Wonderful Town -- concert version on DVD

No offense to Maestro Simon Rattle, the Berlin Philharmonic, or the fine opera and musical theater performers involved in this concert of Bernstein's music, but why was this concert version of Wonderful Town presented? In English, in front of a German audience? So much of the wit of the lyrics must have been lost in translation, even with the supertitles flashing above the stage. The context of the songs and struggles of the characters is also lost, since not even a ghost of the book is presented to string together the songs.

That said, the music-making is very good. Audra McDonald proves her worth with "A Little Bit in Love." Kim Criswell is a wonderful character singer in "Conga" and "100 Ways to Lose a Man". Operatic baritone Thomas Hampson sings the surprise of the score for me, the beautiful "A Quiet Girl". Musical theater veteran Brent Barrett takes on what must be several roles in singing the opening "Christopher Street" and "I Could Pass that Football".

Even with this fine singing, though, I felt like I was missing too much.

Wonderful Town
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green

Book MIA
Concert by Berlin Philharmonic
Conducted by Simon Rattle
Released on DVD in 2002
Cast: Thomas Hampson, Audra McDonald, Kim Criswell, Brent Barrett

Ghost Light Monday -- going back to my musical roots

I spent the weekend in my hometown, and was figuratively slapped in the face by some of my musical roots: namely contemporary Christian music. It made me realize what a different tack my musical life took after I left home.

I don't cast aspersions on any type of music-making, and I feel truly at home listening to contemporary Christian music, since it is what I grew up singing in my youth church choir. But I don't want to go back to singing it very often. I never felt comfortable with it, and don't feel like I have the swing to really get into it. Not to mention not having the vocal range.

When I left home after my junior year of high school, I attended Interlochen Arts Academy to be a theater major. At Interlochen I had two important 'ah-ha' moments. One was about being gay, which isn't a topic for discussion here. The musical 'ah-ha' came when I sang the Vivaldi Gloria. I had never known that choral music like that existed, and found a surprising facility in singing it. I haven't looked back, and I know that my professional life and musical life would be much the poorer if I had never discovered classical choral music.

That's part of the reason I feel a real sense of loss and (well) doom over the discontinuation of music programs in public schools. Classical music is not going to be every student's cup of tea. Neither is math, physics, or football going to appeal to 100% of the student body. Even if I had not gone into the arts professionally, I would be singing in a choir (as I do to this day) with an affinity for traditional choral works. This is part of what makes me a well-rounded person, able to work in a group setting, putting aside personal agendas for the good of the whole.

I think this is what the arts teach us. While you may spend a lot of time in the practice room, learning the notes, when concert time comes, you are dependent on a lot of other people and they are dependent on you. The classroom doesn't teach you that. Sports teams do provide that lesson in good programs, but for the kids who aren't interested in sports? Where is the choir, where is the school play?

Sometimes you get to be the star. Sometimes you have to paint the flats.

Fiorello! Original cast album on CD

This is my fourth "!" musical so far this Year. First there was Oklahoma! living up to it's punctuation, then Oliver! and Mama Mia! which didn't deliver for me (at least in their film versions). Now we have Fiorello! which I'm happy to report lives up to its billing.

There is something for everyone in this first major hit for songwriting team of Bock and Harnick. There is a lot of work for the chorus, backing up many of the lead performers. The male chorus gets the wonderful politician scenes with songs like "Politics and Poker", "The Bum Won", and the wryly funny "Little Tin Box". The women's chorus gets the pastiche flapper song, "Gentleman Jimmy".

Four female roles have significant songs and this must be some kind of record. The best of the bunch is "When Did I Fall in Love" (well-sung here by Ellen Hanley), but "The Very Next Man" is also good, and none of the others are bad.

Surprisingly the titular character has little music to perform. The very good liner notes for this CD reissue of the 1959 cast album explains that La Guardia had a lot of dialogue, but little music. And the fact that Tom Bosley won his Tony for this role in the featured actor category, bears that out. The notes also give a wonderful account of the history of Howard da Silva's career, from working actor, to black-list bust, to triumphant return in this show. I'd previously talked a bit about da Silva when discussing 1776.

Fiorello!
Music by Jerry Bock
Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
Book by Jerome Weidman and George Abbott
Cast: Tom Bosley, Patricia Wilson, Ellen Hanley, Howard da Silva, Eileen Rodgers, Pat Stanley

Tintypes on DVD

I don't really know what this is supposed to be. I suppose it is the recreation of a stage production filmed on a sound stage for video distribution. But Tintypes falls a little flat by not capturing the excitement of a live performance. It's a review of music from a range of sources in the decades before and after 1900. Should one call it a "Victrola musical"? Oh, I don't even think there were Victrolas then. So maybe it's a pianola musical, since sheet music and home pianos and pump organs were kings of the era.

While the music has a lot of charm and is well-sung by the original stage cast, I can understand why the show lasted less than three months on Broadway. The rather rose-colored glasses view of this time is cloyingly happy at times, and ineffective when paying lip-service to the social ills of the industrial age. Each of the five performers represent a certain type from the era--the new immigrant, the industrialist, the reformer, the socialite, the African-American poor. I suppose the point of the show isn't really to provide a history lesson, but there are better shows depicting the struggles of this time--Working by Studs Terkel, Showboat, even Ragtime. At times, the disconnect between the music and the vignettes is startling, particularly when the Emma Goldman rant is going on.

I didn't realize that Jerry Zaks started as a performer; I've heard of him only as a director. He was nominated for a Tony for his performance in Tintypes. He's likable and has a nice singing voice. And Lynne Thigpen returns to my Year, previously appearing in Godspell.

Tintypes

Conceived by Mary Kyte, Mel Marvin, and Gary Pearle

Music and lyrics by a whole bunch of turn-of-the-century songwriters (the last century)

Taping of the original cast in 1982

Cast: Jerry Zaks, Lynne Thigpen, Carolyn Mignini, Mary Catherine Wright, Trey Wilson

Cinderella television production on DVD

I grew up with the 1965 version of this Rodgers and Hammerstein production, but knew that an earlier version of Cinderella with Julie Andrews had aired, but was thought lost. Well, what once was lost now is found.

The 1957 version is much more interesting than the remakes that have followed. Not only is it wonderful to see Ms. Andrews at the height of her Broadway career and to see Kaye Ballard and Alice Ghostley as the stepsisters, but it's also very interesting to see how the production was created to allow for costume changes and scene changes in a live television setting.

There is much more dialogue in this version than I recall in the Lesley Ann Warren version. There is more for the chorus of singers and dancers to do, as well. I have to confess a long love of Stuart Damon, the 1965 Prince, but Jon Cypher holds his regal own, even if his singing does not match Damon's.

There are some interesting extras on the DVD, but the funniest has to be Oscar Hammerstein reciting his lyrics while the Ed Sullivan Orchestra is conducted by Richard Rodgers.

Cinderella
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics and book by Oscar Hammerstein
Television production from 1957 released on DVD
Cast: Julie Andrews, Jon Cypher, Alice Ghostley, Kaye Ballard, Edie Adams, Howard Lindsey, Dorothy Stickney, Ilka Chase

Lea Salonga:The Broadway Concert on DVD

Make no mistake, this concert is not on Broadway, it is of Broadway. The concert is actually performed in Manila, The Philippines. Is the country really called "The Philippines"? So do I separate the city from the country with a comma, or should I say "Manila in the Philippines"?

Regardless of how you punctuate it, Lea Salonga: The Broadway Concert shows off its star as a true talent with a lovely, versatile singing voice. Ms. Salonga is a native Filipino (or do you say Filipina, like Latina?), and comes home to perform a dozen Broadway songs with the San Miguel Philharmonic under the baton of her brother, Gerard Salonga.

Known mostly for her sensational debut in Miss Saigon, Salonga has perhaps not found a good follow-up vehicle for her talent. Apart from a six-month run in a highly-tauted, but ultimately disappointing revival of Flower Drum Song, Ms. Salonga's other Broadway credits are as replacements in Les Miz.

Don't let the sketchy production values of this filmed concert deter you. The camera angles are sometimes awkward, the sound levels at times waiver, and the stage set-up is completely boring while still being annoyingly distracting. All the more reason to appreciate how watchable and listenable is Ms. Salonga. Wending her way through Broadway standards and rarities ranging from Gershwin to Jekyll & Hyde, each song proves Ms. Salonga is a capable songstress, able to reach into the upper register without strain or distortion, and enliven its presentation with character. Make no mistake, there is nothing remotely operatic about her singing, except some good legato, and she is in chest voice more than head voice. I would catergorize her as a soubrette, for her winning style.

The Gershwin standard "Someone to Watch Over Me" is particularly good, owing to it's understated arrangement for guitar. It's a nice change of pace from the thickly orchestrated Broadway anthems that surround it. The song shows that Ms. Salonga could have a career strickly as a cabaret performer, if she chose.

Has she ever played the Rainbow Room or Joe's or one of those venues?

Lea Salonga: The Broadway Concert
Filmed live in Manila in 2002, released on DVD in 2007
Cast: Lea Salonga

Ghost Light Monday -- Chita Rivera and John Cullum

I heard two bits of news this week that made me think about the longevity of Broadway performers. September 26 is the 50-year anniversary of West Side Story opening on Broadway with Chita Rivera as Anita. Ms. Rivera debuted on Broadway in 1953 as a dancer in Can-Can. Her most recent Broadway performances were in a review which ran until early 2006--53 years after her debut.

It was just announced that John Cullum is going to have a spell in the cast of August: Osage County. Mr. Cullum debuted on Broadway in Camelot, where he was Sir Dinadan as well as the understudy for King Arthur and Mordred. Camelot premiered in 1960, so the 2008 Osage performances will mark Mr. Cullum's 48th year on Broadway.

Barbara Cook is another Broadway performer that comes to mind with longevity, although I believe Ms. Cook has only performed in special, one-night-only type concerts since the 1980s.

In few other art forms can a practitioner have a 50+year career. Certainly visual artists can. Dancers, never. Opera singers, no not really. Film, television, and the stage are about it, but it's still a rarity. Fading abilities, changing tastes, and the collective amnesia of producers and audiences often don't allow seasoned performers to keep performing, which is a loss for everyone.

Writers often have long careers, if the whims of the publishers allow. I've recently become enamored of a poet named Janet Lewis, who had her poems published in every decade of the 20th century, with the exception of the "aughts". Of course, Ms. Lewis lived until she was nearly 100, but still it is a tremendous accomplishment to be not only inspired for that length of time, but also valued.

I look forward to celebrating more significant anniversaries of performers.

The Threepenny Opera cast album on CD

I have an unrequited love for Kurt Weill in general and for The Threepenny Opera in specific. Why unrequited, do you ask? Well, what has it ever done for me? That's pretty cynical, but then so is this whole show.

I was in a college production of 3PO a looooong time ago. Listening to this cast album has reminded me of some people who were very dear to me at the time--as college theater people inevitably are to one another. And then we go off to other ends of the planet and do things like become lawyers.

This 1954 Broadway production was the first revival of the show. It ran until 1961 and did much to cement Kurt Weill's place in musical history. The cast is great and features Beatrice Arthur (with the huskiest voice ever), Jo Sullivan (who would later marry Frank Loesser) as Polly Peachum, Charlotte Rae as Mrs. Peachum, and the widow Weill Lotte Lenya as Pirate Jenny. According to the Broadway database, the show has been revived five times since then.

Clearly, I am not the only one with a love of this material.

The Threepenny Opera
Music by Kurt Weill
German book and lyrics by Bertold Brecht
English adaptation of book and lyrics by Marc Blitzstein
Cast: Beatrice Arthur, Charlotte Rae, Jo Sullivan, Scott Merrill, Martin Wolfson, Lotte Lenya

Bells Are Ringing film on DVD

I have never seen this show either live on stage or this film version. And don't believe I have ever seen Judy Holliday in any performance. She recreates the role that earned her a Tony Award in Bells Are Ringing.

While this is straight out of the heyday of Broadway shows, this one doesn't capture me as others have. Ms. Holliday is a charming and funny performer, with enough vulnerability and ability with both physical and verbal comedy to warrant her reputation. But a lot of the rest of the story and performances don't quite reach the level they should be for me.

Some of the music, too, doesn't quite do it for me. I was particularly disappointed in the chorus number "It's a Simple Little System." I kept looking for Stubby Kaye to arrive and show us how this number show be. No offense to Eddie Foy Jr who leads the chorus in this number, I think the song is not developed as well or as broadly as it could have been.

Dean Martin is well cast as playwright Jeffrey Moss who needs a mother to look after him and bolster his confidence. His singing of the jazz-tinged songs of Jule Styne is just right, as well as just in time. I notice that Sydney Chaplin played Jeffrey in the Broadway original. I believe he was also the original Nick Arnstein in Funny Girl. I must find a recording with his singing, because I don't know anything about him.


Bells are Ringing
Music by Jule Styne
Book and Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
1960 film directed by Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Judy Holliday, Dean Martin, Jean Stapleton, Eddie Foy Jr., Hal Linden

A Little Night Music film on DVD

Even with much of the wit and charm of this score and story dead on arrival in the film version, A Little Night Music is a wonderful musical. I've never seen it on stage, nor had I seen the 1977 film before, so this is my first experience with it. I had heard some of the music before, but didn't know how it all fit into the story.

With the complexities of the score and the difficulties of Sondheim's music in general, I'm surprised so many non-singers were cast in this film--Diana Rigg and Elizabeth Taylor in particular. Hermoine Gingold, Len Cariou and Laurence Gittard are hold-overs from the Broadway debut from three years before the film.

"You Must Meet My Wife" must be one of the funniest songs of all time, and although Ms. Taylor plays it a bit too on the surface, it still works. Lesley-Anne Down is young enough and pretty enough, to make Anne's naivety work. Diana Rigg does well with characterization, but not with the music. Actually there isn't much of the singing that I really like, even Len Cariou.

There was a television version of this musical done in 1990. Is it available to rent?


A Little Night Music
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
1977 film directed by Harold Prince
Screenplay by Ingmar Bergman
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Len Cariou, Diana Rigg, Hermoine Gingold, Lesley-Anne Down, Christopher Guard, Laurence Gittard

Sitting Pretty Studio Cast Album on 2 CD set

I had never heard of Jerome Kern's 1924 musical Sitting Pretty when I bought this studio cast album of the "reconstructed" score. I probably bought it because of either Jason Graae or John McGlinn. More on them later.

This show is more old-fashioned than Ye Olde Apothecary Shoppe. While the songs do have some emotional connection to the characters performing them, the music is equally extractable without missing any of the context. In other words, it's not a book musical, where the songs are specific to time/place/character.

That being said, there is a lot to like in listening to this album that was released in 1990. There are very listen-able performers such as Mr. Graae, Judy Blazer, Beverly Lambert, and Paige O'Hara who continue to have musical careers. There is operatic soprano Roberta Peters. And there are hummable tunes, that while being clearly of another era, have some vitality. And the 'legit' soprano song "Days Gone By" sung here by Ms. Peters is a beautiful operetta aria, in the vein of "Vilja" from The Merry Widow.

Musical historian and conductor John McGlinn includes extensive notes on the back story of Kern and collaborators P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton. He also clearly appreciates this music. Even if his love of this score is a bit over-zealous, he rightfully credits Sitting Pretty with paving the way for more substantial shows like Kern's Showboat.

I mentioned that Jason Graae is in this cast, and he is a delight. I've heard him perform live and always thought of him as a character singer, but he proves here to have a pleasant, light baritone voice with some true legato to it.

Sitting Pretty
Music by Jerome Kern
Lyrics by P.G. Wodehouse
Book by Guy Bolton
1990 Studio cast recording conducted by John McGlinn
Cast: Judy Blazer, Davis Gaines, Merwin Goldsmith, Beverly Lambert, Paula Laurence, Paige O'Hara, Jason Graae, Paul V. Ames, Richard Woods, Roberta Peters

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever film on DVD

She's back. And the hair, nails, the glamorous costumes, and the nose are all still intact from Barbra Streisand's last appearance in my Year, Funny Girl. The film version of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever was released in 1970, about five years after the Broadway version opened. I'm going to need to find the album of the orginal cast, because all but the songs for Daisy and Marc are excised from the film. Marc was played on Broadway by baritone favorite John Cullum--all the more reason to listen to the cast album.

The time-shifting elements of the story work really well on film. How did they worked on stage? The supporting cast, including Jack Nicholson and Bob Newhart are grossly underutilized in the film.

I had heard the title song before, as well as the opening "Hurry, It's Nice Up Here" and "Come Back To Me". I liked the other songs, as well, although I missed hearing characters sing together, which they seem to have done in the stage version.

This film reminded me of two other Broadway shows: Lady in the Dark and My Fair Lady. The psychological aspects of the show are like the Weill, and the mentor/student relationship of the two leads are like the Lerner and Loewe.

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever

Music by Burton Lane

Lyrics and Book by Alan Jay Lerner

film directed by Vincente Minnelli

Cast: Barbra Streisand, Yves Montand, Jack Nicholson, Bob Newhart

Ghost Light Monday -- Preaching to the choir

I'm a big choir person. Meaning both that I'm a big person and a lover of choirs. I've sung in them my whole life and if I didn't sing in one, I believe you would find me singing at the back of CTA buses and on El platforms.

So I was glad when my church choir got underway again after its summer hiatus. Our first two Sundays featured chestnuts from our repertoire that we could sing without too much rehearsal time, just fine tuning.

For the most part I love the people in my choir and appreciate their commitment to sing in a volunteer capacity week after week. But I have to complain about some of them, and for those of them who read this entry--you will know who you are.

Many members of my choir are very busy people, and making time for rehearsals on Wednesday night is not always possible. I get that. But if you can't show up Wednesday, AND you can't get to church on Sunday morning in time to rehearse with the choir, what are you doing singing that week?

Rehearsals are not just for you to learn the notes. I'm glad you know the notes. That's the first step. There's still a flight of steps to go before I want you singing with me. Rehearsal is also for me to know how loud to sing given the number of basses that day, to feel confident about cut-offs and tempo changes, and more mundane things like knowing where to stand.

So maybe if you miss a couple of rehearsals, you should sit in the congregation to listen to the choir. Perhaps in hearing us perform, you'll remember why you wanted to be a member of the group in the first place.

In case you're wondering: the photo for this entry is of New Zealand operatic baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes. He looks just like me.

Hair film on DVD

Three tribal rock musical films in a row, and the best is the third. Hair lets itself unfold slowly, rather than pounding its point across from the start. You think in the beginning its just a score of loosely connected songs strung together with a bit of character interaction between; but by the end you realize it has brought you along to its side, whether you be a Claude, a Sheila, a Berger, or a Charlotte Rae.

This film also uses its New York locations much better than does Godspell. Hair shows us people who are part of the city, not apart from it, which is the sense I got from the Gospellians.
I was shocked to see that Twyla Tharp had choreographed this film. There is a lot of dance in it. Sometimes, I thing there is too much dance and that it gets in the ways of the songs. It's certainly more than you could get away with on stage, because no one could sing and do what Twyla has them do. But points for incorporating modern dance into a tribal rock musical of love.

Hair

Music by Galt MacDermot

Book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado

Film directed by Milos Forman

Choreographed by Twyla Tharp

Cast: Treat Williams, Beverly d'Angelo, John Savage, Nell Carter, Charlotte Rae

Godspell film on DVD

I can't believe that the film versions of Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell came out in the same year, 1973. There are very different in style, tone, and even in their religious viewpoints, although both end the story with the crucifixion and don't refer to resurrection (hmmm). This is composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz's second appearance in my Year.

My Midwestern, protestant upbringing in the 70s included knowing and loving much of the music from Godspell, although I don't think I saw the film until years later. I still love the music, but find the story-telling techniques and production style very dated. The broad clowning to enact the parables between songs falls flat to me. And it struck me as very odd that the New York City scenes are void of people, making the ministry of Christ seem very insular.

The cast was probably all unknowns in 1973 (although two are from the original 1971 off-Broadway stage version of show). Today Victor Garber (Jesus) and Lynne Thigpen are well-known, respected actors. It was fun to see them in their pre-CSI-Law&Order-Alias (pick your tv franchise) days. The World Trader Center towers are all over this film (including in the photo I've uploaded for this entry), and I can't help but realize that this posting is going up on September 11th.

Godspell

A Musical based upon the Gospel According to St. Matthew

Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz

Film directed by David Greene released by Columbia Pictures

Cast: Victor Garber, Lynne Thigpen, David Haskell, Katie Hanley, and several others.

Carnival Original Broadway Cast Album on CD

I hear you collectively asking "What happened to listening to cast albums, Michael? All your musical entries since July 12th have been musicals for film or television captured on DVD. Isn't the point of your Year to recapture the magic that listening to cast albums first gave you?"

Well, I have heard your queries and can respond. Getting DVDs through Netflix has been easier than finding recordings. All of the cast albums I've listened to so far have been owned by me. I'm determined to spend my musical money this Year seeing shows live, rather than buying additional cast albums, so I'm meting out the recordings I have left in my meager collection and looking into what the Chicago Public Library may have to offer for my listening pleasure.

In the meantime, I have listened to the cast album of Bob Merrill's Carnival, starring favorite song and dance man Jerry Orbach and crystalline-voice Anna Maria Alberghetti.

Carnival was one of the first musicals I saw live on stage, in a high school production that featured my baby-sitter. My guess is it was 1976 or '77. I remember nothing about it, except that the girl who played Lili (not my baby-sitter) had her arm in a cast, and I was uncertain if that was part of the story or if the girl just had a broken arm and they needed to "go on with the show." In reading through the byzantine description of how the story became the musical, and the plot of the musical, it's no wonder I don't remember much.

I have heard the most famous song from the score "Love Makes the World Go 'Round" too often and find it rather cloying at this point. The treat of discovery, though, is most of the rest of the music, which runs the gamut of styles without ever becoming predictable. The best songs of the score, for me, are "Her Face" and "She's My Love." These are Broadway baritone anthems, and I can't believe they're not sung more often. The Mel Torme version of "Her Face", presented as one of the CD bonus tracks, is over-produced and does no favor to the song. One delight of the bonus tracks is the jazz trombone choir version of "Mira" by J.J. Johnson, which has a slightly N'awlins funeral feel to it.

Bob Merrill appeared previously in my Year as the lyricist for Funny Girl, and I find it interesting that he was also a composer. Are there many Broadway composers who have written lyrics for other composer's music? I can only think of Stephen Sondheim.

Carnival
Music and Lyrics by Bob Merrill
Book by Michael Stewart
Original Broadway Cast Album on CD
Recorded in 1961; reissued with additional bonus tracks in 1989
Cast: Anna Maria Alberghetti, Jerry Orbach, Kaye Ballard, Pierre Olaf, James Mitchell

Jesus Christ Superstar film on DVD

I grew up with the original Broadway cast album of this show, without having seen the show in person, so watching the film version of Jesus Christ Superstar I had some different voices in my mind's ear. Only Mary Magdelene (Yvonne Elliman) and Pontius Pilate (Barry Dennen) are holdovers from the stage version that ran from 1971 - 1973.

This was the first Broadway cast album I heard for a show that was entirely music. I naively thought that made it an opera. Well, I've since discovered that is ain't necessarily so. There are many operas that have dialogue, and lots of through-sung musicals don't meet the musicological threshold to be opera. Of course, now opera companies often produce musicals, and contemporary operas often don't meet that same musicological threshold. That's a bad phrase (not to mention, a bad sentence), but I hope it makes my point. Which is really to say, that in a strange way Jesus Christ Superstar led me to explore opera. Go figure.

I remember seeing the film for the first time when I was a senior in high school and realizing how easy it was to side with Judas, which I have to believe is part of the point of the show and the film. Following Christ wasn't easy, and (not to make too strong a point) maybe it still shouldn't be.

This is the first appearance in my Year for composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Love him or hate him, he'll be back.

Jesus Christ Superstar
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics by Tim Rice
1973 film directed by Norman Jewison
Cast: Ted Neeley, Carl Anderson, Yvonne Elliman, Barry Dennen

1776 film on dvd

Vote for independency! American history meets the American musical theater in 1776.

This 1972 film version captures the performances of much of the original cast from the Broadway show which ran from 1969 to 1972. This was composer/lyricist Sherman Edwards's only show on Broadway, and he won the Tony for Best Musical for 1969. The ensemble gets great stuff in this show (sorry ladies, but it's all men) due to that fact that each is portraying a specific historic personage, with a documented point of political view. And the music for small groups is wonderful.

Howard da Silva, who portrays Ben Franklin, is a bone fide Broadway legend and McCarthy era black-listed actor. Due to his being black-listed, this is one of his few film credits, and (I think) the only musical one. But on stage--besides originating Franklin in 1776--Mr. da Silva was in the original, banned production of Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, as well as the original Fiorello! and Oklahoma!, where he was Jud Fry. He did a ton of "straight" plays on Broadway, too, including Shakespeare when he was only 21. Exclamation points all around!

Most of this show really works for me. Although I don't really care for the voices of many of the actors, most of their portrayals and the strength of the material make up for that. And the cherry on top of the Sundae is that I have baritone favorite John Cullum singing the best and most powerful song of the score.

An alternative soundtrack on the DVD with discussion by creator Peter Stone and director Peter Hunt is really interesting, if you can devote the time to it. I'm currently also watching the HBO miniseries John Adams which stars Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney. Expect a historical/musical compare and contrast at some point.

1776
Book by Peter Stone
Music and Lyrics by Sherman Edwards
Columba Pictures film release directed by Peter Hunt
Cast: William Daniels, Howard da Silva, Ken Howard, Blythe Danner, John Cullum, Virginia Vestoff

South Pacific in Concert from Carnegie Hall on DVD

Rodgers and Hammerstein's follow-up to Carousel was South Pacific, and my follow-up to the film Carousel is the 2005 taping for television of a one-night only semi-staged performance of South Pacific at Carnegie Hall.

The star-studded cast for this event was mostly from the world of musical theater with a couple of notable exceptions--Reba McEntire, and Alec Baldwin. Emile de Becque is sung by Tony-winner Brian Stokes Mitchell; Jason Danielley is Joe Cable; and Lillias White is Bloody Mary.

Mr. Mitchell is one of my favorite baritones, in the mold of John Raitt, with a robust and resonant voice that can climb into the high baritone range without losing its core. His singing of "Some Enchanted Evening" holds its own with the long list of operatic baritones who have sung the song before him, "This Nearly was Mine" rightfully brings the house down. In a show that is so much about race, though, I find it hard to see Nellie Forbush falling for Emile (portrayed by an African-American) then balking at the skin color of de Becque's children. But in a concert version, that is probably less important than in a fully-staged version.

Jason Danielley is a very likeable performer who can handle the rangey songs of Joe Cable. I've heard him live in concert, with his wife Marin Mazzie. While Mazzie is a high-wattage performer, Mr. Danielley can deliver the goods, too, as he does here with "Younger Than Springtime" and "You've Got to be Carefully Taught", although I question whether this song was shortened in this version.

Ms. McEntire is well-cast as Nellie Forbush. Her trademark accent and singing style really drive home the differences between Nellie and Emil. While I don't always agree with some of the vocal choices she makes, its hard to argue that she is a very watchable and listenable performer--in any genre.

Concert stagings of shows are hard things to balance, I would imagine. Often times, the performers' focus on their hand-held scripts seems to keep the performance from reaching out past the stage edge. Lillias White as Bloody Mary seems to understand this, and sings "Bali Hai" off book. It makes her performance that much more watchable, for me. Ms. McEntire does the same with the "Honey Bun" song, which from both a staging and engagement standpoint make it a lot more fun.

South Pacific
Music by Richard Rodgers
Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Presented in concert in 2005 at Carnegie Hall
Cast: Reba McEntire, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Alec Baldwin, Jason Danielley, Lillias White.