Stage to Disc - Boulevard!

by Peter Pinne

The Broadway Musicals of 1962 (Original Cast OC6228) The latest release in the New York Town Hall series has a great selection of show tunes from a year that produced some spectacular scores. Classy Broadway diva Liz Callaway stands out on Poor Little Hollywood Star and The Other Side Of The Tracks, both from Little Me, and Brad Oscar, The Producers original Franz Liebkind, shows what a voice he truly has on Once In A Lifetime (Stop The World I Want To Get Off). Best of the obscure songs is Liz Callaway and Scott Coulter’s perky version of the title tune from Nowhere To Go But Up.****

Boulevard! (Stage Door) Long before Andrew Lloyd Webber set the iconic movie Sunset Boulevard to music, the original star, Hollywood legend Gloria Swanson, recorded a concept album of the story with music and lyrics by Dickson Hughes and Richard Stapley. That album, with piano accompaniment by Hughes, plus bonus tracks of Swanson from TV and film, has just been released by the UK’s enterprising Stage Door label. Sounding like a demo, it’s interesting to hear another musical take on this classic story, but with all the dialogue included, it’s strictly one for collectors. **

Wayne Scott Kermond’s Sing Sing Sing (Can Do That) could almost be called a cast recording of his popular Sammy Davis Jnr. tribute show Candy Man, there’s so much material from it. Kermond, one of Australia’s top song and dance men, scores big-time with three medleys; West Side Story, Singin’ In The Rain and Las Vegas, plus other Davis favorites What Kind Of Fool Am I and Birth Of The Blues. ***

What A Man’s Gotta Do (MGM) is a cast recording of a country blues musical which premiered in Northbridge, WA, on September 15, 2006. Andrew Horabin’s boy to bloke coming-of-age piece traverses the adolescent minefield of sex, drugs and violence, with everything else that comes in between; mateship, fatherhood, marriage and masturbation. It’s poignant (Father And Father Away), witty (It’s A PC 21st Century New Millennium Romantic Arrangement) and laugh-out-loud funny (You Gotta Be A Bloke Mate and The Wanking). Accompaniment is by several rockabilly bands including The Kill Devil Hills and Libby Hammer & Hip Mo’ Toast Big Band. It’s not your ordinary musical, but it’s well worth a listen. ***

Rhonda Burchmore is one of the few musical theatre performers consistently releasing albums today. Her latest Pure Imagination (Shock RB003), a collection of show, movie and pop ballads that include Unchained Melody, The Way We Were, Slipping Through My Fingers, At Seventeen, A Song For You and Send In The Clowns, has a lush string accompaniment and finds her in a mellow and romantic mood. There’s a particularly delicate and tender version of In My Daughter’s Eyes, a touching song from her recent musical Respect. Highly recommended. ****

Rating *Only for the enthusiast ** Borderline *** Worth buying **** Must have ***** Kill for it. November / December 2008