Center Stage (Helen Reddy album)

Center Stage
Studio album by Helen Reddy
Released	September 22, 1998[1]
Recorded	1998 at Westlake Audio Los Angeles, California
Genre	Vocal Pop/Rock[1]
Length	47:05
Label	Varèse Sarabande
Producer	Bruce Kimmel
Helen Reddy chronology
I Am Woman: The Essential Helen Reddy Collection (1998) Center Stage (1998) The Best Christmas Ever (2000)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Billboard	positive[2]

Center Stage is an album by Australian-American pop singer Helen Reddy that was released in 1998 by Varèse Sarabande. Reddy describes the album as the perfect melding of two areas of her career: "the recording studio and the theatrical stage. I tried to select songs from various songwriters in different eras. I've also included (of course) a song from each of the musical shows I've performed in."^[3]

Singles

The album version of "Surrender" and a longer dance version were released together as a CD single but did not have any appearances on Billboard's Hot 100^[4] or Adult Contemporary charts.^[5] Of the album version, Reddy writes, "Andrew Lloyd Webber is very rigid about his songs being sung exactly as written. I gave him his due in the first pass at this song from Sunset Boulevard (originally sung over the body of a dead monkey). However, my need for self-expression found its voice in the second half."^[6]

Reception

Joe Viglione of Allmusic described the album as "masterful"^[1] and writes, "The song selection is tremendous, and the performance is a milestone for a singer who has already conquered other formats. Center Stage is a delightful treat and will be a considered a classic years down the road, on that you can be sure."^[1] Billboard clarifies, "It's not that she has refashioned her vocal approach -- it remains an affecting ballad voice. But it's employed in the interest here of classy, mostly rarely recorded ballads from the world of musical theater."^[2] They conclude, "Reddy makes daring choices throughout this album and meets the challenge every time."^[2]

Track listing

1. "Blow, Gabriel, Blow" from Anything Goes (Cole Porter) – 3:06
2. "I Still Believe in Love" from They're Playing Our Song (Marvin Hamlisch, Carole Bayer Sager) – 3:04
3. "A Boy Like You" from Street Scene (Langston Hughes, Kurt Weill) – 2:38
4. "The Writing's on the Wall" from Drood (Rupert Holmes) – 2:41
5. "With Every Breath I Take" from City of Angels (Cy Coleman, David Zippel) – 3:25
6. "Knowing When to Leave" from Promises, Promises (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 2:10
7. "Love, Look Away" from Flower Drum Song (Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers) – 4:02
8. "Surrender" from Sunset Boulevard (Don Black, Christopher Hampton, Andrew Lloyd Webber) – 3:46
9. "You're Just in Love" from Call Me Madam (performed with Richard Hillman) (Irving Berlin) – 4:25
10. "Tell Me It's Not True" from Blood Brothers (Willy Russell) – 4:05
11. "Speak Low" from One Touch of Venus (Ogden Nash, Kurt Weill) – 3:52
12. "My Friend" from The Life (performed with Jessica Williams) (Cy Coleman, Ira Gasman) – 3:26
13. "Fifty Percent" from Ballroom (Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Billy Goldenberg) – 3:26
14. "The Party's Over" from Bells Are Ringing (Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Jule Styne) – 2:59

Personnel

• Helen Reddy – vocals
• Bruce Kimmel – producer
• Ron Abel – arranger and conductor (except as noted)
• Steven Orich – orchestrations (except as noted); music preparation
• Joseph Baker – arranger and orchestrations ("Tell Me It's Not True")
• Vincent Cirilli – engineer
• Michael Parnin – assistant engineer
• Markus Ulibarri – assistant engineer
• Joe Gastwirt –mastering
• Brian Giorgi – album coordinator
• Esther Monk – assistant to the producer
• Kevin Merrill – photography
• Samantha Weaver – hair and makeup stylist
• Michael Caprio – CD package design
• Peyce Byron, Sabrina Cowans, Michele Mais, Brenda Silas Moore, Wayne Moore – "Surrender" vocal ensemble
• recorded at Westlake Audio, Los Angeles, California
• mastered at OceanView Digital Mastering, Los Angeles, California

Notes

References