Ragtime The Musical: Mostly Original Broadway Cast recording

This recording is not listed as being the OBC album, but rather as "Songs from" Ragtime The Musical .  I wonder if E.L. Doctorow insisted on this being listed as "The Musical", so as not to confuse it with "The Novel" or "The Film" or "The Hip-Hop Concert."  While most of the cast of this recording is the cast that appeared on the Broadway opening night of this show, there are a couple of significant personnel changes.  If you know why, please tell me.  Oh, wait, I see, this was the out of town try-out cast in Toronto, not the Broadway cast.

I saw Ragtime on tour in Chicago close to a decade ago.  I remember thinking that it was a lovely score hampered by some pedestrian directing.  I put my career at risk with that statement, as the show was directed by Frank Galati, noted Chicago writer/director.  But as Galati also directed the brief, toxic production of Pirate Queen, which played Chicago before dying on Broadway--no one is immune to the creating schlock.

Ragtime is not schlock, even by the most curmudgeonly of standards.  There is powerful music, here, sung in powerful and effective ways.   But somehow it tries to take on too much for my tastes.   While the pastiche numbers for Evelyn Nesbitt, Henry Ford, Emma Goldberg, and Harry Houdini give a good feel for the era, they get in the way of telling the human stories of Mother, Father, Coalhouse, and Sarah. 

What a great cast, though.  Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Marin Mazzie are three of my favorite singers each given one fantastic song to sing and several interesting ensemble numbers (although if I hear that Ragtime theme once more, I may take a sledge hammer to the honky-tonk piano--a feeling I remember having after seeing the show live, too).  I think this is Mark Jacoby's first appearance in my year; I must look for other recordings with him.

Ragtime

Music by Stephen Flaherty

Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens

Book by Terrence McNally

Toronto Cast recorded in 1996 before the show opened on Broadway in 1997

Cast: Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Marin Mazzie, Mark Jacoby, Jim Corti, Camille Saviola, 

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake on DVD

My recent exposure to The Car Man of choreographer slash director Matthew Bourne sent me to my Netflix queue to move Bourne's Swan Lake up the list. Yes, the homo-eroticism of both pieces is not lost on me and there-in lies at least part of my interest (I won't say which part).

Swan Lake made a big splash on both sides of the pond and ran on Broadway for several months--something unheard of for ballet. But this is not just ballet. While Bourne's choreography in The Car Man is firmly in the modern dance vein, his Swan Lake includes more styles, at least to my untrained eye. There is certainly ballet, but also modern, some variations on ballroom, and a send-up of historical dance.

The story told here is one of a lonely and confused young prince who is dominated by his cold mother, manipulated by the royal press secretary and uncommitted to his lower-class girl-friend. As he is about to throw himself into the lake, swans come to life as bare-chested men. The prince becomes enamored of the lead swan. Whether this is an hallucination by the prince is up to the viewer, I suppose. After not drowning himself, the prince attends a ball where a young man who looks just like the lead swan is announced to be his mother's fiance. The still confused prince becomes violent and is sedated and taken to his room. There he hallucinates again about the swans. When his mother returns to check on him, the prince is either dead or catatonic and we see him with the lead swan through the bedroom window. I've never seen a traditional telling of the story, so I can't say how Mr. Bourne has changed the story (apart from the gender switches).

Like Will Kemp (who is in the corps de ballet here, but later danced the lead swan) from The Car Man, Adam Cooper is a lovely, communicative dancer and very sexy as the lead swan/mother's fiance. He takes the brunt of the dance time, too, as Scott Ambler as the prince is a much more passive role and is often watching the action rather than making it occur. I was also struck by Mr. Ambler seeming too old for the role. This wouldn't have been an issue if I were seeing it on stage, but in close-ups, Mr. Ambler does not appear to be a spring chicken--er, swan. Fiona Chadwick as the prince's mother does some lovely dancing and has a great wardrobe.

I have to say this is not entirely a positive image for gay identity. The prince is ashamed and confused by his attraction to swan/fiance man. At several points the prince is mocked by taunting crowds. He becomes defensive and violent and only in death does he get his lover. The male swans are also very protective of the lead swan, and rather violent toward the prince, not allowing him and the swan to come together in the bedroom scene.

Isn't that just like a bunch of catty swans?

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake
Music by Tchaikovsky
Story and Choreography by Matthew Bourne
Cast: Adam Cooper, Scott Ambler, Fiona Chadwick

Rent film on DVD

For Christmas Eve, I have a show that begins and end on two Christmas Eves. It is a coincidence, 'cuz I didn't know this about the show.

I lived in a cultural cave for much of the 1990s, so I had actually never seen Rent on stage or heard much of the score in recordings. I had heard the song "Seasons of Love" as it seems to be sung by every group from the Chicago Gay Men's Choir to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, proving those two diverse groups perhaps have more in common than not. Can't we all just get along and sing?

Chris Columbus's 2005 film version of the 1996 stage show has much to admire in it. Firstly, Mr. Columbus is an accomplished filmmaker, able to create both intimate moments and full-blown production numbers--and this show requires both.

While it is admirable that much of the original company was cast in the film, I do question how the nearly 10 years of experience may have seasoned these performers beyond what the show's theme can handle. What probably were more raw performances on stage, didn't quite feel believable to me in the film. Of course, this may be due to what I know about the performers' careers after hitting it big in this show. Taye Diggs in now a TV star in a spin-off show. Rosario Dawson is a film star. Idina Mendez is not only married to Taye Digss, but became an even bigger stage star in Wicked. Adam Pascal went on to star in Elton John's Aida. Anthony Rapp went on to be Charlie Brown. Jesse L. Martin is also a star in a bonafide TV franchise. Did I mention this show is about growing up and selling out?

I don't begrudge any of these performers their successes; I only point it out because knowledge of the casts' careers prevented me from believing their characters' viewpoint in this film.

There are a lot of ideas in this film--perhaps too many, which could be the curse of a young playwright, Jonathan Larson. I felt the love affair between Roger and Mimi was cheated a bit, while the death of Angel, the ups and downs of Joanne and Maureen, and the career track of Mark were given equal billing.

There are also a lot of ideas in the music and lyrics of Mr. Larson's score, which again prevents some of the songs from being as powerful as they might be. But I was surprised how much I did like the music in this show--which is not normally my musical cup of ti, or do re mi, either. Ms. Mendez is a powerful singer and I wished to hear more from her. Ms. Dawson did not impress me with her singing, but her pole dancer number was great. Mr. Rapp has a pleasant voice that reached into the upper register effectively. Mr. Pascal perhaps suffered the most under my interest in his 10 years since the live show premiered; he didn't feel or sound believable to me as a raw, rock talent. Perhaps that sound comes through on the 1996 cast album.

Rent
Music, lyrics and book by Jonathan Larson
Opened on Broadway in 1996
Film directed by Chris Columbus premiered in 2005
Cast: Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, Idina Menzel, Taye Diggs, Rosario Dawson, Tracy Thomas, Jesse L. Martin, Wilson Jermaine Heredia