Standing Room Only--Jerry Hadley Recital Disc on CD

I have previously considered the wonderful singing and sad story of the late Jerry Hadley in three entries, so I was pleased when I came across his recital disc Standing Room Only. It is a varied mix of Broadway standards and rarities, several of which were new songs to me, surprisingly.

In reading a bit about Hadley's background and career, I was surprised to learn he was an Illinois native and received his Masters degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign Urbana--also the alma mater of one of my favorite baritones, Nathan Gunn. Obviously, these are two very different singers, but there does strike me to be a similarity in their muscular upper registers.

The tracks on this recording are all well done and well-sung. The liner notes make a point of saying that the orchestrations and arrangements are all new. I assume part of the reason behind that is to bring some of the songs into the rich center of Mr. Hadley's tenor range.

This album is at its best when offering material to showcase Mr. Hadley's wonderful legato singing, notably "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables, and "Younger Than Springtime" from South Pacific. But there are character pieces, too, that are well done, with Mr. Hadley able to scale-down his ringing open top to present a lighter sound. Also impressive is the trust placed in some of the arrangements, not all of which feel the need to bring on the brass section to drive home their point; some are very sparsely instrumentalized (is that a word?) to create a contrast with bigger arrangements. "Momma Look Sharp" is perhaps the most effective of the smaller-scale efforts.

After listening to this very good recital disc, it's not difficult to come up with another 18 musical theater songs I would have enjoyed hearing him sing. Sadly, that can never be.

Standing Room Only

Broadway Favorites

(including songs by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Rodgers & Hart, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Marvin Hamlisch, Lerner and Loewe, Frank Loesser, and others)

Cast: Jerry Hadley, Paul Gemignani, American Theatre Orchestra

Released on the RCAVictor label in 1992

Sondheim: a Celebration at Carnegie Hall

Has any musical theater composer been the subject of more special concerts during his life-time than Stephen Sondheim? Doubtful. I wonder why that is?

I believe he appeals to performers, who enjoy the opportunity to sing his songs with orchestra. I don't dislike his music, but I won't be lining up to sing it with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia this summer (even if they ask me to have done, which they should have asked me to have done). I get that his shows are creatively formatted and explore more contemporary human situations in a more modern setting. He probably also appeals to anyone who appreciates clever, urban word-play--which I do.

Still, so many Sondheim revues/evenings/tributes/galas/concerts/acts? Well, I don't have any more lined up for the remainder of my Year, and gratefully Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall from 1992 is a good tribute concert on which to end my Sondheim thinking.

Firstly, while I groaned when Bill Irwin walked onto stage after the overture, he turned out to be really funny. I hate clowns, but this was a hysterical take on the "fake stage manager" routine. Of course, I'm a fake stage manager myself, so I'm biased.

I mourned the late Jerry Hadley and Madeleine Kahn, both of whom do their songs very well. Liza Minnelli was fantastic in her songs, both of which were new to me. I thought Liza Minnelli was very good. Glenn Close was not quite at the level she was at in the Lloyd Webber tribute I listened to last week. Betty Buckley was miscast singing "Children will Listen". I didn't care for the Tonics.

While I have heard most of this music before, just about everything from Merrily We Roll Along and Assassins was new to my ears.

Perhaps I do need to look for a little more Sondheim.

Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Staged in 1992
Released on video in 1993
(Amazon says this is a two-disc set and Netflix sent me only one disc that seems to contain a compilation of what is on the two-disc version. What gives?)

Cast: Bernadette Peters, Billy Stritch, Liza Minnelli, Glenn Close, Betty Buckley, Patti Lupone, Mark Jacoby, Dorothy Loudon, Patrick Cassidy, Victor Garber, Bill Irwin, Jerry Hadley,

Classical Monday--The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, stage production on DVD

Last week was Kurt Weill's 109th birthday. Somehow I let that pass me by, which is surprising because I have a great affinity for Weill and (most of) his music. In college, I was in a production of Threepenny Opera and a production of Mahagonny Songspiel, which is the precursor to today's entry, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, an opera in three acts.

I doubt anyone would consider this version of Mahagonny a musical, it is certainly an opera, or perhaps a music drama, to steal a translated phrase from Wagner. It's challenging to listen to, even with a couple of recognizable tunes, such as "Alabama Song."

There are several very powerful moments in this 2001 production from the Vienna Staatsopera. If anyone is uncertain what Brecht meant by his style of Epic Theater and the breaking down of the 4th wall, watch the finale of Act One of this production, when Jerry Hadley walks off the stage into the audience telling them to take what they can from the rich. That's the kind of "in you face" theater that rarely happens in an opera house. This production also was performed by Lyric Opera in Chicago, I believe in 2000 for the Weill Centennary. I love the idea of a character telling the moguls of Chicago who sit in the prime seats at the opera house that the poor are going to rise up and take the rich's belonging.

There are three notable names in this cast that is mostly German--Americans Catherine Malfitano and the late Jerry Hadley, and British soprano Gwyneth Jones. All three perform admirably, although the women are near the end of the vocal performing lives, and you can hear that. I've seen Malfitano live on stage at Lyric Opera (in another Weill show, Street Scene, which is much closer to a Broadway-style musical) and while I do not love her voice, she is a riveting singing actress. She's shows that hear, also.

Hadley is magnificent in this production, underscoring the great loss by his early death.

The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
Music by Kurt Weill
Libretto by Bertold Brecht
First performed in 1930, based on the Mahagonny Songspiel of 1927
Vienna Staatsoper production on DVD, released in 2001
Cast: Jerry Hadley, Catherine Malfitano, Gwyneth Jones

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