa. Set in 1959 Boston, it takes place backstage at a singing-and-dancing Western corker titled Robbin Hood. Someone gets killed, and a show tunes-crazy homicide detective (David Hyde Pierce) is called in. The plot is just a pretext for a series of very entertaining, characteristically brass-heavy songs that may not have the bite of old Kander and Ebb but are still very catchy. Above all, Curtains is (both thematically and stylistically) a love letter to old-school showbiz, and it's delivered on a silver platter by a cast of pros that includes the aforementioned Hyde Pierce, Kander and Ebb habituée Karen Ziemba, endearing Jason Danieley and, a notch above the rest, Debra Monk. Unsurprisingly, she chews the scenery and spits it right back in a pair of rowdy numbers: "Show People" and "It's a Business." --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Customer Reviews

I love Jason Danieley
I bought this because of Jason Danieley. "I Miss The Music" gives me goosebumps and brings me to tears - every time. The CD was worth it for that song alone.

Curtains is the best
I am a big fan of Kander and Ebb. I especially like Ebb's way with lyrics. Unfortunately, since Ebb has died, this really is "curtains" for their collaboration. This is the best K&E production I have ever seen, especially with the original cast. It is hilarious, romantic, typical theater attitudes, and a happy ending. Debra Monk is the best performer, but the character of "Bambi" has to be seen on stage to truly appreciate her dancing ability. David Hyde Pierce sings and dances better than I would have expected. This album doesn't give you the true ending, so you have to go see it on the stage to see how the murders are all solved and everyone is happy. It's worth just listening to, even if you don't really know how it ends.

Gotta Love Broadway!
Lovers of Broadway will appreciate thaat the Musical genre' is alive. Here is a refreshing "new" work, with a clever story and a great cast. Buy the cd & then see the show! You'll leave the theare with your toes a tappin'.