Andrew Lloyd Webber's adaptation of T.S. Eliot's poems may not have become Broadway's longest-running musical without the original cast to begin the raves. Which is why every aficionado of this theatrical classic will tell you that this is the one you have to own (although they'll probably tell you that you need the import original London cast album as well, the show having originated on London's West End and all). But this is the one with Betty Buckley singing "Memory"--the song that turned her into a star. While the complete two-disc set is an appropriate length for the musical that helped set off Broadway's "operatic" phase, this 57-minute highlights CD includes most of the familiar numbers, omitting the overture, "The Naming of Cats," "Bustopher Jones," "The Moments of Happiness," and the mini-epic "Growltiger's Last Stand." The show is now also available--in its entirety--as a home video, but the music still stands on its own, though some cynics have wondered why so much music only produced one hit standard. --Bill Holdship
