Stage to Disc with Peter Pinne 2013
GREASE (Warren Casey/Jim Jacobs) (Universal 3754911).
The current cast of John Frost’s new production of Grease have recorded the show, making it the first ever Australian cast recording. With a song-stack the same as the 1993 London Cast, which augmented the original score with the specially written songs for the movie by Barry Gibb, John Farrar, Scott Simon and Louis St Louis, this 1950’s rock ‘n’ roll pastiche sounds as fresh as ever. As head greaser Danny, Rob Mills vocally acquits himself well, as does Gretel Scarlett as the virginal Sandy. Their duet “You’re the One That I Want” is blistering. Scarlett does a fine cover of “Hopelessly Devoted to You”, while Mills effortlessly croons “Sandy”. Anthony Callea (“Born To Hand Jive”) and Todd McKenney (“Beauty School Dropout”) make the most of their cameos while Lucy Maunder’s tough but vulnerable Pink Lady Rizzo delivers a moving “There Are Worse Things I Could Do”, one of the best songs in the score. ***
ANNIE (Charles Strouse/Martin Charnin) (Shout! Broadway 826663-14208).
The new, well-recorded Broadway cast recording of Annie is of particular interest to Oz musical theatre geeks because it stars Anthony Warlow as Daddy Warbucks, a role he’s portrayed in two Australian productions. Warlow is in great voice on his solo “Something Was Missing” and stands out leading the company on “N.Y.C.” and “A New Deal for Christmas”. Katie Finneran plays Miss Hannigan with a Brooklyn accent, which gives a different take on the character, but it is moppet Lilla Crawford in the title role who steals the show. With a voice of pure brass, she delivers “Maybe” and the hit song “Tomorrow” like a seasoned pro. With new orchestrations, based on Philip J. Lang’s iconic originals, snappy choral arrangements, and the inclusion of the film’s “We Got Annie”, it’s the most complete recording of the score on disc. Thankfully “We’d Like to Thank You Herbert Hoover” has been restored to its original jaunty 1930s feel, unlike the recent Australian production which gave it a more contemporary sound. Bonus tracks are of Finneran’s replacement, Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester on TVs Glee), who sings “Easy Street”, and “Little Girls”, a song she performed on this year’s Tony Awards. There are plenty of recordings out there of the Annie score, and the original Broadway Cast with Dorothy Loudon as Miss Hannigan is still the gold standard, but this one is a very acceptable No. 2. ****
DOGFIGHT (Benj Pasek/Justin Paul) (Ghostlight 8-4470).
Like they did with A Christmas Story, composer-lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul have improved on their source material with their musical adaptation of Dogfight. Based on the 1991 indie movie about a cruel bet by Vietnam-bound Marines in 1963 San Francisco, the team have provided an impressive score with pop and folk nods to the era. As Rose, the girl who bears the brunt of the bet, Lindsay Mendez is perfect with the Sondheimesque “Nothing Short of Wonderful”, and the moving “Pretty Funny” is outstanding. She also excels, along with Annaleigh Ashford (Kinky Boots), on the title song. The role of Eddie, the Marine who grows a conscience, is also a perfect fit for Derek Klena who brings a high-energy level leading the ensemble on “Some Kinda Time” and “Hey Good Lookin’”, and true emotion to “Come Back”, a song that expresses the pain of a returned serviceman whose brothers-in-arms have all been lost in war. Dogfight is musical theatre writing that is uplifting, well-crafted and tunefully engaging. ****
I DREAMED A DREAM – HIT SONGS FROM BROADWAY (Various) (ABC 481 0378).
Lucy Maunder is also one of eight performers who sing songs from classic musicals accompanied by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra conducted by Guy Noble. Best of the tracks are those by Trisha Crowe, who makes a more than acceptable Mary Poppins on “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and brings a thrilling soprano to two Maria roles, The Sound of Music’s “My Favourite Things” and West Side Story’s “Tonight”. Operatunity Oz winner David Parkin has the best male voice on the disc and effortlessly delivers South Pacific’s “Some Enchanted Evening”, Jacqueline Dark does likewise with the Mother Abbess’ anthem “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” from The Sound of Music, while veteran Toni Lamond is perfect for A Little Night Music’s “Send in the Clowns”. ***
SONGS IN THE KEY OF BLACK (Irving Berlin) Lucy Maunder (No Label/No Number).
The thing that elevates this album above the crowd is brilliant piano arrangements and accompaniment by Daniel Edmonds and assured and effortless singing by Lucy Maunder. The album springs from Maunder’s one-woman show Songs in the Key of Black,which refers to composer Irving Berlin and the legend that he only wrote songs on the black keys of the piano. Written by Nick Christo and directed by Neil Gooding, the song choices come mainly from Berlin’s output in the 1920s and 30s. The ballads, “What’ll I Do”, “All Alone” and “How Deep Is the Ocean”, mix comfortably with the dance rhythms of “Puttin’ On the Ritz” and “Cheek To Cheek”, but it’s the obscure “Yiddisha Nightingale” that’s the gem here. Maunder’s tender interpretation of it is pure class. ****
COMPOSITIONS – A MUSICAL CLOSE-UP – Tyran Parke (Various) (TP2013).
On paper Tyran Parke’s new album, a collection of songs to accompany mostly black and white photographs shot by his brother Trent, sounds pretentious, but in reality it contains some fine song-writing. Parke has assembled an impressive array of composers including Stephen Schwartz, David Shire, John Bucchino, Mathew Robinson, Anthony Costanzo, Jeff Marx and Eddie Perfect, who have all written works especially for him. The fit of the material and Parke’s light-tenor voice is perfect. Best tracks are Scott Alan’s “I Remember” about a relationship in its autumnal phase, Jeff Marx’s “There’s a Long Road Ahead”, about a relationship just beginning, and Georgia Stitt’s bluesy “Kites and Children”. He closes with Jeff Blumenkrantz’s vaudeville-like “Choose Happy”, an ironic take on all those songs exhorting one to ‘put on a happy face’. ***
I
N FLIGHT – Vincent Hooper (Various) (No label/No number).
Show songs old and new also feature on the debut album from Perth Song and Dance man Vincent Hooper. With a voice in the light tenor range and a distinctive nasal tone, he negotiates his way through an eclectic set of material that includes “I Believe” (Book of Mormon), “Moving the Line” (Smash), “Try Me” (She Loves Me) and “Being Good Isn’t Good Enough” (Hallelujah, Baby!). Well worth a listen. ***
Kinky Boots (Cyndi Lauper) (Masterworks Broadway 88883 70838 2).
It’s easy to see why Cyndi Lauper’s first Broadway score for Kinky Boots won her a Tony Award. From the opening anthem to shoes, “The Most Beautiful Thing In the World”, to the roof-raising finale “Raise You Up”/”Just Be” it’s catchy Broadway pop with a touch of rock grit. The story of a Northampton shoe factory about to go under, and its salvation by creating fetish footwear for drag queens, has wisely retained the English setting of the 2005 movie in this high-energy musical makeover. Stark Sands (Charlie)and Billy Porter (Lola) star and turn in terrific performances. Sands, who was previously impressive in American Idiot, scores on “Take What You Got”, a good driving pop duet with Andy Kelso (Harry), and “The Soul of a Man” which is full of rock ‘n’ roll pain. Porter takes control of the dance beats in “The Sex Is in the Heel”, and simply tears the emotion out of your heart with his 11-o’clock number “Hold Me in Your Heart”. Together they give a brilliant and soulful reading of the show’s best song, “Not my Father’s Son”. As the factory girl who falls in love with her boss, Annaleigh Ashford finds the laughs in “The History of Wrong Guys”, a clever girl-making-dumb-choices type of song. It’s a feel-good score with heart. ****
Cinderella (Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein) (Ghostlight 84472).
Despite being 56 years old, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s score for Cinderella still enchants in this latest incarnation, the first time the show has been presented as a Broadway musical. Originally written as a TV musical for Julie Andrews, the score has been augmented with songs and music from other Rodgers and Hammerstein shows, and the integration of the material is brilliant. Laura Osnes makes a sweet and lovely Cinderella (or as she’s called in this version Ella), and sets the scene nicely with “In My Own Little Corner”, Santino Fontana sings well as the Prince on “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful”, and Ann Harada (Charlotte) and Marla Mindelle (Gabrielle) are great fun in the comic “Stepsister’s Lament”. The two lovers’ voices blend nicely on “Ten Minutes Ago”, one of Rodgers’ finest waltzes, and the “Loneliness of Evening”, a song dropped from South Pacific but added to the 1965 television remake. The best of the new additions is “There’s Music in You” sung by Victoria Clark as the Fairy Godmother, Marie. The song has a memorable melody and was originally written for the obscure 1953 flop movie Main Street To Broadway. The other interpolations come from a variety of sources: “Me, Who Am I” cut from Me and Juliet, “Now is the Time” dropped from South Pacific, and “He Was Tall”, which was originally the verse for “Hello Young Lovers” in The King and I. The “Prologue” and “The Wedding” contain music from “Bright Canary Yellow”, a song cut from South Pacific, and “There’s Music In You” uses some melody from “One Foot, Other Foot” from Allegro in its bridge. Book writer Douglas Carter Beane and arranger David Chase have written the new lyrics which are sparkling additions to Hammerstein’s originals. ****
A Christmas Story – The Musical (Benj Pasek/Justin Paul) (Masterworks Broadway 45981).
The musical adaptation of the popular 1983 movie of the same name is charming and fun. Originally based on radio humorist Jean Shepherd’s childhood memoire of growing up in Indiana in the forties, Broadway first-timers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul have written a well-crafted period-flavoured score that musically covers all the major plot points and enhances the story. It’s basically an ensemble show but Liz Callaway as the Mother is touchingly warm on “What a Mother Does”, Clarke Hallum as the kid Ralphie belts “Red Ryder Carbine Action BB Gun” with infectious spirit, and John Bolton as The Old Man makes “A Major Award” into a showstopper. ****
Motown (Various) (Motown B0018541-02).
Motown is a jukebox musical that uses the Motown catalogue to tell the story of founder Berry Gordy’s love affair with Diana Ross. Brandon Victor Dixon (Gordy) and Valisia LeKae (Ross) try to breathe new life into these distinctive classic 60s and 70s hits but, whether we’ve just been over-exposed to the originals on “Greatest Hits” radio too much, they all simply sound like cover versions. Tracks include “I Heard it Through the Grapevine”, “My Girl”, “Stop! In the Name of Love” and “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand)”. **
Matthew Morrison – Where It All Began (Podwell Entertainment).
After his 2011 foray into pop, Glee star Matthew Morrison has returned to his Broadway roots for Where It All Began. It’s an album of standard show tunes sung in his amiable light tenor voice. There’s a lively up-tempo “On the Street Where You Live” (My Fair Lady) and “Luck Be a Lady” (Guys and Dolls), plus a soul-induced duet with Smokey Robinson of “Ease on Down the Road” (The Wiz). One of the nicest tracks is a male version of the Oliver! hit “As Long as She Needs Me”. From his last Broadway outing he sings a tender “Younger Than Springtime” (South Pacific), and he closes with a West Side Story medley which includes “The Jet Song”, “Something’s Coming”, “Cool”, “America”, “Tonight” and “Maria.” Pleasant easy listening. ***
Marina Prior - Encore (Fanfare 093).
Show music is in Marina Prior’s DNA, it’s what her fans love hearing her sing, and what she sings well. Her new disc Encore, released to coincide with a national tour,is her first show music album for 18 years, and proves why she’s Australia’s favourite musical theatre diva. Singing songs from musicals she has appeared in (Les Misérables and The Phantom of the Opera), with a few tracks from those she hasn’t (Mamma Mia and Annie), it’s a dazzling CD that bears repeated listening. The disc opens with a virtuoso reading of “Meadowlark”, Stephen Schwartz’s story-song from The Baker’s Wife, and then follows with a low-key, but effective “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” from Promises Promises, in which she duets with herself.A Rodgers and Hammerstein “Dream Medley” includes “Climb Ev’ry Mountain”, “Out of my Dreams”, and “I Have Dreamed”, whilst “Before I Gaze at you Again” (Camelot) and “Memory” (Cats) are simply lovely tracks. There’s also a nice version of Randy Newman’s “When He Loved Me” from Toy Story 2, the only movie song on the disc. Although Prior has previously recorded some of these songs, her voice these days is much more mature and richer. Long-time musical collaborator David Cameron arranged the material and provides a distinctive but unobtrusive accompaniment on piano, guitar and bass. ****
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice) (Universal DVD).
Reports coming out of the UK last year said that critics and audiences were going ballistic over this new arena production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Now that the DVD has been released we can understand why. It’s brilliant! Rice and Webber’s 40-year-old rock opera has never looked or sounded better. Reimagined as urban street grunge with the cast in jeans, t-shirts, hoodies, scarves, boots, and with tatts, mobile phones and back-packs, this is a production for today. The 12 Apostles become suits, The Temple a dance club, and King Herod a game show host. Against a powerful and poetic collage of visuals, a group of fabulous rock voices deliver the definitive version of this rock-opera classic. Edge-of-your-seat tension starts during the overture and never lets up. Ben Forster, the winner of the UK TVs Superstar talent show, brings raw passion to the title role with “Gethsemane” the highlight. Former Spice Girl Mel C finds soul in her Mary Magdalene performance and is especially poignant on “Could We Start Again Please,” and “I don’t know how to love Him,” while Chris Moyles as King Herod in game-show mode makes “King Herod’s Song” into an OTT dazzling showstopper. But it’s Tim Minchin’s show. As Judas he’s astonishingly charismatic with strident vocals that reach into the stratosphere. Orchestrations have been tweaked with the live band under Louise Hunt’s direction especially good and technically it’s superb; lighting, sound, and video. *****
BOMBSHELL (Marc Shaiman/Scott Wittman) (Columbia 88765446792)
This CD, which is sub-titled The New Marilyn Musical from Smash, is a collection of the songs from the show-within-a-show of NBCs TV series about creating a Broadway musical. All of the show’s principals get their chance in the spotlight, but as they do in the show, it’s Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty who shine. Both eat up “Let Me Be Your Star” and solo deliver powerhouse vocals on “Cut, Print, Moving On” (McPhee) and “They Just Keep Moving the Line” (Hilty). Bernadette Peters brings all her Broadway sass to the tap-routine “At Your Feet,” whilst Britisher Julian Ovenden pleasantly croons “Our Little Secret” with McPhee. Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman have done a masterful job of recreating the sounds and style of the fifties in their score which at times echoes the songs associated with Marilyn. ****
CHAPLIN (Christopher Curtis) (Masterworks Broadway 88765439502)
A short-lived entry from the last Broadway season, Chaplin told the story of the rags-to-riches career of London music-hall performer Charles Chaplin. Written by Broadway virgin Christopher Curtis, it’s a second-tier effort, not great, but enjoyable. Rob McClure does well in the title role and is particularly touching in the finale. Christiane Noll is wasted in a one-song part, but Jenn Colella makes her mark as columnist Hedda Hopper in “All Falls Down.” Erin Mackey as Chaplin’s wife Oona has a sweet moment with “What Only Love Can See,” while “That Man” is an effective and stirring closer. ***
LEAP OF FAITH (Alan Menken/Glenn Slater) (Ghostlight 8-4465).
Leap of Faith,another casualty of the past Broadway season, was based on the 1992 movie which starred Steve Martin as a charlatan evangelist. Menken and Slater’s score is almost wall-to-wall gospel, with “Step into the Light,” “Dancing in the Devil’s Shoes,” and “Rise Up,” terrifically rousing pieces. Stepping into the preacher role Raul Esparza is perfect whether leading the chorus on the first act closer “King of Sin,” or finding a conscience on “Jonas’s Soliloquy,” he’s magnetic. Jessica Phillips as his love interest does well on the tender country tune “Long Past Dreaming,” and together with Kendra Kassebaum belts the insightful power-ballad “People Like Us.” ***
THE LAND WHERE THE GOOD SONGS GO (Jerome Kern) (PS Classics PS-1211)
This CD is the best of the latest Broadway releases. A gem of a show, it’s a collection of rare and standards songs by Jerome Kern the master of the Broadway musical in the early twentieth century. Amusing ditties like “Never Marry a Man with Cold Feet,” and (I’m Looking for) An Irish Husband,” rub shoulders with “The Way You Look Tonight,” “The Last Time I Saw Paris,” and “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.” An exemplary cast headed by Rebecca Luker, Kate Baldwin and Philip Chaffin, breathe new life into this tuneful material. ****
CHITA RIVERA featuring the albums Chita! And Now I Sing! (Stage Door Records Stage 9032)
Two albums made by Chita Rivera in the 1960s have been bracketed in this new Stage Door reissue. Chita!, produced in 1961 when Rivera was appearing in London in Bye, Bye Birdie, features show tunes (“Ten Cents a Dance”/“The Surrey With the Fringe On Top”) in big-band arrangements by Alyn Ainsworth, while And Now I Sing! is a collection of standards (“Moon River”/“It’s Easy To Remember”/“Hit the Road to Dreamland”). Best tracks are Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Love Look Away” from Flower Drum Song,” and Martin and Blane’s “An Occasional Man” from the Rosalind Russell movie The Girl Rush.***
Simon Tedeschi – Gershwin and Me (ABC 481 0032).
Simon Tedeschi’s Gershwin and Me has been sitting near the top of the Classical Music charts since its release and it’s easy to see why. Recognised as Australia’s foremost interpreter of Gershwin’s music, the album, a selection of Gershwin songs, preludes and “Rhapsody in Blue” is not only a brilliant reminder, if we needed any, of Gershwin’s compositional legacy, but also Tedeschi’s pianistic ability. Two songs, “Love Walked In” and “The Man I Love” have arrangements by Percy Grainger, with one each by jazz exponents Dave Gruisin (“Nice Work If You Can Get It”) and Keith Jarrett (“Someone To Watch Over Me”). Tedeschi also improvises himself on two songs from Porgy and Bess, “Summertime” and “I Loves You, Porgy”. The final track on the CD is “Rhapsody in Blue”, accompanied by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Northey. It’s a dynamic performance, recorded live at the Concert Hall, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, in 2007, and uses the original 1924 orchestration by Ferde Grofe. ****
A Time for Singing (John Morris/Gerald Freeman) (Kritzerland KR20025-1).
Kritzerland’s latest reissue from the Broadway vault is this 1966 musical based on Richard Llewellyn’s novel How Green Was My Valley, and the subsequent Oscar-winning 1941 film directed by John Ford. It was set in a Welsh mining town and centred on the conflict within the Morgan family and the formation of a miners’ union. The composer John Morris had previously written dance music for Baker Street and All American amongst others. The score at times has the emotionalism of opera. It wasn’t sung-through but it was on its way to that form which evolved 20 years later with Les Misérables. In some respects because of its setting and treatment it has the same qualities as Howard Goodall’s 1984 The Hired Man. The choral writing is superb, with the male chorus work particularly strong especially on the highly melodic “How Green Was My Valley”. Top starred was Ivor Emmanuel, who had played leads in London’s Damn Yankees and 110 in the Shade, and Shani Wallis, who had been the ingénue in Call Me Madam and was later to play Nancy in the film version of Oliver! She gets a nice ballad, “When He Looks At Me”, and with Emmanuel sings the medley of “Let Me Love You” and “I’ve Nothing To Give”. There’s also a spirited performance from British music-hall veteran Tessie O’Shea on “What a Good Day Is Saturday”. ***
Gay’s the Word (Ivor Novello/Alan Melville) (CD JAY 1925).
JAY’s 2012 complete London Cast recording of Ivor Novello’s last musical Gay’s the Word is the first time the show has been revived since it opened in 1951. The original 1951 cast, which included Cicely Courtneidge and Lizbeth Webb, only recorded 11 songs from the score when it premiered, with some numbers truncated and this new recording allows us to hear what we’ve been missing for the past 60 years. There are no gems in the previously unrecorded numbers but “Everything Reminds Me Of You” is a tuneful romantic ballad for the show-within-a-show and “An Englishman in Love” indulges in tongue-twisting word-play. Big-voiced Sophie-Louise Dann makes a meal of the original Cicely Courtneidge songs, “Vitality” and “Bees Are Buzzin’”, while Helena Blackman’s brings a sweet soprano to “Finder Please Return” and “On Such a Night As This”. Elizabeth Seal (Irma La Douce) made her West End debut in the chorus of the original show and in a nice touch plays Madame Nicolini in the revival. Novello’s melodies are sumptious, especially “If Only He Looked my Way”, and Alan Melville’s lyrics abound with wit, poking fun at the theatrical conventions of the day, with “Ruritania” a standout. James Church accompanies on piano. It’s a dated but charming curiosity. ***
Les Misérables (Alain Boublil/Claude-Michel Schonberg) (Universal DVD 49109412).
Despite being nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and winning three, I don’t believe the producers of Les Misérables solved the problem of how to make a sung-through musical work on film. But there are millions who disagree with me and they’re the ones who will buy this DVD. It’s not in the same league as the movie versions of Chicago or even Dreamgirls, but at grosses of over $400 million worldwide it’s making Cameron Mackintosh very happy. **
Les Misérables– Soundtrack Highlights (Claude- Michel Schönberg/Alain Boublil/Herbert Kretzmer) (Polydor 3724585).
Divorced from the image, the soundtrack of the movie Les Misérables is a hard listen. The folly of recording the vocals live has resulted in one of the worst versions of the score on disc. Hugh Jackman’s vocals as Jean Valjean are histrionic, Anne Hathaway is not the definitive Fantine we’d been led to believe, and Russell Crowe as Javert makes you long for the days when Hollywood dubbed actors who sang in musical films. Best voices on the disc are Colm Wilkinson (Bishop) and Aaron Tveit (Enjolras). The truncated chorus numbers sound good (“At the End of the Day”/“One Day More”), Samantha Barks repeats her 25th Anniversary Concert performance of “On My Own” and Eddie Redmayne sings a heartfelt “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables”. Being a “highlights” album there are plenty of omissions, the most glaring being “Do You Hear the People Sing”, sung in the movie to accompany the funeral of General Lamarque, but only included here in the Finale. The disc does however feature the new song, “Suddenly”, added to the movie to make it eligible for a “Best Original Song” Oscar nomination. It’s possibly the only reason to buy this album. **
Company (Stephen Sondheim) (Image Entertainment ID8283EK8D).
Sondheim’s groundbreaking 1970 musical has never been more satisfying than in this 2011 partly-staged concert version. A one-night only event, which featured Neil Patrick Harris, Patti LuPone, Stephen Colbert, Martha Plimpton, Katie Finneran and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the show was filmed at the Avery Fisher Hall, New York, and screened in movie theatres around the globe. Now available on Blue-ray, the performance is a gem and almost, if not as good as the legendary original Broadway cast. Finneran is a brilliantly unhinged Amy, delivering the showstopping “Getting Married Today” with brio, Colbert and Plimpton are brittle and funny, especially on “The Little Things You Do Together”, and LuPone was born to play the drink-addled Joanne and sing “The Ladies Who Lunch”. But it is Harris, as Robert, who consistently excels throughout and holds the whole thing together. His “Being Alive” is a tear-inducing and moving finale. *****
Top Hat (Irving Berlin) (First Night CAST CD115)
After touring the provinces for two years, Top Hat finally found a West End home at the Aldwych Theatre where it’s been running since May 2012. It’s based on the 1935 RKO mistaken-identity-plot movie which starred Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The stage version includes Irving Berlin’s five song movie score (“Top Hat, White Tie and Tails”/”Cheek to Cheek”) augmented with songs from his other films, Follow the Fleet (“Let’s Face the Music and Dance”), Easter Parade (“Better Luck Next Time”), Holiday Inn (You’re Easy to Dance With”)and the stage musical Louisiana Purchase (“Wild About You”/”Outside Of That I Love You”). It’s a winning combination. Astaire was not the world’s greatest singer and neither is Tom Chambers who plays the Astaire role here. His vocals don’t excite, but co-star Summer Strallen does, especially on “Better Luck Next Time”. Saxophones and trumpets dominate the orchestrations, giving it a distinctive 1930s sound which is old-fashioned but enjoyable. ***
Nice Work If You Can Get It (George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin) (Shout 826663-13740).
This new/old Gershwin musical is based on their 1926 hit Oh, Kay!, although there’s precious little of the original score left in this re-imagining, which features a swag of familiar and not so familiar songs in a whacky plot with a star-studded cast of expert farceurs. Mathew Broderick and Kelli O’Hara invest great charm in the title tune and “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off”, whilst Tony Award winners Judy Kaye and Michael McGrath bring the house down with their outrageous turn in “Looking For a Boy”. The brilliant orchestrations feature a twin-piano sound popular in the era, with incidental music that features snatches of other Gershwin melodies: “Cuban Overture”, “Rialto Ripples” and Rhapsody in Blue”. In the words of Gershwin, it’s not only “delishious,” but toe-tappingly infectious. ****
Carrie (Michael Gore/Dean Pitchford) (Ghostlight 8-6660).
One of the most infamous flops of the 80s has risen again from the ashes with this premiere recording of the score, taken from the 2012 Off-Broadway production. Since its 5 performance Broadway outing in 1988 little has been recorded from the score except the ballads, “Unsuspecting Hearts” and “When There’s No One”, and they’re the only songs that register here. Marin Mazzie plays the religious nut mother with fervor, while Molly Ranson as the bullied student Carrie vocally gives her all. The authors chose to reset the musical in the present time, but there’s no disguising the show’s 1980 roots. In the last twenty years there’s been a plethora of musicals on stage, film and TV about high school teenagers and one more at this time appears to be overkill. Carrie is an interesting curiosity whose time has unfortunately now passed. ***
Anthony Newley – The Last Song (Anthony Newley) (Stage Door Stage 9031).
Anthony Newley’s unreleased final studio album, recorded in London 1996/97, is one strictly for the fans. Newley’s over-emotive style and distinctive vibrato were certainly showing their age in this collection of old and original Newley compositions. He’s joined by Petula Clarke for a disco version of “The People Tree” (The Good Old Bad Old Days) and Julia McKenzie for “Are We Having Fun Yet?”, a song from his ill-fated 1983 musical Chaplin which closed before Broadway. Bonus tracks include two Christmas songs and live versions of “What Kind of Fool Am I?” and a disco version of “Who Can I Turn To?”. **
Lucy Durack (ABC/Universal 3713517).
Australia’s newest young musical theatre star Lucy Durack leaves her theatre work behind in her debut album, which features some Mississippi Delta blues, doo-wop, and 60s/70s drenched pop. Starting with an upbeat “Bye Bye Blackbird” and following with “You Don’t Know Me” and “Stop Searching For Love”, Durack acquits herself well with some soaring and refreshing vocals. Two originals co-written by her, “Two Feet” and “Circus Song”, are excellent, as is the Harry Warren standard “At Last.” Rob Mills duets on “Dancing In the Street”, whilst a hidden bonus track contains “Zip-a-dee-doo-dah” from Disney’s Song of the South. ****
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Jule Styne/Leo Robin) (Masterworks Broadway 88725 44451 2).
With Megan Hilty as Lorelei Lee and Rachel York as Dorothy Shaw, this 1949 Jule Styne and Leo Robin score about two gold-diggers on a transatlantic cruise could not be in better hands. York is terrific on “I Love What I’m Doing” and Hilty (Ivy in Smash) really belts “A Little Girl from Little Rock” and the classic “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend”, which includes two encores. Produced in May 2012, the Encores! New York production is the most complete version available on disc and features two songs, “Coquette” and “Button Up With Esmond”, not found on the original Broadway Cast album plus the Act 1 Finale and various dance sequences. It’s not only a joy to hear Styne’s brassy music and Robin’s clever lyrics again, but to hear Hugh Martin’s original imaginative vocal arrangements in their entirety is reason enough to buy this CD alone. ****
Pipe Dream (Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein) Ghostlight Records 8-4463).
This new recording of Pipe Dream also comes via Encores! Recorded ‘live’ in March 2012, the revival starred Leslie Uggams (Fauna), Will Chase (Doc), Tom Wopat (Mac) and Laura Osnes (Suzy). The show is not top tier Rodgers and Hammerstein but it is pleasant. Based on the John Steinbeck novels Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday, about whores and drifters in Monterey, California, Hammerstein’s bucolic lyrics don’t sit comfortably in this milieu. But this recording gives a much better feeling of the show than the Original Broadway Cast album which was weighed down by opera star Helen Traubal’s stodgy portrayal of Fauna, the madam. Uggams does well in that role here, particularly on the jaunty title song and “Fauna’s Song”, which in this version is longer. Other additional music not heard on CD before are the “Entr’acte” and the orchestral piece “Fractured Fugue”. There’s no doubt it’s the best recorded version of the score. ***
The Genius of Lionel Bart – Stage & Pop Songs, Demos & Rarities (Lionel Bart) (Sepia 1201 3CD Set).
This new Sepia release of Lionel Bart material is the most complete overview of the composer’s work on disc. CD1 features a studio cast album of Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be with Joan Heal, Sidney James and Alfred Marks, plus tracks from the Original London Cast recordings of Lock Up Your Daughters and Oliver! CD2 compiles 31 popular songs by Bart performed by Tommy Steele, Anthony Newley, Cliff Richard, Marty Wilde and Adam Faith amongst others, while CD3 includes demo recording from Blitz!, and the unproduced Quasimodo and Gulliver’s Travels. Bart was one of the most successful British songwriters of the 60s with innumerable hits. This collection includes them all, from Shirley Bassey’s “As Long As He Needs Me” and Max Bygraves “Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be”, to Cliff Richard’s “Living Doll” and Tommy Steele’s “Little White Bull”. It’s a wonderful walk down the 1960s memory lane. ****
Up in Central Park (Sigmund Romberg/Dorothy Fields) (Sepia 1203).
Sepia have also put together a compilation which couples the rare soundtrack of this 1945 movie, which starred Deanna Durbin and Dick Haymes, and was based on the original Broadway musical, with a studio cast recording of the score with Jeanette McDonald and Robert Merrill. The show, about crooked politics in New York City in the 1870s, was Sigmund Romberg and Dorothy Fields’ only score together and has some nice things in it, particularly the lilting “Carousel In The Park” and “It Doesn’t Cost You Anything To Dream”, but it’s the two ballads, “April Snow” and “Close As Pages In A Book”, which are the gems here. ***
Marina Prior – Both Sides Now (Fanfare Records 080).
For some reason musical theatre divas always want to break away from what they do best midway through their careers. Barbara Cook did it in the 70s with an ill-advised foray into pop before she rediscovered her musical theatre roots, and Barbra Streisand likewise had a brush with pop in the same period. Now it’s Marina Prior’s turn. Both Sides Now is a collection of pop songs she sang when she was starting out as a busker and folk singer in Melbourne. Songs by Leon Russell (“Superstar”), The Beatles (“In My Life”/”Here Comes The Sun”), Freddie Mercury (“Killer Queen”), Abba (“SOS”) and Joni Mitchell (“Both Sides Now”) are featured, plus Michel Legrand’s movie theme “Windmills Of You Mind”. Prior is in fine voice, the arrangements are good, as is the piano work by David Cameron, but your enjoyment of the CD will depend on how much you like Prior singing something other than show songs. ***
Anthony Costanzo – The EP (anthonycostanzo.com).
Talented performer and composer Anthony Costanzo, who created the impressive score for 2009s Life’s a Circus, has released a four track EP of original work. Composers always perform their work better than anyone else and that’s the case here. The songs, not from any show, are intense and theatrical in feel which suits the big-voiced Costanzo. Best track is the interesting “Without a Price” (Love comes unwillingly, and it comes without a price). ***
Rating
*Only for the enthusiast ** Borderline *** Worth buying **** Must have ***** Kill for it.
Originally published across six edition onf Stage Whispers during 2013.
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