The title of this show says a lot about it, I think. Could there be a more trite and derivative title than Triumph of Love? Even the library worker when I checked out this cast album commented that this wasn't the experience he had had (poor, lonely man--well, really me in about 25 years). Much of the rest of the listening experience with this show was equal to the title.
Who knew that F. Murray Abraham could sing? Well, he can't. He does a sort of Rex Harrison, Richard Burton (pick your Lerner and Loewe sing-speak role) thing. And it wouldn't be awful, except that the role is not written to be done that way, and Mr. Abraham is often teamed up in duets with real singers.
I also took issue with the style of music and style of singing of this show. Both music and voices are very modern sounding and American to me, yet the story is historical and European, or maybe even Classically Greek--I couldn't quite tell, which should point out a problem with this show as presented on disc. In the photos, the costumes are European 18th Century, but the libretto mentions places like Sparta. If I've missed something from the liner notes, I'm sure you'll point it out.
The music by Jeffrey Stock is rather bland and all sounded the same to me after a while, some songs a little faster, some a little slower. The two exceptions to that may be "Mr. Right", which I thought was funny and could have a life outside the show, and "Henchman are Forgotten" which is a sort of "Brush up your Shakespeare"-like song.
Part of the problem for me with the music maybe that Susan Egan and Betty Buckley are very similar in styles of singing. While they sound different, both have strong chest voices and little or no head voices. Couldn't one of the women in the show be a soprano? I need to check out Susan Egan's history; in her singing voice she sounds like any number of Disney heroines (Belle, Ariel, pick your animated story).
Triumph of Love
Music by Jeffrey Stock
Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead
Book by James Magruder
Music by Jeffrey Stock
Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead
Book by James Magruder
Opened in 1997
Cast: Susan Egan, F Murray Abraham, Betty Buckey, Roger Bart, Kevin Chamberlin, Nancy Opel, Christopher Sieber
Cast: Susan Egan, F Murray Abraham, Betty Buckey, Roger Bart, Kevin Chamberlin, Nancy Opel, Christopher Sieber
2 comments:
It's funny that you mentioned Susan's voice sounded like a Disney heroine. Because she is the voice of Meg from Hercules and she was the first Belle in Broadway's Beauty and the Beast! She has her own website too! www.susanegan.net
Well, I must assert that you really did miss the point of the show, stylistically. The whole concept was to present an eclectic, anachronistic take on a classical. It is only nominally set in Sparta, but much more so in Marivaux's time. And just as Marivaux made playful references to his present day, so do these authors. This would be more clear to you had you seen the show. And as for the songs not having a life outside the show, "Serenity" is performed constantly as a showcase for women of a certain age, and the song "Issue in Question" is a staple at musical theater auditions around the country. You're entitled to your opinion, of course, but you really should know that the reason Susan Egan sounds like "any number of Disney heroines," like Belle, it's because she created that role! :)
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