Do Re Mi--1999 Encores Cast on CD

For a while in Chicago there was a series of musical concerts based on the Encores Series in New York. Ovations (as the Chicago incarnation was called) lasted one season, maybe two. Listening to this recording of an Encores production of Do Re Mi has made me miss the Chicago version.

I didn't know anything about this show until I bought this recording probably 5 years ago. I'm sure I bought it because Nathan Lane starred in it. While the talents of Mr. Lane are ably on display on this disc, there is a lot of other stuff to appreciate here, too.

Let's start with the singing of Brian Stokes Mitchell. Yes, I know I've gone on and on about Mr. Mitchell before, but this is some of his finest singing, in my humble opinion. He taps into all of his baritonal colors and richness and still has the ability to reach into his upper register. His Act I "I Know about Love" shows off all of Mr. Mitchell's abilities and is a wonderful song to boot. I don't know why I had never heard it before; it deserves a life outside the show. I will add it to my list of "lonely" songs for my one-man show in my head.

The most recognizable song from this score is "Make Someone Happy". But that song doesn't interest me nearly as much as others from the show--"It's Legitimate" (a Politics and Poker-type quartet), "All of My Life", "Cry Like the Wind", even the kitschy "That's What's new at the Zoo" are fun in their own ways.

The original cast for this show was also interesting--Phil Silvers, John Reardon, Nancy Walker and Nancy Dussault. I wonder if I can find that recording?

Do Re Mi

Music by Jule Styne

Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green

Book by Garson Kanin

Opened on Broadway in 1960

This cast from 1999

Cast: Randy Graff, Heather Headley, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Nathan Lane

Follies in Concert on CD

I've never heard the original cast album of Follies; apparently it was missing many songs in order to fit onto the vinyl of the day. So this 1985 concert version of the show is much more complete and gives a better impression of the score.

The format of Follies fascinates me. I've never seen it on stage, but the idea of "ghost" chorus girls floating through scenes, and the past and the present inhabiting the same space is very cinematic and endlessly intriguing to me. Its not often staged and understandably when so many characters are doubled with young and old versions.

There is so much music I like in this score--and surprisingly for me, I like the "contemporary" songs of the score as often as the follies-era songs--"In Buddy's Eyes", "The Road you didn't Take", "I'm still Here", "Losing My Mind", and "Too Many Mornings" are all good or better.

The number of wonderful performers in this concert also makes this recording a gem. About the only cast member I have issues with is Mandy Patinkin--and that's more for his being much too young for the role. Although I believe his ultra-manic version of "Buddy's Blues" is a drastic change from the original stage version.

I bought this concert album soon after it was released in 1985, the version I own is on two audio cassettes. I'm listening to it today on CD, because I don't even have a cassette player any more. I remember being so taken from the very start with Arthur Rubin's robust tenor in "Beautiful Girls" and with the two Heidies singing "One More Kiss". This was before I'd ever been to an opera, but I was still attracted to the most "legit" singers in the cast.

Of course, in 1985, I wouldn't have known any of the famous names in the cast (except Carol Burnett and Mandy Patinkin, which is probably why I bought the thing in the first place). No, I wouldn't have known George Hearn, or Barbara Cook, or even Elaine Stritch.

So, I came a long way even before starting my Year of Musical Thinking.

Follies

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Book by James Goldman

Opened in 1971, this stage version recorded in 1985

Cast: Arthur Rubin, Barbara Cook, George Hearn, Jim Walton, Howard McGillin, Mandy Patinkin, Lee Remick, Liz Calloway, Daisy Prince, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Lilane Montevechhi, Elaine Strich, Phyllis Newman, Carol Burnett, Licia Albanese, Erie Mills

Gene Kelly--Anatomy of a Dancer on DVD

After my recent first and last with Gene Kelly, I was glad to find in my mailbox something I thought might help me understand Kelly's place in the dance world of musical movies. Gene Kelly--Anatomy of a Dancer was an American Masters PBS broadcast from 2002 and includes lots of clips from Kelly's films and talking head interviews with people who worked with Kelly and critics who put his work into the perspective of dance history on film.

Knowing very little about dance, I can tell that Mr. Kelly doesn't dance in the same way as Fred Astaire, and one critic puts it rather simply, in a manner even we neophytes can understand: Kelly puts everything down into the floor, while Astaire lifts everything off the floor. I can appreciate that critics here refer to Kelly's style being more athletic, but I think perhaps that does a disservice to the other dancers' styles. Kelly's choreography looks more athletic.

I wanted to see more early history on Mr. Kelly in the feature, but touting itself as analyzing the contribution to film dance of its subject, I guess I need to find a more traditional biography to fill in the early blanks.

It was especially nice to include so much information from Kelly's first wife Betsy Blair and their daughter. I also enjoyed seeing Betty Garret--the Edna Babish of my youth, from Laverne and Shirley. And Arthur Laurents may be one of the last connections to that era of musical-making, both on stage and on film--and he's still directing, with a new Broadway production of West Side Story in both Spanish and English set to open soon.

Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer
PBS American Masters Series
Broadcast in 2002
Released on DVD in 2004
Cast: Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Cyd Charisse, Leslie Caron, Besty Blair, Elvis Mitchell, Betty Garret, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Nina Foch, Arthur Laurents

Subways are for Sleeping original Broadway cast album

I believe this makes the seventh appearance for bookwriters and lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green in my Year. They are by far leading the pack of other songwriters who have come up. Mr. Green also appeared once as a performer. Today is another of their musicals with composer Jule Styne, Subways are for Sleeping.

Compared their this teams' previous hit, Bells are Ringing, Subways was not a successful production, as the overly-long liner notes to this CD reissue make clear. Initially Comden and Green only wanted to write the song lyrics, not the book, saying that weren't certain how to coax a plot out the collection of short stories by Edmund G. Love. But when another bookwriter was not forthcoming, the pair capitulated and created a plot revolving around two sets of lovers. Comden and Green perhaps knew best in their initial reaction to writing the book, as that seems to be the aspect that let this show down the most.

In listening to the score, I have to wonder how bad must the book have been to have this show be considered unsuccessful. The songs are uniformly good--often much better than good--and the sung performances also quite engaging. I knew none of these songs before listening to this cast album, and I'm surprised they are not interpolated more often (if at all) into revues or cabaret acts.

Adolph Green's wife, Phyllis Newman, was cast (after five auditions) as the women in the comic pair of lovers, along side Orson Bean. As the liner notes state, this pair had much better material than the "primary" pair in the show, played by Carol Lawrence and Sydney Chaplin. This seems to have been part of the problem with the show. Newman is a hoot in her big Act One number "I was a Shoo-in", telling of her inevitability (and inevitable disappointment) as a beauty contestant. The song is hysterical and Ms. Newman plays it just right--completely straight and not too over-the-top. She won a Tony Award for her performance. A bonus track on this CD contains the song "Let's Talk" which was cut from the show, but also would have been for Ms. Newman.

I had previously queried about Sydney Chaplin, who not only originated the lead role in this show, but also lead roles in the stage versions of Bells Are Ringing and Funny Girl. This is the first singing I've heard by Mr. Chaplin (who was Charlie's son) as I saw the film versions of those other shows, where he did not appear. Chaplin has an enjoyable-enough, slightly raspy baritone, well suited to the cads he seems to have made a living portraying. His big number in Subways is "Swing Your Projects", a very funny song about financial indiscretions and double-dealings that seems all too current to today's situation. He is paired with Carol Lawrence, who sings beautifully on this recording, although the duets she and Chaplin share are perhaps not the most inspired numbers in the score.

Subways are for Sleeping
Music by Jule Styne
Book and Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Opened late 1961, cast album recorded in early 1962
Cast: Sydney Chaplin, Carol Lawrence, Phyllis Newman, Orson Bean
Directed and choreographed by Michael Kidd

Applause original cast album on CD

Fasten your seat belt, it's going to be a bumpy night--it's All About Eve on the musical stage with screen siren Lauren Bacall, singing and dancing as Margot Channing and being shoved aside by upstart Eve. I had only heard the title song from Applause as sung by Bonnie Franklin (her only Broadway credit), and didn't even know what the context of the song or what the story of the musical was. Well, this is another score that is a delightful find for me.

There are lots of funny theater inside jokes in this score--starting from the opening chorus "Backstage Babble" with it's blah, blah, blah of compliments. Also there are lots of funny references to stars of the time of the show (1970) and the early career of Ms. Bacall. While the musical score is definitely of its time and sounds straight out of the 60s, its doesn't sound dated to me--maybe because the songs are all new to me.

Len Cariou made his musical Broadway debut in this show, previously having been in straight plays on the Great White Way. He would go on to be closely associated with the shows of Stephen Sondheim (A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd), but is very good in this score.

Ms. Bacall is delightful on this cast album. She won the Tony for this role (over Katharine Hepburn also sprech-stimme'ing her way through the musical Coco). Bacall is surprisingly musical. Possessing a raspy voice with more legato then I expected, she delivers on all her numbers and clearly has a sense of humor about herself. "Something Greater" that comes near the end of the show is a wonderful song.

The only musical disappointment is the group number "Fasten Your Seat Belts." That title comes straight out of the script for All About Eve, but the line is given to chorus characters rather than to Margot Channing. The CD reissue features some bonus tracks of song cut from the show sung and played by composer Charles Strouse. "The Loneliest Man in Town" is a good song, but I can understand why it didn't make it to the stage--this is a musical about two women. "Smashing New York Times" is a funny, bittersweet song about working so hard for a few nice words in reviews.

Applause
Music by Charles Stouse
Lyrics by Lee Adams
Book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Cast album recorded in 1970, released on CD by Decca Broadway in 2000
Cast: Lauren Bacall, Len Cariou, Robert Mandan, Ann Williams, Brandon Maggart, Bonnie Franklin, Lee Roy Reams, Penny Fuller

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

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

On The Town film on DVD

New York, New York, it's a Wonderful Town. And this is a Wonderful Film! Deservedly a classic musical picture with a star-studded cast. The stage show of On The Town has some music that didn't make it to the film, most notably for me is "Lonely Town", a ballad which Gabey sang in the original Broadway production. It's a great song and I miss it. I also miss "I Can Cook, Too" which Nancy Walker sang in the stage version as cabby Hildy. The songs that Roger Edens wrote for the film, aren't all that special when compared with Bernstein.

With Gene Kelly as star and co-director, it's not surprising that dance plays a big role in this film, as it must do in the stage version, too, since the show originated as an idea for a Jerome Robbins ballet with music by Bernstein. As the theatrical trailer, which is about the only DVD extra, states--"It's twice as gay as 'Anchors Aweigh' " and boasts "A Torrent of Talent and Tunes."

I wonder if there is a more accurate version of On the Town on film, perhaps a taping of a stage production.

On The Town
Music by Leondard Bernstein
Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Screenplay by Comden and Green based on their stage play
Additional music by Roger Edens
Directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen
Cast: Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Jules Munshin, Betty Garrett, Ann Miller, Vera Ellen.

Peter Pan 1998 Broadway revival production taped for television

Okay, Cathy Rigby is really good. Even if she weren't so athletic in the flying sequences, I think she would be really good as Peter Pan. And the flying sequences are exciting even in televised version; they must have been spectacular in person. I seem to remember Ms. Rigby doing the "I'm Flying" song for the Tony Awards one year and kind of performing the fairy dust out of everyone else and then flying halfway into the house at Radio City Music Hall.

And here is the use of Stomp-like percussion in the service of the story, with the Indian and Lost Boy celebration dance! Am I prescient or what?

Well, this 1998 taping of the stage production for A&E seems to capture a lot of the magic of the show. Ms. Rigby sings admirably, although it does look like she's lip-synching to some of the songs on this telecast.

Peter Pan
Music by Mark Charlap
Lyrics by Carolyn Leigh
Book by James Barrie
Additional music by Jule Styne with lyrics by Comden and Green
Filmed for television based on the 1998 Broadway production
Cast: Cathy Rigby, Paul Schoeffler, Drake English, Chase Kniffen (who names these people?), Barbara McCulloh, Elisa Sagardia,

Candide 1989 Concert performance on DVD

There are several versions of Candide available, but I thought I would choose the 1989 concert version, since Bernstein himself chose the cast and conducts the performance.

Candide has got to have one of the best overtures of all time, I assume owing to Bernstein's capable orchestral writing. I believe in usual Broadway scores, the overture is an arrangement of tunes from the show done by someone other than the primary composer. Here, Bernstein uses the entire color palette available within the resources of an orchestra--in this case, the London Symphony Orchestra--not a bad band to be backing you up.

The cast features June Anderson as Cunegonde, Jerry Hadley as Candide, Kurt Ollman as Maximillian, Christa Ludwig as The Old Lady, and Adolph Green as Doctor Pangloss. Kurt Ollman is a name that might not be as familiar as the others; he's a wonderful baritone who has had an interesting "cross-over" career straddling opera, song recitals, and musical theater. The late Jerry Hadley had a bit of the same type of career. Ms. Anderson and Ms. Ludwig are straight out of the opera house, while Mr. Green represents the true Broadway tradition and had had a working relationship as performer and lyricist with Bernstein for more than 40 years by the time this concert was performed in 1989.

The musical aspects of this concert are very good. All the performers are lively, and Ms. Anderson and Mr. Hadley sing particularly well. "Glitter and be Gay" is done just about as well as it can be done by Ms. Anderson, who was still in the youthful bloom of her voice. Mr. Green does admirably with an enormous amount of text, both spoken and sung.

I did get tired a bit of the amount of camera time afforded Mr. Bernstein, though, and while some of his "asides" were interesting, they didn't help the flow of the performance. Owing probably to his musical stature, there is quite a bit of congratulatory hugging and hand-shaking, which only manages to slow down the proceedings even further, but when the music is happening, it is all pretty good.

Candide
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Book by Lillian Hellman
Lyrics by Richard Wilbur, John La Touche, and Dorothy Parker
Based on the novel by Voltaire
1989 Concert version with the London Symphony Orchestra in the Barbican Center
Released by Deutsche Grammaphon
Cast: Adolph Green, Kurt Ollman, Jerry Hadley, June Anderson, Christa Ludwig

Lady in the Dark Recording

It's another studio recording, not an actual recording of a cast that mounted and ran a production. That seems a bit like cheating. There must be things that you learn about the show, the music, the role during staging rehearsals and performances in front of an audience that don't get discovered when only working in a recording studio.

That said, I don't think there is another recording of Kurt Weill's Lady in the Dark, so I'm glad to have this one. Rise Stevens sings the role of Liza Elliot, the titular Lady. Ms. Stevens had a significant operatic career. I don't know if she did much Broadway or musicals in general. The extensive notes with this CD reissue quote her as saying that she could sing the music without sounding like an opera singer. Well...

The male lead is John Reardon, a Broadway baritone who had a cross-over career into classical music, too. Bernstein wrote an orchestral/vocal work for him and I believe Reardon originated some Broadway roles. Reardon's another of those John Raitt "real singer" types that I most admire. It's something about the vocal training of singers who performed before microphones were the amplification answer for musicals--they had to really sing! And John Reardon does, although he's not given a lot in Lady in the Dark.

Also in this studio cast is Adolph Green, of Comden and Green writing fame. He sings the "Tchaikovsky and Others" patter song made famous by Danny Kaye in the original production from 1941 (also on this recording as a bonus). There is good reason why Danny Kaye is remembered for this song and Adolph Green is not. The other bonus tracks sung by Kaye are a suprise to me--he had a very pleasant lightish voice with some actual legato to it. From a vaudvillian. And then he rolls off the names of 49 Russian composers in a minute and a half!

Lady in the Dark
Music by Kurt Weill
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin
Book by Moss Hart
1963 Studio Recording released by Columbia Records
CD reissue by Masterworks Heritage Vocal Series in 1997 by Sony Music Entertainment
Bonus tracks recorded in 1941 by Columbia Records
Cast: Rise Stevens, John Reardon, Adolph Green