Broadway Today  (Audio CD) 
by Benny / Ulvaeus, Bjorn / Anderson, Stig Andersson

This compilation gives a pretty good idea of what you'll hear if you buy a ticket for a Broadway show in 2003. Leaving revivals aside (there's no Man of La Mancha or Gypsy, for instance), the tracks tend to encompass contemporary songwriters on the Great White Way. Fittingly, the CD begins and concludes with numbers from Hairspray, arguably the most vibrant new pop musical to come down the pike in ages. Sandwiched between are songs by authors making a belated stage debut (Mel Brooks and The Producers, Billy Joel and Movin’ Out), arty newcomers (Janine Tesori and ) and seasoned pros (Alan Menken and Howard Ashman with Beauty and the Beast). Of course, the most seasoned pro of them all may well be Giacomo Puccini, making a belated Broadway debut thanks to Baz Lurhrmann's production of La Boheme. The addition of Chicago’s "All That Jazz" (from the movie, not the show!) reeks of opportunism, but overall it doesn't spoil a varied collection that should appeal to broad-minded pop lovers everywhere. --Elisabeth Vincentelli