Julie Andrews singing “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” at the recording session for My Fair Lady (1956). Having listened to a steady stream of Broadway original cast recordings over the past fifty years, I’ve got a ready-made list in my head of personal favorites. I also have a list of the performances that I feel best represent what it must have been like to see a particular actor create what, in some cases, is the role of their career. As one example, I have always felt like I saw

Harold Prince, victorious with Tony #20 for Showboat, with Gregory Hines (1995). Now that the 2022 Tony Awards nominations have been announced and campaigning is in full swing, as usual, I can't get enough of it all. My obsession began in 1967 when, at age ten, I viewed the first nationally televised ceremony on ABC, which aired in a one-hour time slot that presented every single award as well as the four nominated musicals (the ceremony is slotted for four hours straight in