For any listener curious about the wonderful Broadway songs written for musicals during the '40s, The Best of Broadway: The Late '40s is a swell place to start. The generous disc -- 20 compositions -- 70 minutes -- draws from theater and film to build a collection of songs from the major musicals of the era including Finian's Rainbow, Brigadoon, and Gentlemen Prefer Blonds. Ethel Merman and Ray Middleton offer the bouncy "There's No Business Like Show Business" and the ballad "They Say It's Wonderful," from Annie Get Your Gun. Multiple songs are also taken from South Pacific and Carousel. Well-known performers show up here and there, including Bing Crosby, with his mellow version of "Blue Skies" from the movie of the same name, and Doris Day with "It's Magic" from Romance on the High Seas. Judy Garland joins Fred Astaire for Irving Berlin's "Easter Parade," and then returns with the cast of The Harvey Girls for "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe." A couple of the nice things about this "best-of" collection is that it allows the novice to get a feel for the musical theater of this particular period, as well as sample music from 17 musicals. For the old-time fan familiar with the music, The Best of Broadway: The Late '40s is like a 70-minute radio program with no commercials. The only downside of this catchy disc is that it will leave the listener singing show tunes in public places at inappropriate moments. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., All Music Guide