Center Stage (1998)

About this title: Center Stage is a masterful album from Helen Reddy, combining, as she says in the liner notes, "two areas of my career: the recording studio and the theatrical stage." There are 14 selections, all from different shows, beginning with Cole Porter's "Blow, Gabriel, Blow" from Anything Goes to "The Party's Over" from Bells Are Ringing. The former, in particular, is culture shock for Reddy's radio fan base. It is like nothing the fans of her hits are used to, and for Cole Porter's legion of fans, it might be equally jolting. The voice so recognizable as an adult contemporary pop vehicle does what ... read more

Tracks:

1. Blow, Gabriel, Blow [Porter]
2. I Still Believe in Love [Hamlisch/Sager]
3. A Boy Like You [Weill/Hughes]
4. The Writing's on the Wall [Holmes]
5. With Every Breath I Take [Coleman/Zippel]
6. Knowing When to Leave [Bacharach/David]
7. Love, Look Away [Hammerstein/Rodgers]
8. Surrender [Lloyd Webber/Black/]
9. You're Just in Love [Berlin]
10. Tell Me It's Not True [Russell]
11. Speak Low [Weill/Nash]
12. My Friend [Coleman/Gasman]
13. Fifty Percent [Goldenberg/Bergman]
14. The Party's Over [Styne/Comden/Green]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.