Search - Billy Goldenberg, Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman :: Ballroom (1979 Original Broadway Cast)

Old tunes, old cast, touching stories.

S. McCasland | Deer Park, Ny. USA | 03/23/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A touching love story told by the incredible old-timers of theater in their golden years. Dorothy Loudon soars. Buy it for "Fifty Percent" if for anything. The song makes me wrench and it will make you sob too. Buy it for that. Buy it for her. Buy it for the music that makes you want to dance."

Under-rated musical masterpiece

Byron Kolln | the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood | 09/30/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"BALLROOM is a fantastic musical. It has a huge cult following by Michael Bennett fans and Broadway musical-lovers alike. The score is an exciting blend of old-fashioned waltzes combined with the pulsating rhythms of the 70's disco scene.The story concerns Bea Asher (Dorothy Loudon - who also created the role of Miss Hannigan in the original cast of ANNIE), who, after losing her husband, discovers a new life at a dingy ballroom in the Bronx. There, she meets Alfred Rossi (Vincent Gardenia), a married man, whom she begins to have a love affair with. Bea knows that she will never truly 'have' Alfred for herself, but is more than willing to play second-fiddle even if her pride is what takes the fall.The music is gorgeous; as with other "concept musicals", most of the songs have nothing to do with the plot, and most are sung by the singers at the ballroom (played by Lynn Roberts and Bernie Knee). Stand-outs in the score are "Dreams", "I Love to Dance", "A Terrific Band and a Real Nice Crowd", "Somebody Did All Right for Herself", and - the real show-stopper - "Fifty Percent", sung for all its worth by Dorothy Loudon.A beautiful score and musical; ripe for rediscovery."

A gentle, wistful musical

Byron Kolln | 12/18/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After the phenomenal success and acclaim of A CHORUS LINE (1975), the late director/choreographer Michael Bennett did what the true genius so often seems to: he switched tack entirely and came up with BALLROOM, a gentle, wistful musical from 1979 that has as its central characters two "ordinary" people in the autumn of their lives meeting by chance and falling in love. It's hard to imagine a world more removed from the glitzy grind portrayed in A CHORUS LINE. Sadly, the show never found much of an audience and closed after a little over 100 performances.Based on a TV movie, BALLROOM was written for the stage by Jerome Kass, with music by Billy Goldenberg and lyrics from the famed team of Alan & Marilyn Bergman. The score has a couple of outstanding songs, with a few more-than-useful ones, though there is a curious stylistic division on the recording: some numbers, reflecting their place in the structure of the musical, are really only background, commentary, pieces. The dramatic numbers, on the other hand, in which characters "speak" are the real highlights - and a performer of Dorothy Loudon's class makes them truly memorable. The show produced a single standard: "Fifty Percent". When Miss Loudon, with a heartrending blend of smile and tears in her voice, sings it, insisting that she'd sooner have half a love than none at all, it's plain that this deeply-felt work delivers no easy answers. Choreography can't be preserved on a CD of course, but the sincerity and originality of Bennett's vision, I think, do infuse the recording."