Show Tunes--Rosemary Clooney CD

I should have looked at the label of this CD release more closely before picking it out of the stacks at the library; it's on a jazz label and most of the 12 tracks on Rosemary Clooney Show Tunes, while indeed being songs from Broadway shows, are treated as jazz standards presented in a club or cabaret setting. Jazz arrangements are not my thing.

Oh, well, it's hard to go wrong with Rosemary Clooney, and indeed, she rarely goes wrong on this disc. While her voice may be well past its prime, her interpretations, musicality and communicative skills are at their peak. This disc could serve as a primer for younger performers who let too much of their own personality get in the way of good songs. Rosemary uses her personality and personal experiences to inform the song, never to mask it.

My beef with jazz arrangements is that they too often follow the same format and mold--a verse of the song, some instrumental solo turns, another verse of the song. This happens too often on this disc, which all but one track involving all six of the session instrumentalists. The one song that is piano-only is my favorite on this recital--"Where do you start?" by Johnny Mandel with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. If this tune is from an actual show, I couldn't find it, but the song is melancholy and soulful, and Rosie imbues it with a lot of feeling.

There are three Rodgers and Hart tunes on this disc--the only songwriters represented more than once--and Ms. Clooney clearly feels at easy with the 1st R&H's swing and rhymes. Another successful swing arrangement is of the title song from Guys and Dolls.

Show Tunes
Music by Rodgers and Hart, Burton Lane, Frank Loesser, Kurt Weill, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Johnny Mandel, and others
Cast: Rosemary Clooney
Recorded for the Concord Jazz label in 1992

Finian's Rainbow New Broadway Cast album on CD

I recall liking the film version of Finian's Rainbow when I reviewed it for this project, so I was looking forward to listening to the new Broadway cast album when I was given it as a gift. Best gift ever.

This is a well-produced and well-cast album of a production that unfortunately closed way too soon. I have to believe it was a case of being hit hard by the economy and not anything to do with the show itself, because what is evident on the CD is delightful from downbeat to finale.

Cheyenne Jackson starred in this re-mounting as Woody, man-about Rainbow Valley, Missitucky. I have to say, I don't mind looking at Mr. Jackson, and don't mind listening to Mr. Jackson sing. I must make a point of finding some of his solo CDs---I believe they are not all American Idol-influenced.

Fortunately, Mr. Jackson gets some of the best songs in this Burton Lane score to sing. "That Old Devil Moon" proves why it is a classic. While I liked hearing "That Great, Come-and-get-it Day" again, it didn't live up to my memory from the film. Is it a different arrangement? Or just missing the visuals?

Kate Baldwin as Sharon also has a lovely voice that she uses well in "How are Things in Glocca Morra?" and "Look to the Rainbow." Even Christopher Fitzgerald as leprechaun Og is a good singer and delivers on his comic piece "When I'm Not Near the Girl I Love."

The good liner notes from John Lahr give a lot of information about the origins of Finian's Rainbow but not the remount production, which sadly like a rainbow was too brief an occurrence.

Finian's Rainbow
Music by Burton Lane
Lyrics by Yip Harburg
Book by Harburg and Fred Saidy
2009 Broadway revival production
Cast: Cheyenne Jackson, Kate Baldwin, Christopher Fitzgerald, Jim Norton,

The Broadway and Hollywood Legends: Burton Lane

I have enjoyed both On a Clear Day you Can See Forever and, particularly, Finian's Rainbow, so I was looking forward to hearing some more of Burton Lane's music in The Broadway and Hollywood Legends: Burton Lane, which was created for CBS in 1981. Well, it turns out I had heard most of the music Mr. Lane created, since those two shows are his claim to fame.

No troubles, particularly when it is a well-performed as this is by Larry Kert, Bobbi Baird, and Martha Wright. Kert is very likable and handles both lyric and comic singing with aplomb.

The Broadway and Hollywood Legends: Burton Lane
Music by Burton Lane
Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, Yip Harburg,
Filmed for television in 1981
Released on DVD in 2004
Cast: Burton Lane, Larry Kert, Bobbi Baird, Martha Wright

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

Finian's Rainbow film on DVD

I always thought the Rankin and Bass version of Fred Astaire in Santa Claus is Comin' to Town was a tremendous exaggeration of his long face and strong jaw, but some shots of Mr. Astaire in Finian's Rainbow prove that the claymation version is not overly exaggerated.

This film version was produced in 1968, 20 years after the stage musical premiered, and is the final film lead for Mr. Astaire. According to the movie database, the racial satire in the story had to wait for a more liberal time to be made into a film. From the opening chorus number, the inter-racial cast is a clue that this is not a typical musical of the 1940s, and some of the racial humor is hysterical even 40 years after the film was made. At the same time, the casting of Petula Clark and Don Francks as romantic leads Sharon and Woody clearly make this a film of the 1960s.

I had heard the songs "How are Things in Glocca Morra" and "Look to the Rainbow" before and liked their folk-song style in the context of the story. But there are lots of styles of music in this show-including a rousing gospel-style chorus about buying things out of the Sears-Roebuck catalogue! Other songs have a more contemporary feel to the era of the musical's creation and feel a little dated now. "Old Devil Moon" feels very much like a big band era song, especially in the orchestral arrangement in the film.

Finian's Rainbow
Music by Burton Lane
Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg
Book by E.Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy
Warner Bros. film release directed by Francis Ford Coppola!
Cast: Fred Astaire, Petula Clark, Don Francks, Tommy Steele, Keenan Wynn, Al Freeman Jr., Barbara Hancock