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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Martin Guerre had a three year life beginning in 1996, when it opened in London, and ending in 1999 when it opened in New York.  During those three years, the team that brought us Les Miserables and Miss Saigon felt good about what they had brought to London.  The audiences loved the show and the house was filled.  When the show was being readied for New York, something happened.  Whether they thought the subject matter would not play well in New York because of the religious nature of the story or whether they thought it just was not glitzy enough for New York, they changed the show and ruined it.  Songs were removed and replaced with inferior pieces.  The orchestration, perhaps because of the need to use fewer instruments than was the case in London, is no where near as satisfying as that found on the London CD.  The story seems to get twisted and lose its way.  To me it is just a disaster.

It is fortunate that the London Cast Recording was made.  The London recording features a score that is dynamic and beautiful.  Like Les Miz, Martin Guerre uses motifs that run through many of the numbers and is heard often in the orchestra parts and used to make the story clearer.  The duet Here Comes The Morning between Arnnaud (Iain Glen) and Martin (Matt Rawle) is the most dynamic male duet that I have heard since Lily’s Eyes in The Secret Garden.  This follows the title number Martin Guerre (Matt Rawle) that features a dynamic Martin and an equally dynamic orchestra.  Arnaud and Bertrande (Juliette Caton) get two wonderful duets in Tell Me To Go and Someone.  In addition, there are some chorus numbers that give context to the religious theme of the story and some comic numbers smilair to those found in Les Miz.

I am sure that many having seen Martin Guerre in New York or hear the New York cast recording have never bothered to listen to this London version, but you should.  The entire story is found in the progression of songs in this version and the original songs, libretto and score are far superior to the terrible version that was introduced into New York.

If you are a Les Miz or Miss Saigon fan, I urge you to buy this London cast recording……you won’t regret it.

Company is one of my all time favorite shows.  I have seen it performed many times and I never tire of seeing it.  However, trying to pick the best cast recording from the recordings available is another matter.  There are three American recordings.  The 1970 original cast recording featured Dean Jones as  Bobby and Elaine Stritch in the role of JoAnn.  The 1995 revival cast recording featured Boyd Gaines as Bobby and the 2006 production, which was unlike either of the other two, featured Raul Esparza as Bobby.    Larry Kert (West Side Story) replaced Dean Jones early in the original run, but all we have of him as Bobby is a bonus track on the rereleased 1970 cast recording.    There are London  cast recordings, but I find them untenable so I have decided not to include them here.

So, what to recommend?  I recommend you buy all three Broadway cast recordings  and then, for your own listening pleasure,  make your own Company Perfect Cast Recording(CPCR).  While no one recording is totally superior to the others, there is something from each to be added to you CPCR.

Below are my choices for each number to help you create your own CPCR.

The Opening – Company (The 1995 revival cast recording) – There are a lot of reasons to choose this version.  It has more life than either of the other two, the tempo is crisper, the harmonies are very clear and the sound of the recording is just superior.

The Little Things We Do Together (The Original 1970 Recording) – I really like the tempo here better than in any of the others.  The rhythm seems more punctuated as well.  But, the main reason for my choice is Elaine Stritch.  Some people own certain parts.  Elaine Stritch owns JoAnn and no one has ever touched her performance.

Sorry Grateful (The 2006 revival cast recording) – The 1970 and 1995 versions are both very good, but the 2006 recording is the most insightful and has greater interplay between voice and instrumentation which creates a much better effect.

You Could Drive A Person Crazy (The 1995 revival cast recording) – All three performances are very good.  I really like the people on the original recording, but the 1995 recording is clearer and crisper.  The sync of the voices is such that every word is understood.  The instrumentation in the 2006 recording makes it unsatisfying.

Have I Got A Girl For You (The 1995 revival cast recording) – Hands down, the 1995 recording is the winner here.  The rhythmic punctuations help drive the excitement of the piece.  It is great from beginning to end.

Someone is Waiting (The 1995 revival cast recording) – The voice of Boyd Gaines makes the difference here.  Dean Jones cannot compare and Raul Esparza’s version is vocally nice, but we hear his slurred  “s” sounds and that is bothersome.  Additionally,  instrumentally it is to bare.

Another 100 People (The 1995 revival cast recording) – This is a dynamite number.  The enunciation, diction, pitch and orchestration of the 1995 recording are far better that what you find in the 1970 recording.

Getting Married Today (The 1995 revival cast recording) – What I really like the most about this version is the enunciation and diction.  You understand every word.  Nothing of the text is lost and that makes this version spectacular.

Marry Me A Little (The 2006 revival cast recording) – I do not like that recording very much, but Raul Esparza is wonderful here.  He croons.  This song was cut from the original and appears for the first time in the 1995 recording.

Side By Side / What Would We Do Without You (The 1995 revival cast recording) – This performance is really fun.  It reminds me of a number that could have been seen in Follies. It just sounds more Sondheim like than either of the others ones.  You cannot get through this version without wanting to get up and dance.

Poor Baby (The Original 1970 Recording) – This is the real hen party version.  The women are clear, crisp and snippy.  Neither of the other versions comes close here.

Barcelona (The 1995 Cast Recording) – Boyd Gaines just has exceptional vocal power and vocal control and he shows it here.   His phrasing and breath contol are great and his vocal acting is terrific.

The Ladies Who Lunch (The Original 1970 Recording) – I have said it before, but it deserves repeating.  This part and this song belong to Elaine Stritch.  No one can touch her.

Being Alive (The 1995 Cast Recording) Boyd Gaines has the strongest voice of the three Bobby performers and it is in this number that this becomes the most obvious.  Bobby gains more and more insight with each phrase and Gaines uses his vocal ability to grow the sound through the piece.  It is a wonderful performance.

So there you have it……..The Company Perfect Cast Recording.  You may ask……..So what if I can only afford to buy one of these albums…….which one?   I suggest buying the 1995 revival recording and then buying each of the other numbers as singles…..then put it all together.  It will cost you bit more than buying just one recording, but then you will have The Company Perfect Cast Recording.