In 1948, our family got our first television set.  There was not a lot of original content on TV at that point, but there were lots of movies.  It was my introduction to:  Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and to the MGM musicals based on operettas of the earlier 20th century.  One of those was the movie based on Oscar Strauss’ music, “The Chocolate Soldier.”  The movie starred Rise Stevens and Nelson Eddy.  It was not based on the story of the original musical (Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw) because the authors estate refused permission, but MGM got the rights to the music and wrote a new story.  It should be added that they added additional operatic pieces by Saint-Saens and Wagner to the movie.  It was my first introduction to Rise Stevens.  In 1951, I bought my first LP.  It was Carmen with Rise Stevens and Robert Merrill.  Seven years later, RCA released a studio recording of “The Chocolate Soldier” with Stevens and Merrill and I bought that too.

On November 16th, 2011, Sony re-released this classic and it is available as an MP3 download.  It is wonderful to listen to Stevens and Merrill once again.  It is a wonderful piece of musical comedy history, but even if you do not buy the entire album, do not miss buying Rise Stevens singing “My Hero.”  Have this performance gives you the opportunity to listen, over and over again, to one of the best recordings ever made.

Categories: Studio Cast Recordings
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La Cage Aux Folles has been performed in many local theaters and by many resident companies across the United States.  Most of these versions are duplicates of the original which starred Gene Barry and George Hearn and most of them are well received.  When they brought La Cage back to Broadway in 2004, it ran for less than six months.  They did not even make a US cast recording.  It failed because it did nothing new and the performances were not up to snuff.  Now we get this new London import, with one of the London stars, Douglas Hodge, and the addition of an American star, Kelsey Grammar.  This new production is not only a hit, but it wins Tony awards for best revival and    for Best Actor in a Musical given to Douglas Hodge.  What happened?  The answer is simple, it is more intimate and touching, less glamorous and more camp and the performances of the two stars is brilliant.

What is even better is that what is on stage at the Longacre Theater in New York translates beautifully to this new cast recording.  The recording features more than just the songs.  It contains the encores, the reprises and dialogue that captures on disk what the show does on stage every night.   Hodge is terrific as Albin.  The manic nature of the role is heard in each of his songs.  He makes them personal.  It is like he is speaking directly to you in  “I Put A Little More Mascara On,” and “I Am What I Am.”  His comedy dialogue is biting and tender, innocent and crafty.  If you are lucky enough to see his performance, then each time you hear this recording you can visualize it again.  There are a lot of people who don’t know how musically talented Kelsey Grammer is.  If you have never heard him perform in a musical, you are in for a real treat.  Hodge is the star, Grammer holds the show together.  Together they are the Yin and Yang of the musical and it works like a charm.

PS Classics has produced a wonderful treasure with the release of this revival album.

Categories: Broadway Revival Cast Recordings
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It has been over thirty years since the original “A Little Night Music” opened on Broadway.  It was the first show I saw on Broadway and left an indelible mark on me.  One of the highlights of that production,  for me,  was “A Weekend In The Country” at the end of the first act.   As the piece moves to its climax, the orchestra soars and there is a direct reference to Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier and then a horn flourish as the act ends.  I have never forgotten that moment.  I have always thought of “A Little Night Music” as a Sondheim tribute to the lyric beauty of the waltz as seen in Der Rosenkavalier or in the great waltz numbers of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein (Hammerstein being one of Sondheim’s mentors).

When I listened to this recording for the first time, one thing struck me like a thunderbolt……the new orchestration.  It seemed to me that one of the main focal points of the show had been lost.   I stewed about this for a few days and then I went back and listened to the album again……and then, I went back and listened to the musical numbers on the original cast recording side by side with this new revival……..Finally, I began to put old memories aside as suddenly I was awakened to the charm of the new production   I now feel that I am ready to look at this new cast recording as a stand alone, not as a comparative piece to the original production.

This new two disc recording includes quite a bit of the dialogue within the scenes.  While I am surprised that they did not do a complete recording of the show, what has been included certainly helps to clarify what the listener hears in the Sondheim musical lyrics.  There certainly is a price to pay in that some of the tempos seem a bit slow and stodgy, but I am willing to pay the price.

This production is not designed to be done in an opera house.  It is a theater piece.  That brings me back to where I began, the orchestra, or shall I say chamber orchestra.  The reeds are the center piece of this chamber group and act as more than just an accompaniment. In fact them seem almost a character within the structure of this production.  I went back to the score and certainly what Sondheim wrote is here, but it has been totally rethought.  It is not overpowering; it is a partner.  All of the reeds, but especially the bassoon seem to be making comments throughout.  It is an interesting concept.  Viewed that way, I think this works quite nicely.

Performance-wise I like Catherine Zeta-Jones in this role very much.  Desiree is not just an actress, she is the daughter of Madam Armfeldt.  Thus, she has to be confident, poised and sophisticated, and Ms Zeta-Jones accomplishes this every time she speaks or sings.  We know she is a woman of the world.  Erin Davie as the Countess Charlotte Malcolm has a wonderful voice and in dialogue and singing of  “Everyday a Little Death”  and “A Weekend In The Country,”   we hear her scorn for her position as the wife of Carl Magnus.  Alexander Hanson as Fredrik and Aaron Lazar as Carl Magnus both have great diction and pitch which serves them well on this recording.  I liked Ramona Mallory as Anne, but she seemed outshone in all of her musical numbers.  I guess I expected more from her.  Leigh Ann Larkin’s performance of Petra’s big number, “The Miller’s Son,” never seems to get going.  Hunter Herlicka is a terrific Henrik in a terrific part.  I am so prejudiced when it comes to Angela Lansbury, that is impossible for me do to anything but love her in any role she does and as Madame Armfeldt she made it very easy.

The recording itself is beautifully done.  The two disk set with a great set of notes, good pictures and all of the lyrics make a very nice package.  It is a great addition to your musical library.  Do I like this as well as the original?  I guess you never get over your first love.

Categories: Broadway Revival Cast Recordings, Uncategorized
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I have always loved this show and its music.  For a long time there was no CD available and now both the original and a new cast recording are there for you.  The Burt Bacharach and Hal David  collaboration from the late 50s until their break-up in 1973 provided us with a decade of hit after hit.  At the height of their powers, they joined with David Merrick in 1968 and produced Promises, Promises.   Now, over forty years later, we finally have a new Broadway version. The rhythmic melodic score and story moving lyrics has been made even more exciting by the new orchestrations and expanded role of the vocalists in the pit.   Additionally,  two additional Bacharach-David hits, “I Say A Little Prayer” and “A House Is Not A Home”  have been added to the show.  However, the best things about this new album are Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth.

Sean Hayes, whose casting surprised me, does not have the vocal chops of Jerry Orbach (Chuck in the original), but from the beginning, he sounds much truer to the character that Jack Lemmon created in Billy Wilder’s movie, “The Apartment,” on which the musical is based   His vocal timbre and the almost airy nature of his performance add real dimension to the Chuck Baxter character.   Just listen to Hayes say “I love you Miss Kubelik” in the reprise of “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again.  He handles the vocal demands quite well, although every so often we hear a bit too much vibrato and a bit of Midwestern  twang.  Kristin Chenoweth gets the most popular song of the show, “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” and the two added numbers.  She is a wonder. She has wonderful pitch and great range and she handles all of the vocal demands of the score with ease.  Together, they never let you forget that each song is part of the show’s dialogue and that the goal is to move the plot forward, not to create vocal arias.

Katie Finneran’s turn in “A Fact Can Be A Beautiful Thing” is really fun and Tony Goldwyn’s “Wanting Things,” has the poignant longing necessary to the plot.

I kept thinking, as I listened over and over to this new recording, that this new recording really brings the show to life and lets you visualize the progression of the show as you listen.  That indeed makes this an A+ recording in my book.

Categories: Broadway Revival Cast Recordings
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I have always loved Finian’s Rainbow.   I was thrilled when they decided to revive it on Broadway in 2009 following its success as part of the New York City Center “Encores.”   I assumed that I would have time to get to New York to see it, but alas, it closed early.  Fortunate for those of us caught in this situation, they did make a cast album.  The only sad part about the recording is that it makes me feel even worse that I did not get to see the production.

Finian’s Rainbow is a great chorus show.  From the opening chorus,  “This Time of the Year” to the finale of the first act, “Great Come and Get It Day” the chorus plays a very powerful role.  But beyond these two big numbers, they also play a supporting role in “If this Isn’t Love” and “Necessity,”  and “When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich.”  Rob Berman has rearranged many of the choral parts by added flourishes, making them brighter and bringing some of the harmonies up to date.  Berman, who is also the music supervisor, gives the entire vocal score a very “chamberish” sound.  The original orchestrations have also been modified and they too have a very “chamberish”  sound.  Of special note is the work of the wind section throughout.  I think the best example of this chamber sound  is found int he song and dance parts of  “If This Isn’t Love.”

If the chorus is great, then Kate Baldwin as Sharon and Cheyenne Jackson as Woody have to be classified as spectacular.  It is sometimes difficult to make standards sound new again, but they do it.  They both have glorious voices and their vocal technique allows the tempos to sometimes be slowed just a bit to take advantage of their ability to phrase.  “How Are Things in Glocca Mora,”  and “Look To the Rainbow,” let Baldwin display her beautiful lyric soprano voice.  In “When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich” she is able to add to that by displaying her  ability to articulate the tricky wording.  Cheyenne Jackson has a wonderfully lyric voice.  He is able to create the emphasis in the lyrics without having to dramatically up the volume.  His range is vast and his falsett0  (the show was first done in 1947 the use of falsetto was not then in vogue)  is lyricallybeautiful.  When they sing  the big duet, “Old Devil Moon,”  their voices blend and complement each other…..making their performance the new standard for how this duet should sound.

Terri White as Dotti  brings new life to “Necessity,”  the male quartet does great justice to “The Begat,”  and Christopher Fitzgerald is perfectly “impish” as the leprechaun Og.

Finally, though the story may have aged a bit, the integration of  gospel, country and Broadway in the music of Burton Lane, and the wit, puns,  playfulness, as well as the bite of the lyrics of Yip Harburg is certainly reaffirmed in this cast recording.

If this is a show that you know,  you can’t help but fall in love this recording and if this be your first experience with Finian’s Rainbow,  you are in for a treat.

Categories: Revival Cast Recordings
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It is hard to believe that The Sound of Music is 50 years old.  It is even harder to believe that when the show opened in 1959 seats sold for $5.  The first release of the original cast recording took place within weeks of the opening of the show on vinyl.   Since then it has been released and updated quite a few times (The first cd release of the album was in 1986).  Now for the 50th anniversary we get the original master restored using 20 bit technology.  What sounded great 50 years ago sounds fantastic now.

There has always been a dispute about whether the Broadway performance by Mary Martin, or the film performance by Julie Andrew, is  better.  To me, this dispute has always been a non-starter.  The only way that you could really compare the two is if they had each performed the role in both venues.  It is likely that there will never be another full scale movie of The Sound of Music so there can be no comparison.  However,  there have already been many revivals of The Sound of Music, the most recent in 1998,  and though I really like Rebecca Luker, her performance does not touch that of Mary Martin.  This new 50th Anniversary release only reminds us again how spectacular the voice, clarity and diction of Mary Martin really is.  The rest of the cast included: Theodore Bikel portrys Captain von Trapp with Patricia Neway as the Mother Abess, Marian Marlowe as Elsa Schraeder and Kurt Kasznar as Max Detweiler.

The notes that come with this album, and the pictures that are contained, are an added bonus, as are the three additional bonus tracks which are included in this release. The first bonus comes from the tv special  “Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett at Carnegie Hall.”  This show was done three years before Andrews would make the film.  It is a wonderful spoof of the family……now 20 children strong (19 brothers and Burnett) and their mother (Andrews).  The second track comes from the 2005 production in Austria, the first mounted production in that country.  It is a performance in German of “Edelweiss,” the last song that Oscar Hammerstein wrote before his death.  The third bonus track is from the 1995 production of the show in Stockholm.  They did not record the album as the show was performed, but rather, cast members performed songs fromt he show.  This track features Tommy Korberg singing “Climb Every Mountain.”

Even if you have previous recordings of the original cast album, this one is special enough, in sound and bonus, to add to your library.

Categories: Original Broadway Cast Recordings
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As the Producing Director of the newly formed Lincoln Center Musical Theater (1964), Richard Rodgers decided to produce as his first production,  The King and I.  Rodgers definitely had a soft spot for operatic voices in the lead roles of his musicals, and for this production, he chose Rise Stevens.  Stevens had been one of the reigning mezzos of the Metropolitan Opera and during the previous two decades she seemed to own the role of Carmen.  For his king, Rodgers cast Darren McGavin who was primarily known as a TV and film actor. Frank Porretta and Lee Venora are Lun Tha and Tuptim and the role of Lady Thiang is performed by Patricia Neway

First, let me say that this is a beautiful recording.   Though recorded over forty years ago, this remastering shows no effects of age.  The orchestra, conducted by Franz Allers, is marvelous and adds great support to these very operatic performances.  From the opening chords of the overture, it is clear that you are in for a treat.  The orchestra sound is lush and dramatic and this kind of full orchestra is often what we miss in many of the revivals of recent vintage.  Allers makes the orchestra almost sing, and the colors that he brings out in the score are certainly the best of any recording I know.

I was first attracted to the album because I have always been a fan of Rise Stevens.  There are few recordings available of Ms. Stevens and when I saw this, I grabbed it.  I was certainly not disappointed.  Stevens is not my favorite Mrs. Anna, I am partial to the studio cast recording made by Julie Andrews, but she brings a richness that grows on you with each hearing.  Not a vowel nor a consonant is lost and, with Stevens’ great breath control, the lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II are allowed to really shine. “Hello Young Lovers” is rich and lush, “Getting to Know You” and “Whistle A Happy Tune” are lilting and “Shall I Tell You What I Think of You” is pointed and dramatic and Mrs. Anna’s rage is quite evident.

Darren McGavin is not the King of Yul Brynner, but with the exception of parts of  “A Puzzlement,” he gives a credible performance.  There can be no doubt, however, that this musical really belongs to Mrs. Anna.  This cast and this recording were certainly an indication that Richard Rodgers wanted to return Mrs. Anna to the leading role.

“My Lord and Master”, “We Kiss in the Shadow”, “Something Wonderful” and “I Have Dreamed” are quite operatic pieces and here, Porretta, Venora and Neway do them real justice.

It is also interesting to note that “The Little House of Uncle Thomas” was not on the original recording and appeared on record for the first time on this recording.

It is hard to keep buying recordings of The King and I, but this is one that deserves to be on your shelf.

Categories: Revival Cast Recordings
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Shrek the Movie has had a long and successful run.  That run helps make Shrek the Musical a success, but it also acts as a limiting factor on the score,  the musical itself and this cast recording.  This show will make those who know Shrek the Movie happy because it so closely follows the movie story line.  As a result the film has dictated song placement.   Thus the music and lyrics by Jeannine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire, move the story line, but are not very creative.  There are some fairly good songs in the show,  but there is nothing that I believe will be lasting.  That being said, those that loved the film and thus the musical will find this cast recording a good story telling record.

Sutton Foster, who seems to move from one Broadway hit to another (Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein) and is outstanding in each one, is terrific here and she has the very best songs of the show in Morning Person and I Think I Got You Beat.  You understand each and every word she sings and there is great life and excitement in her voice.  While I like Brian D’Arcy James, the part demands that he sound like Shrek the Ogre and this takes away from the usual quality that we expect from his singing.  Daniel Breaker is not Eddie Murphy, the movie voice of the donkey,  and suffers by any comparison, although I believe this to be the show’s toughest role.  Christopher Seiber is a very good Farquaad and his Ballad of Farquaad is a lot of fun.

I think this cast recording will be quite fun for children who love the movie and have seen the show, but overall I find the score and this cast recording disappointing.

Categories: Original Broadway Cast Recordings
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When Hair first appeared in 1968 it was seen as a social statement and not fully viewed as a Broadway musical filled with great musical numbers.  It made political statements, racial statements, and religious statements.  It addressed the use of re recreational drugs, especially marijuana, in talked about inter-racial sex and it presented the entire cast on stage, completely nude.  The trauma of  1968, including the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Dr Martin Luther King, the war in Vietnam, the Hippy Movement and the Chicago Democratic Convention only added to the mystic that became Hair.

This time around Hair is a musical period piece,  the social statements have little meaning except to those who were around in the sixties, but the music has been reborn as a gift to a new generation.  The dichotomy between then and now is both an advantage and disadvantage to this cast recording. You can feel the pathos of the performers in the original cast recording that you do not hear in this recording, but there is a musicality in this recording that does not exist in the original.    I only wish that the producers of this recording had chosen to really emphasize the great songs and left a few of the quick interludes off the album, although some dialogue and musical riffs that were not in the original album really add to this recording.  The performances by Gavin Creel, Sasha Allen, Will Swenson and Cassie Levy are wonderful and after listening to the album, even if you have yet to see the revival production, it is hard to walk around without hearing the songs in your head or humming or singing the tunes.  Hair is a period piece, but “Aquarius,” ” I Got Life,”  “Hair,”  “Easy to be Hard,”  “Where Do I Go,”,  “Good Morning Starshine,” and “Let The Sunshine In” still contain powerful visuals and messages.

Buy the album.

Categories: Broadway Revival Cast Recordings
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It has been 50 years since the original West Side Story first reached Broadway.  Now we have a new West Side Story, presently at the Palace Theater in New York, and a new cast recording that Sony released on June 2, 2009.

First let me say that the new recording is wonderful.  The 30 piece orchestra is playing the original orchestrations, but they sound different.  Certainly the technical improvements over the past fifty years have something to do with that, but more importantly the comfort with and understanding of the harmonics and rhythms of the Leonard Bernstein score are better understood today and the rhythmic accents are really emphasized by musical director Patrick Vaccoriello making the orchestratons sound brand new.   This is clear from the beginning, especially in “Something’s Coming.”

Even though there have been great discussions in news articles and on TV about the use of Spanish in dialogue and songs by the Puerto Ricans, when you first hear the use of Spanish by the Sharks, in “The Prologue,” you might be caught off guard. This does not last long, for you  soon you realize you are hearing the language of today’s streets and it becomes very powerful and is a special delight in “I Feel Pretty.”

The cast, which includes: Matt Cavenaugh as Tony, Josefina Scaglione as Maria, Karen Olivo as Anita and Cody Green as Riff  sound less operatic  and perform dialogue and the Stephen Sondheim lyrics with more distinct accents than the stars of the original.  This makes them sound much more like the characters that they play.  However, make no mistake, this cast can sing.  Their range, control of dynamics,  breath control, phrasing,  diction, and in the case of Cavenaugh his ability to sing in falsetto, make this group dynamite.

Cavenaugh and Scaglione have real vocal chemistry in each of the four major duets they sing: “Maria,” “Tonight,” “One Hand One Heart,” and “Somewhere.”  They sound like the young lovers and blend, in English and Spanish, beautifully.

However, the show and the recording reach their performance height when Scaglione and Olivo sing “Un Hombre Asi, I Have a Love.”  It is chilling and if you get goosebumps just listening to it, imagine what happens in the theater.

This show is as relevant today as it was fifty years ago and  unlike many other revivals, not only is the story relevant,  so is the score.  West Side Story has been reborn and this new Sony disk is as exciting as what is taking place at the Palace Theater each night.  If this disk does not win the Grammy I will be stunned.  This is a new castrecording classic; you have to buy it.

Categories: Broadway Revival Cast Recordings, Uncategorized
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