Elaine Paige, Stages--recital disc on cassette tape

Being stuck in the 80s, I have a lot of cassette tapes, which I've only just started to explore for my Year of Musical Thinking. Fortunately, my father's car (which I borrowed for a weekend trip to Wisconsin) is also stuck in time and has a tape cassette player, so I was able to relive some of my musical past on the way north. As I got onto I-94 toward Milwaukee, I popped Elaine Paige Stages into the dashboard player.

Ms. Paige is one of those quintessential musical theater performers of the 70s and 80s, having created the roles of Eva Peron in Evita and Grisabella in Cats. She, of course, has done many things since then, but as this recording was made in 1987, songs from shows of the 70s and 80s dominate here.

That actually may be one of my criticisms of this recital disc...um, tape. The range of music is not very broad. I believe the earliest show represented, I believe is Hair (1968). The latest is Cats (1982). I would love to hear some tracks from shows of the 40s and 50s--the so-called Golden Age of Broadway. Perhaps Ms. Paige has another recording that mines that era.

It is hard to argue with any of Ms. Paige's singing, which is strong up and down her "chest" register and reaches into the middle range without getting ugly. I have always liked her voice and find it less nasal than some of her belt singer comrades.

All of the tracks here seem over-produced to me, with large orchestrations and involved arrangements that sometimes get in the way. Well, it was the 80s and it wasn't only the hair that was big. I particularly wished that songs like "Send in the Clowns" and "Losing my Mind" could have provided a change of sonority to the big, bold offerings.

Andrew Lloyd Webber Celebration at Royal Albert Hall on DVD

Well, I suppose since it is at Royal Albert Hall and it is Andrew Lloyd Webber, I shouldn't be surprised that this Celebration is over-produced and involves a somewhat larger battalion than was used in the D-Day invasion. That said it must have something to see live. It's something to see on DVD.

Some quick observations and questions are all I have time for now:

Is Sarah Brightman some kind of cross between a cupie doll and Stevie Nicks? Why does she sing "Music of the Night" from Phantom, rather than a man? Her overly rounded vowels are distracting to watch and are some kind of bastardization of vocal technique.

Donny Osmond is cute. He sings well. He's charming with the children's choir backing him up.

Antonia Banderas is also cute. He doesn't sing well. His circling around everybody is a little odd--is he a herding dog?

I like Elaine Paige's singing. While her Evita gown probably "read" well live in the hall, it's a little much for close-up television.

The roller skating musical hasn't improved with age.

Was that Bonnie Tyler? I'm sure there are credits, but I haven't gotten to them yet. I eventually did get to them and, yes, that was Bonnie Tyler. Which leads to my next question; why was Bonnie Tyler there?

I don't know who any of the British rocker men or boys are. Labels would have been nice. Then again, so would me finishing watching the whole DVD before writing this entry. The cast is listed at the end, and a song by song list is given if you scene select on your DVD player.

There are things I very much like about Andrew Lloyd Webber's theater music. Some of the themes are lovely, but don't developed enough to keep me interested.

The same is true for the Requiem: the "Pie Jesu" for soprano and treble has some beautiful moments and I would appreciate them more if they weren't repeated 10 times in a 3 minute movement; the "Hosanna in excelsis" (I could have that Latin wrong) is exciting and needs a really good tenor, but again let's vary some of the musical motives, Andy.

I want to hear more of the cello concerto, or whatever the piece is referred to as. It's called Variations for Cello and Orchestra.

Glenn Close might not be the best singer out there, but she surely outshone everyone else in the acting department; I couldn't take my eyes off her. I would not have wanted to sing "Memory" after Ms. Close's songs.

Michael Ball is not as cute as I had hoped.

Two show of Webber's that I don't know but need to hear more of are Sunset Boulevard and Aspects of Love.

What kind of name is Tina Arena? It sounds like a pole dancer. And was her song from Whistle Down the Wind repeated to give some sort of closure to the event? It seemed anti-climatic.

If anti-climatic is "against the climax", how does one state "against the climate"? Well, I just looked it up and anti-climatic is "against the climate"; anti-climactic is the word I meant for the repeat of Tina Arena's song. Learn something everyday--that's my motto.

Andrew Lloyd Webber Celebration at Royal Albert Hall
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics: all his collaborators, from Tim Rice on...

Filmed in 1998, released on DVD in 1999
Cast: Elaine Paige, Donny Osmond, Antonio Banderas, Sarah Brightman, Julian Lloyd Webber, Michael Ball, Glenn Close, Tina Arena, Kiri Te Kanawa

Chess--concept album on CD

There are several versions of Chess that were recorded, and I look forward to hearing a version that was put on stage (it's been suggested I listen for Judy Kuhn in the Broadway version), but for today I am listening to the concept album that was released in anticipation of the show. If that last phrase is not very specific, it's purposeful; I don't know if this album was created to rouse audience interest in the original stage version or to raise money for the original stage version--maybe both.

Either way, when I listen to a staged version of the show, I'll be interested in what might happen to the long instrumental sections of the score. From a musical standpoint, they are some of my favorite parts of the score, but from a theatrical standpoint, they might really slow down the story-telling of the show. This seems particularly true in the second act of this two-disc set.

There is a lot of singing on this album that I like very much. Elaine Paige somehow finds a way to be strong up and down her whole range without getting too nasal or too pushed. I'm very interested in Tommy Korberg and what else he may have done--I like his singing very much. It is pop-twinged without loosing the core of its sound. "Anthem" has long been one of my favorite baritone songs. I look forward to hearing other singers present this song in later cast albums.

Chess
Music by Benny Anderssen, Bjorn Ulvaeus
Lyrics by Tim Rice
Concept Album released in 1984
Cast: Murray Head, Elaine Paige, Barbara Dickson, Tommy Korberg, Denis Quilley, Bjorn Skifs

Cats London production filmed for the tele

Don your leg warmers and shred your bath mat, because it's now and forever. It's Cats.

I believe this filmed version of the show was created with a mixed cast from several world productions and some notable returning actors who originated roles--most notably Elaine Paige. Having grown up listening to the Broadway cast album, with Betty Buckley as Grizabella, it was nice to hear Ms. Paige sing the iconic "Memory". It's interesting to think that Ms. Paige is singing this song that she first introduced 17 years earlier--she sounds vocally strong.

This may be the only time TS Eliot appears as one of the labels in my entries, unless there is a musical setting of "The Wasteland" that I've yet to discover. The poems that form the basis of the libretto for this show are delightful and full of whimsy. The irony is that while the poems are about cats on the surface, Eliot was actually commenting on the social structures of early 20th Century England--the structures of PEOPLE! But social commentary doesn't make for a good musical spectacular, so let's make them all cats.

I actually like much of the music from this show, and regretted any time the production values of this taping got in the way of watching and listening to the performers. There are several poorly edited moments in this DVD and some of the effects added to the taping that wouldn't have happened in a live stage performance which took away from my enjoyment of the show, rather than adding to it.

I received this DVD through Netflix and I think I'll hold on to it over the Thanksgiving holiday. Apparently my niece and nephews love singing along with the recording of Cats, but have not seen the production. I feel I should introduce them to the treacle before I show them the treats.

Cats
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics by TS Eliot
The DVD says it was released in 1998.
Cast: Elaine Paige, John Mills, Ken Page, Rosemarie Ford, Michael Gruber, John Partridge and a lot of other furry folks