Fiorello! Original cast album on CD

This is my fourth "!" musical so far this Year. First there was Oklahoma! living up to it's punctuation, then Oliver! and Mama Mia! which didn't deliver for me (at least in their film versions). Now we have Fiorello! which I'm happy to report lives up to its billing.

There is something for everyone in this first major hit for songwriting team of Bock and Harnick. There is a lot of work for the chorus, backing up many of the lead performers. The male chorus gets the wonderful politician scenes with songs like "Politics and Poker", "The Bum Won", and the wryly funny "Little Tin Box". The women's chorus gets the pastiche flapper song, "Gentleman Jimmy".

Four female roles have significant songs and this must be some kind of record. The best of the bunch is "When Did I Fall in Love" (well-sung here by Ellen Hanley), but "The Very Next Man" is also good, and none of the others are bad.

Surprisingly the titular character has little music to perform. The very good liner notes for this CD reissue of the 1959 cast album explains that La Guardia had a lot of dialogue, but little music. And the fact that Tom Bosley won his Tony for this role in the featured actor category, bears that out. The notes also give a wonderful account of the history of Howard da Silva's career, from working actor, to black-list bust, to triumphant return in this show. I'd previously talked a bit about da Silva when discussing 1776.

Fiorello!
Music by Jerry Bock
Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
Book by Jerome Weidman and George Abbott
Cast: Tom Bosley, Patricia Wilson, Ellen Hanley, Howard da Silva, Eileen Rodgers, Pat Stanley

1776 film on dvd

Vote for independency! American history meets the American musical theater in 1776.

This 1972 film version captures the performances of much of the original cast from the Broadway show which ran from 1969 to 1972. This was composer/lyricist Sherman Edwards's only show on Broadway, and he won the Tony for Best Musical for 1969. The ensemble gets great stuff in this show (sorry ladies, but it's all men) due to that fact that each is portraying a specific historic personage, with a documented point of political view. And the music for small groups is wonderful.

Howard da Silva, who portrays Ben Franklin, is a bone fide Broadway legend and McCarthy era black-listed actor. Due to his being black-listed, this is one of his few film credits, and (I think) the only musical one. But on stage--besides originating Franklin in 1776--Mr. da Silva was in the original, banned production of Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, as well as the original Fiorello! and Oklahoma!, where he was Jud Fry. He did a ton of "straight" plays on Broadway, too, including Shakespeare when he was only 21. Exclamation points all around!

Most of this show really works for me. Although I don't really care for the voices of many of the actors, most of their portrayals and the strength of the material make up for that. And the cherry on top of the Sundae is that I have baritone favorite John Cullum singing the best and most powerful song of the score.

An alternative soundtrack on the DVD with discussion by creator Peter Stone and director Peter Hunt is really interesting, if you can devote the time to it. I'm currently also watching the HBO miniseries John Adams which stars Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney. Expect a historical/musical compare and contrast at some point.

1776
Book by Peter Stone
Music and Lyrics by Sherman Edwards
Columba Pictures film release directed by Peter Hunt
Cast: William Daniels, Howard da Silva, Ken Howard, Blythe Danner, John Cullum, Virginia Vestoff