Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Philadelphia chickens : a too-illogical zoological musical revue




With music by Sandra Boynton & Michael Ford and lyrics and drawings by Sandra Boynton, this modern musical masterpiece surpasses the typical expectation for children's entertainment.  Billed as "The original cast recording of the unforgettable (though completely imaginary) stage spectacular," this 19-song CD features the vocal talents of such luminaries of stage and screen as Meryl Streep, Laura Linney and Patti LuPone.  The CD opens with the song Cows with riotous lyrics such as "A turn of the head and a swish of the tail and a tippity-tap of the toes.  What a glorious sight in black and white, and a touch of pink at the nose!"
Conjuring images straight out of A Chorus Line, these cows sing in low bovine tones about how remarkable and fabulous they are "Such remarkable cows.  We can sing very low.  We can dance in a row.  We are lovely and slow, oh, oh --- yes, you know we are COWS."  No self-esteem issues for this herd!

From Publishers Weekly

Sandra Boynton, long heralded for her menagerie of animal characters (Moo, Baa, La La La; Rhinoceros Tap), puts a fresh cast of singing, dancing critters center stage-from the titular boogying chickens to a tail-wagging "snuggle puppy"-in Philadelphia Chickens, a book-and-CD package billed as an "imaginary musical revue." The first 32 pages contain lyrics and illustrations, the second half of the book includes musical notation and additional lyrics for each song. An all-star cast, including Meryl Streep, Laura Linney, Eric Stoltz and the Bacon Brothers, headlines the musical recording, which features a variety of original show tunes penned by Boynton and composed by Boynton and frequent collaborator Michael Ford.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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