Cabaret--New Broadway Cast album

Days after her tragic death, I found the cast album of the 1998 Broadway (and Roundabout Theater) incarnation of Cabaret with Natasha Richardson. It has taken me until now to listen to it, and I'm not certain why.

I've only ever seen the film version of Cabaret which I talked about months ago. As the film severely streamlines the story (and cuts out all of the romance between the older couple) a lot of this music was new to me. I liked it all--from pastische Viennese waltzes, to ersatz Nazi propaganda songs, to raunchy cabaret acts, to show-stopper belt ballads--I liked it all.

Ms. Richardson made a splash in the role primarily for her acting, I believe. It is hard to make that case in a recording. I found her singing somewhat wanting. I realize that some have criticized Liza Minnelli for being too good--"How would she ever be stuck in this third-rate Berlin nightclub?" But there are times when I want my underdog characters to over reach their abilities. Perhaps Ms. Richardson's performance did that, but her voice was merely adequate and didn't push even an emotional extreme until the very end of the title song at the end of Act II. She underplays the Act I "Maybe This Time" and I felt this was a mistake.

It is difficult to judge Alan Cumming's performance just from the audio recording. He sings everything well and seems to have a strong sense of how to approach each number.

One interesting aspect to this recording--there are audience reactions (applause, laughs, etc.) to the tracks which take place in the cabaret setting. I assume these reactions are electronically added, rather than being from a live studio audience. It helps make the case for which scenes are show-scenes and which are within the storyline.

The very good liner notes outlining the history of the Cabaret from Isherwood stories to re-incarnated Broadway show provide a lot of interest information. I was particularly interested to know that Jane Horracks played Sally Bowles in the 1992 London Donmar Warehouse production that formed the basis for this Broadway version. Jane Horracks is mostly known as "Bubble" the ditsy assistant on "Absolutely Fabulous." I've heard she has a tremendous singing voice, though.

I wonder if that version was recorded?

Cabaret
Music John Kander
Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Book by Joe Masteroff
Originally produced in 1966
This production played in London in 1992 and then came to New York in 1998
Directed by Sam Mendes
Cast: Natasha Richardson, Alan Cumming, Mary Louise Wilson, Ron Rifkin, John Benjamin Hickey, Denis O'Hare

Mame--OBC album

Is there a show with more infectious music that Jerry Herman's Mame? Well, if so, please suggest it, because I have always loved this musical and would love to hear what you think compares with it. I've never listened to the original Broadway cast album, but have seen the film version many times and seen it on stage at least once, when my high school performed it when I was in 8th grade. I remember being jealous of the 7th grader who played Young Patrick. The next year, he and I were in Sound of Music together.

I'm surprised by how much I like the singing on this album, even though Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur (RIP) are hardly my usual types of singers. I think that is a component of having really infectious songs in the score--although I like this score more than others by Jerry Herman. Ms. Lansbury displays a lot of good legato singing and breath control, even if her sound is not traditionally beautiful. I'm shocked to discover that his entry is the first in my Year to feature Ms. Lansbury. I must do something to make up for that.

Its easy for me to picture the deadpan delivery and double takes of Ms. Arthur (RIP), as she is in the film version.

The women really rule the roost in this show, with the men as secondary characters--especially in the singing department. Charles Braswell as Mame's hubby Beau has little to sing except in the big Act I Finale. I was surprised by the voice of Jerry Lanning who plays the elder Patrick--it's a very nice voice, even if I found it a bit too mature-sounding for the character. I must check out more of Mr. Lanning.

Mame
Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman
Book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
Opened in 1966
Cast: Angela Lansbury, Beatrice Arthur, Jane Connell, Willard Waterman, Charles Braswell, Jerry Lanning

The Apple Tree original Broadway cast recording

I've conquered the library system and checked this cast album out from the Evanston Public Library. I had never heard of The Apple Tree, and chose it because it featured Alan Alda and Barbara Harris. Neither are wonderful singers, but are clearly charming performers. The singing of Alda the younger reminds me of the singing of his father, Robert Alda, who was in the original cast of Guys and Dolls--each has a likable voice with enough legato to let the music survive. Ms. Harris has a light soubrettish voice.

This is really three musicals, each one act telling different stories that are really only connected by having the same cast, and loosely the theme of temptation. Much of the music is very witty, particularly "It's A Fish", from the Adam and Eve act of the show.

The second act is set in Roman times and the world of fighting in the lion's den. Harris really sells it in the funny, vampy "I've Got What You Want" although I don't quite understand how it fits into the story.

The third story is a Cinderella variation with Passionella (Harris) dreaming of being a movie star. Harris is the real treat of all three acts. She had her roots in comedy in Chicago 's Second City, and this show made her a star. But perhaps from the short-form of the storytelling, I don't feel any real connection to the characters. This is musical comedy at it's fluffiest.

The Apple Tree

Music by Jerry Bock

Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick

Book by Harnick and Bock

Based on stories by Mark Twain, Frank R. Stockton, and Jules Feiffer

Directed by Mike Nichols

Cast: Alan Alda, Barbara Harris, Larry Blyden, Robert Klein, Marc Jordan

Cabaret film on DVD

My Year now has two musical films in a row directed by Bob Fosse. Let's compare and contrast Sweet Charity with Cabaret.

Both films feature standout performances by lead women.

Both lead female characters are alone and searching for something.

Charity is looking for a quiet life with a husband and baby.

Sally is looking or the wild life of fame and fortune and avoids getting a husband and baby.

Both leading characters are eternal optimists.

Both feature a chorus line of women from the wrong side of the rail.

Clearly, the Mr. Fosse of Cabaret owes a lot to the Mr. Fosse of Sweet Charity. In Sweet Charity he was trying out various cinematic techniques; with Cabaret, Mr. Fosse has a much stronger sense of his cinematic vision for telling the story. The camera tricks are used much more sparingly and don't get in the way of the story, but help us see it more clearly. In Charity there was an Overture and Intermission, mimicking how people experienced the stage version of musical. With Cabaret, that convention is thrown out.

Fosse's choreography seems to have evolved as well. The isolation moves are still there, but they are much less constraining--perhaps fitting in the looser environment of Weimar Berlin.

The movie loses some of the music of the stage show and really only presents musical numbers that are in the setting of the Cabaret. So Brian and Fritz and Natalia and Fraulein Schneider don't sing. I think this probably heightens the contrast between the cabaret-world and the "real" world of fascism, hate crimes, and violence. However, it prevents us from knowing some of the inner thoughts of the characters, which a good ballad would give us. I've never seen the show on stage, so I don't know for certain what's missing.

Michael York seems the perfect embodiment of Christopher Isherwood, on whose Berlin Stories this stage show and film are based--young, thin, beautiful, blond, with a swoop of blond hair that makes him look like he just left the campus of Eaton.

There is an independent film out right now called Chris and Don: A Love Story, that is about Isherwood in Hollywood. Perhaps it will soon add some insight to my musical thinking.

Cabaret
Music by John Kander
Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Book by Joel Masteroff
Screenplay by Jay Presson Allen
(a woman, who is also the playwright of Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Tru)
Directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse
Cast: Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Joel Grey, Fritz Wepper, Helmut Griem, Marisa Berenson.

Sweet Charity film on DVD

I seem to be in a DVD rut at this point in my Year. But if they are all as good as Bob Fosse's film version of his stage production of Sweet Charity, then I'm fine by it. Shirley MacLaine has exactly the right balance of bravado and vulnerability, eternal optimist and perennial victim. And she is the perfect embodiment of Fosse's choreography. The music is at the same time bubbly and specific to time/place/character.

This was Bob Fosse's first job directing a film and there is an interesting DVD extra about his efforts to translate his stage production to film. He uses a lot of various cinematic techniques in telling the story and presenting the music and dance. Sometimes they feel a little dated and slow down the story-telling, but I give him points for looking outside the box.

The men get short-changed in terms of musical numbers in this film, which cuts several of the songs from the stage show. But there is a good ol' fashioned Stubby Kaye chorus number.

I found myself mesmerized by the portrayals by some notable musical theater performers in smaller roles in the film, which I think is a positive comment on their watch ability. Chita Rivera is front and center on the rail during the "Big Spender" number, and finally gets the dance on the roof she was denied when Rita Moreno was cast in the film of West Side Story. The afore-mentioned Stubby Kaye is the dance hall manager. Ben Vereen appears in the night club dance scene. And I think I can totally get behind any religion that has Sammy Davis Jr. as its apostle!

Sweet Charity
Music by Cy Coleman
Lyrics by Dorothy Fields
Screenplay by Peter Stone (of 1776?) based on the book of the stage musical by Neil Simon
Directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse
Cast: Shirley MacLaine, Chita Rivera, Ricardo Montalban, Stubby Kaye, Sammy Davis Jr., John McMartin