Editorial Reviews

Andrew Lloyd Webber has dominated musical theater on both sides of the Atlantic for so long that it's easy to take for granted his truly staggering achievements. In addition to composing Broadway's longest-running musical ever (Cats), Webber has created the world's most profitable show (The Phantom of the Opera, with a gross exceeding $3 billion to date) as well as one of the most audacious and influential ones (Jesus Christ Superstar). Webber may also be the last musical Titan able to dash off hit singles as well as hit shows. The five-CD box set Now and Forever collects all of Webber's greatest songs into a remarkable anthology, lovingly compiled and produced by the composer himself, and features the best material from the brand-name musicals Evita, Sunset Boulevard, Starlight Express, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and By Jeeves, his current Broadway tuner. This lush and varied set also includes a disc of rare and unreleased material, as well as more than seven dozen Webber classics performed by such stars as Barbra Streisand ("As If We Never Said Goodbye"), Sarah Brightman ("All I Ask of You"), Betty Buckley ("Memory"), Donny Osmond ("Any Dream Will Do"), Madonna (the Oscar-winning "You Must Love Me"), Charlotte Church ("Pie Jesu"), Jose Carreras ("Amigos Para Siempre (Friends for Life)"), Kiri Te Kanawa ("The Heart Is Slow to Learn"), and, most fascinatingly, Elvis Presley, heard in an outtake of "It's Easy for You," recorded just weeks before his death in 1977. A flawless holiday gift, Now and Forever is ideal for theater devotees, Webber aficionados and neophytes alike, and just about any lover of great songwriting. David Cohen, Barnes & Noble

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