Shrek the Musical--OBC album

I am not the target market for this show. I'm not a kid. I don't have a kid. I don't want to be around kids. And I've never seen the movie that is the basis for this show. That said I was actually looking forward to listening to the cast album of Shrek the Musical. I've liked the previous Jeanine Tesori scores I've encountered. I've like the singing voices of both Brian D'Arcy James and Sutton Foster. So how about the latest endeavour from all of them? Uninspiring.

There were many times when I thought "Alright, this song/premise/title seems promising" and an initial musical introduction would perk up my ears, but in every case the song would fizzle for me before it ended. In many cases I felt the lyrics were rather too casual and not poetic enough to inspire a character to sing. Isn't that why a character sings? Because the emotions and message they have to convey is too strong to just put into words? Some songs had poetic titles--like "When Words Fail" or "Who I'd Be" but in each song even the refrain would lack any more poetry than the title.

The performances all seem hampered by something--a heavy costume, having to be on your knees the whole time, a thick speaking accent, actually being off stage while your character is represented by some kind of puppet on stage. I was particularly disappointed in Brian D'Arcy James; granted he has to perform through a put-on accent and a heavy costume, but nothing on this disc led me to feel any compassion for the leading man, um, ogre. Princess Fiona seems rather passive--at least as represented by her songs.

The music is very piece-meal. If you don't like a particular style of music, wait three minutes, it'll change. There will be a couple styles at least in one song alone. I think that is part of the reason the show didn't work for me. The structure of the songs doesn't allow for a build toward a climax. Several songs do involve clever quod-libet sections (where two melodies--or even three--are sung on top of one another), but the initial melodies seem uninspired, so you end up with layers of uninspired.

Never having seen the animated film, I was struck by the similarity in Shrek's plot to The Island of Misfit Toys from the Rankin and Bass television Rudolph special from my youth. I'm all for letting your freak flag wave, but you'd better have something really special to share. None of these freaks did.

Shrek the Musical
Music by Jeanine Tesori
Lyrics and book by David Lindsay-Abaire
Opened December 2008
Cast: Brian D'Arcy James, Sutton Foster, Christopher Sieber, Daniel Breaker

Thoroughly Modern Millie--Original Broadway Cast Album on CD

Add Thoroughly Modern Millie to the growing list of shows I have not seen in live performance, but need to. Based on this original cast album, I will love this show. This is a good old fashioned type book musical, with a lot of variety in its music. And this recording shows that the original cast was top-notch.

Sutton Foster had been on Broadway before, but only as a ensemble player or understudy, but here she is coming out from the chorus to play the lead and she is fantastic! I don't hear a note of Ms. Foster's singing that I have any quarrel with--it's a bright, forward sound that is typically American for the typically American Millie Dilmount.

The male leads are equally good. Baritone Marc Kudisch nearly floored me with the Gilbert and Sullivan re-work as "The Speed Test". The tap-dancing for the typing segment is brilliant, and I need to see it live. Tenor Gavin Creel has a nice light, flexible voice that I always want to hear from my Broadway tenors.

The other women in the cast vary in experience and success. Sheryl Lee Ralph was the original Deena in Dream Girls; her club act numbers in Millie are wonderful. Harriet Harris is a character actress with a familiar face, but neither the Broadway database nor imdb.com give me any clue where I've seen her before. Angela Christian has several musical Broadway credits, but I found her soprano voice a little forced.

It's the music in this show that is the real star. Incorporating themes from the 1969 film with new music by Jeanine Tesori along with the afore-mentioned Sullivan number, a couple of Victor Herbert tunes, and a fantastic jazz arrangement of the Nutcracker, this score is delightful--evoking the 20s era without ever descending into stereotypes or blandness. I do wonder if the Chinese jokes were an issue in our proto-proper inclusive environment.

None of these performers nor the music and lyric team have appeared previously in my Year. Again, I'm amazed at the number of composers who have written musicals. I'm going to shoot for 100 composers before the 12 months are up at the end of May.

Thoroughly Modern Millie
Music by Jeanine Tesori (with some help from James Van Heusen, Victor Herbert and Arthur Sullivan)
Lyrics by Dick Scanlan (with some help from Sammy Cahn)
Book by Richard Morris and Dick Scanlon
Opened in 2002
Cast: Marc Kudisch, Sutton Foster, Gavin Creel, Angela Christian, Sheryl Lee Ralph