Madonna

Madonna co-starred in Dick Tracy, in which she sang the Oscar-winning song "Sooner or Later" (one of three songs here written by Broadway's Stephen Sondheim). This is mainly retro swing with fat electro-rock beats, with Madonna offering her best vocals thus far. The tacked-on "Vogue" is the best cut and has outlasted the underground movement that spawned it.

An alternative subtitle could be Madonna Goes Broadway in a Major Way. She pulls it off
with brass and panache, but then everybody knows Madonna doesn't mess around.
Compared with Prince's mechanical-sounding Batman LP, at any rate, I'm Breathless stands
as a unified whole – a fully realized concept album. Whether that's a compliment depends
on what you think of the concept itself. This recording may seem like a conceit... More >

There are no doubt hundreds of frustrated chorines who could sing the three Sondheim originals "better" than the most famous person in the world. But with its pedigree of wit and musicality, show-tune pop-schlock sure beats the direct-to-Vegas power ballads with which she's heretofore betrayed her dance-rock roots. Especially when she writes it herself--except for the "Material Girl"-inspired "More," the Sondheim tunes are fussy and genteel (with Mandy Patinkin's "well-sung" cameo the nadir), but such fake period pieces as "Cry Baby," "He's a Man," and the risque s&m-lite "Hanky Panky" are all her. This is a woman whose great gift is for the mask. Camp isn't everything she can do, but she sure knows how to do it right. (Grade - A)