Hey, Mr. Producer! is a double live album released in October 1998 by First Night Records. The album documents a concert held on June 7 and 8, 1998, at the Lyceum Theatre in London. The performances were presented as a tribute to producer Cameron Mackintosh and served as a benefit for the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and the Combined Theatrical Charities. The event featured artists performing musical numbers from various productions associated with Mackintosh's career. Proceeds from international sales of video and compact disc (CD) recordings are also donated to both organizations.
Background and content The album includes 57 tracks compiled from the two-night event. The performances were selected from a wide variety of musicals produced or co-produced by Mackintosh, including Les Misérables, Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Oliver!, Martin Guerre, My Fair Lady, Little Shop of Horrors, Follies, Five Guys Named Moe and others. The album reflects Mackintosh's extensive influence in the musical theatre industry through recordings of key songs and ensemble performances from these works. The digital download includes seven bonus tracks from the original studio recording, including Patti LuPone's "As Long as He Needs Me" from Oliver!.
A number of prominent performers appear on the recording, including Julie Andrews, Judi Dench, Bernadette Peters, Michael Ball, Maria Friedman, Lea Salonga, Colm Wilkinson, Jonathan Pryce, and Elaine Paige, among others. Each artist performed numbers from shows in which they had been involved or that were significant in Mackintosh's production history. Julie Andrews also served as the host of the event, introducing acts and participating in the finale.
A notable track on the album is "Dueling Pianos" which features Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber performing excerpts of their own compositions in a medley created specifically for the occasion. The two composers alternated between pieces such as "Send In the Clowns" and "The Music of the Night" ending with a rewritten version of "Send in the Clowns" that referenced Mackintosh directly. The recording also includes lesser-known works like songs from Just So and Moby Dick! The Musical, broadening the scope beyond Mackintosh's most commercially successful productions.
The album does not contain the full program of the live performance. According to coverage by The Hour, the stage event lasted approximately three and a half hours and featured additional numbers not included on the CD release. Some of these performances involved full casts, complex staging, or visual components that could not be translated into the audio format. The tracklist focuses primarily on solo and duet performances that maintain their coherence in a purely musical format.
Reception
Critical David A. Rosenberg of The Hour wrote that "much of the excitement [of the event] is captured on the discs".
Commercial From a commercial standpoint, the album debuted on the UK Albums Chart on 24 October 1998, entering at position No. 42. In the subsequent week, dated 31 October 1998, it registered a decline of ten positions, falling to No. 52. By its third week on the chart, dated 7 November 1998, the album had dropped further to No. 79, which marked its final appearance on the ranking.
Track listing
Personnel Credits adapted from the liner notes of Hey, Mr. Producer! record.
Orchestrations by David Cullen, John Cameron, Jonathan Tunick, and William David Brohn Conducted by Martin Koch Coordination by John Craig Assistant engineering by Meredith Leung Engineered and mixed by David Hunt Liner notes by Cameron Mackintosh and Melvyn Bragg Performed by The City of London Philharmonic Devised by Cameron Mackintosh and Julia McKenzie Photography by Michael Le Poer Trench Programming by André Horstmann Sound design by Andrew Bruce Musical supervision by David Caddick and Martin Koch
Charts +Weekly chart performance for Hey, Mr. Producer! Chart (1998) Peakposition
References