My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies

1	Girl Crazy (Overture) / American Theatre Orchestra 4:19
2	Welcome / Julie Andrews 1:12
3	Adelaide's Lament / Faith Prince 3:44
4	Nowadays / Bebe Neuwirth 3:20
5	Nothing / Priscilla Lopez 4:31
6	I Can Cook Too / Lea DeLaria 2:26
7	Look for the Silver Lining (Tomorrow) / Andrea McArdle 3:41
8	Some People / Liza Minnelli 3:12
9	The Man of la Mancha / Linda Eder 3:11
10	The Webber Love Trio: Love Changes Everything/Unexpected Song/I Don't Know / Judy Kuhn 7:09
11	Everybody's Girl / Debra Monk 4:27
12	Mean to Me / Luther Henderson 2:52
13	Fifty Percent / Dorothy Loudon 5:39
14	And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going / Jennifer Holliday 4:13
15	The Ladies Who Lunch / Elaine Stritch 4:48
16	Closing / Julie Andrews 0:10
17	One 2:21

Barnes & Noble

George Balanchine famously said that "Dance is a woman," but a similar claim might also be made for the Broadway musical. As proof of this thesis I suggest listening to MY FAVORITE BROADWAY: THE LEADING LADIES LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL, which features 16 of the Great White Way's most dazzling divas reprising some of their legendary musical memories. The energetic performances are awe-inspiring and these wonderful women represent a Broadway that still sounds vital, vibrant and vivacious: Seasoned stars like Liza Minnelli, Elaine Stritch, and Nell Carter shine no less brightly here than such contemporary headliners as Bebe Neuwirth, Linda Eder, and Faith Prince. MY FAVORITE BROADWAY has more than its quota of scintillating moments: red-hot mama Lea Delaria's boisterous "I Can Cook Too,"Andrea McArdle's gorgeous melody of "Look For the Silver Lining/Tomorrow," Jennifer Holiday's impassioned "And I'm Telling You" from DREAMGIRLS, as well as three-time Tony winner Audra McDonald, who trills Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Love Changes Everything" (from ASPECTS OF LOVE) as if she were living it. Hosted by theatrical aristocrat Julie Andrews, this sizzling concert firmly puts Broadway's most shapely foot forward. David Cohen

All Music Guide

On a Monday night in September 1998, PBS's Great Performances series staged a program at Carnegie Hall that was a kind of one time only Lilith Fair of the musical theater. Drawing on the talents of 16 female performers then appearing in Broadway musicals (and thus in New York and available, Monday being the theater's traditional "dark" night), plus a few ringers, the lineup presented women repeating their current roles (Karen Ziemba and Bebe Neuwirth's "Nowadays" from Chicago, Lea DeLaria's "I Can Cook Too" from On the Town) and women re-creating roles they had originated or revived on Broadway (Faith Prince's "Adelaide's Lament" from Guys & Dolls, Priscilla Lopez's "Nothing" from A Chorus Line, Andrea McArdle's "Tomorrow" from Annie, Debra Monk's "Everybody's Girl" from Steel Pier, Nell Carter's "Mean to Me" from Ain't Misbehavin', Dorothy Loudon's "Fifty Percent" from Ballroom, Jennifer Holliday's "And I'm Telling You" [aka "And I Am Telling You I Am Not Going"] from Dreamgirls, and Elaine Stritch's "The Ladies Who Lunch" from Company), with some interesting combinations thrown in. Particularly interesting were Linda Eder's version of "Man of La Mancha," a song well within her range, if not her gender, and "The Webber Love Trio" [sic], in which three of Andrew Lloyd Webber's songs were rendered by Audra McDonald, Marin Mazzie, and Judy Kuhn. One might note that some of these "leading ladies" were actually second leads and that, without such missing names as Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, and Betty Buckley, the show could not boast a comprehensive collection of the current crop of female Broadway stars. But that didn't mean there weren't some wonderful performances of some terrific show tunes done by many of the people who sang them for a living. William Ruhlmann