Best of 2001: Best Place To Get A Showtune Fix

Tower Records
8657 Villa La Jolla Drive, La Jolla
858-452-2566
www.towerrecords.com

Any record store will have copies of The Producers or the collected works of Andrew Lloyd Webber. A few might even know the difference between Stephen Sondheim and Stephen Schwartz. But if you just have to have the latest from Jason Robert Brown or Ricky Ian Gordon, or if your favorite singers include Liz Callaway and Jason Graae, or if you actually know Judy Kaye from Judy Kuhn, you are indeed a Broadway (and off-Broadway) fanatic. The best place in town to feed your fixation? Tower Records La Jolla. An entire wall of the classical room is devoted to soundtracks and cast albums, where rare and obscure shows are given equal time with the biggest hits. Another nearby section collects the top vocal performers‚ solo albums alphabetically. And the room is sectioned off from the rock and roll part of the store, so you can hide from those friends of yours who don't understand your need for classics like Scarlett -- the stage musical adaptation of Gone with the Wind -- in Japanese. Tower Records on Sports Arena Boulevard has an equally enviable collection of showtunes, but they're right out there, next to the rock.