Side by Side by Sondheim London Cast Album on CD

With all the Sondheim at 80 hoopla happening this month, I thought I would listen to yet another of the many revue versions of his work. Side by Side by Sondheim may have been one of the first such revues, and was created in 1976 when the composer was just entering his musical maturity. It is interesting to hear a revue created before many of the shows that I most readily name with Sondheim--Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, and Into the Woods.

With these shows yet to be written, this revue has room for a deeper investigation of Sondheim's early shows. It was particularly interesting to hear songs for which Mr. Sondheim wrote the lyrics but not the music. "The Boy from..." charmed me again as it had done when I listened to a collection of songs composed by Mary Rodgers. The real find for me was "I Never do Anything Twice" which was written for a film. It's hysterical.

The cast of three performers are uniformly good and versatile, particularly David Kernan, who was involved in the creation of this revue. Millicent Martin sings "I'm Still Here" as well as anyone. As I learned when I looked up this production, the London version was created first and imported later to Broadway, with its British cast intact.

Side by Side by Sondheim

Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Mary Rodgers, Richards Rodgers, Jule Styne, Leonard Bernstein

Opened in London in 1976

Cast: David Kernan, Millicent Martin, Julia McKenzie

West Side Story--the New Broadway Cast album

The city is sweltering in early summer heat. The news last night reported that hospital blood supplies are low due to an increase in gang activity. And my apartment has been without electricity since early this morning. What better time to put fresh batteries into the Discman (yes, I still have one of those) and listen to West Side Story? (And then go to the library that does have power to post this entry.)

This is another show where the film version is tattooed to my retina, so I was glad to find a recording of the 2009 Broadway cast for my listening. I am ecstatic to find that this is a thrilling (let me say it again) thrilling new recording of a great score.

The "hook" to this production is that the Puerto Rican characters speak in Spanish when they are among themselves. I have to say, I found more exceptions to that rule than I expected. Even though it is sung just among the Sharks crowd, the song "America" is sung in English, undoubtedly to communicate the funny lyrics to the wider audience. In Act Two, "I Feel Pretty" and "A Boy Like That" are sung in Spanish.

All of the singing is of the first order. Matt Cavanaugh handles the challenges of Tony's songs and their operatic high notes with only a slight nasality in his otherwise lovely voice. Josefina Scaglione has a pretty, light soprano that lacks the "spin" needed to sustain some of the final high notes. Karen Olivo's belt singing of Anita is right on the mark.

The best aspect of this new recording is the orchestral playing of the score. The liner notes list an orchestra of 30 players. It sounds like 50. The playing of the dance sections of the show are exciting and fresh-sounding even though they are 50 years old. I was particularly taken with an instrumental section in "Somewhere". With a lot of open sixths and fourths, this section sounded like Aaron Copland music.

I was disappointed with the liner notes for this recording. In 34 pages it has all of the lyrics (which would really only be important for the Spanish sections, I would think), only four photos (most of which don't identify the performers) and no essay. I would like to know something about the history of this show or the development of this production.


West Side Story
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Arthur Laurents
Opened originally in 1957, this production opened in 2009
Cast: Matt Cavanaugh, Josefina Scaglione, Karen Olivo

Candide--semi-staged concert version on DVD

There must be more versions of Bernstein's Candide than any other musical. There's a three-act version, a two-act version, an opera house version, and myriad concert versions that distill the dialogue down to anywhere from non-existent to nearly full-fledged. Previously, I watched a concert version from the 1980s, but today I'm taking on the 2004 semi-staged version presented at Lincoln Center by the New York Philharmonic.

This version keeps the show fairly intact, I believe--certainly more so than the earlier concert version I watched--allowing sections of dialogue to remain for all the characters, yet utilizing a narrator to talk through some of the action. There is a surprising amount of staging in this version, a ton of work for the chorus, and all of it is memorized. That's a plus; while I understand the need to present works in a compressed rehearsal time frame, sometimes I think the mere hint of a script in a binder somehow blocks the connection between performer and audience. Not here, though, the audience is mostly lapping up whatever is given them by the accomplished cast.

I have heard Kristin Chenoweth sing the aria "Glitter and be Gay" before, in a concert in Central Park, that I saw on television. So, I knew she could sing it. If she goes a little (or a lot) overboard with the camp theatrics, it would seem to be my issue, because everyone else seems to love it. I liked it up to a point--that point being when it took away from the singing.

The rather adorable Paul Groves sings the title role of Candide with all the finesse and security you would expect from an accomplished opera singer. If he seems a little one-dimensional in his portrayal and the delivery of his dialogue, well, it's balanced out by the 12-dimensional delivery of Chenoweth.

Baritone legend Thomas Allen (that's Sir Thomas, to you) takes on the role of Dr. Pangloss and provides the narration throughout. He sings his one song well, and delivers his raft of narration very well. Here clearly is a singer who can act, well giving narration is slightly different than acting, but suffice it to say he can deliver spoken word as well as he can sung words.

Candide
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Dorothy Parker, John La Touche, and others
Book by Lillian Hellman
Based on the novel by Voltaire
Opened on Broadway in 1956
This concert version filmed in 2004
Cast: Kristin Chenoweth, Paul Groves, Jeff Blumenkrantz, Thomas Allen, Patti LuPone, Janine La Manna

Classical Monday--Trouble in Tahiti

Leonard Bernstein is the ultimate cross-over artist, it seems to me: both in terms of his personal popularity as a conductor and performer, but also in his composing life. The line between his classical compositions and his popular compositions is blurred in his one-act chamber opera Trouble in Tahiti.

As this production created in 2001 for BBC television clearly shows, this is a theater work for opera singers. The range and lyric singing required needs performers with that level of training. But the acting challenges are not without their own demands, particularly for Dinah the primary female character stuck in a loveless marriage. Fortunately, soprano Stephanie Novacek is up to the task on all levels. Baritone Karl Daymond is asked significantly less in the acting department as husband Sam, but delivers on the challenging, rangy music. He looks a bit like a cast member of Madmen, without being as totally hot as John Hamm. The other three singers in the piece are a bit like a Greek chorus popping up and commenting on the action.

The production values of this filming are very good, and the house set is particularly fun to see, with all its 1950s kitchen gadgetry.

The tour de force from the score is the title song "Trouble in Tahiti" sung by Dinah after she storms out of a movie of that name. I have heard this song before, but didn't know how it fit into the story of the opera. Well, I'm still not sure--I think on one level it is supposed to show how Dinah's want of adventure has been squelched by a repressive home life. Regardless if or how it comments on Dinah's predicament, it's a wonderful song, giving its singer opportunity for much vocal game-playing and send-ups.

Trouble in Tahiti
Music and lyrics by Leonard Bernstein
Composed in 1952
Produced for BBC Wales in 2001
Released on Opus Arte
Cast: Stephanie Novacek, Karl Daymond, Tom Randle, Toby Stafford-Allen, Mary Hegarty

Wonderful Town -- concert version on DVD

No offense to Maestro Simon Rattle, the Berlin Philharmonic, or the fine opera and musical theater performers involved in this concert of Bernstein's music, but why was this concert version of Wonderful Town presented? In English, in front of a German audience? So much of the wit of the lyrics must have been lost in translation, even with the supertitles flashing above the stage. The context of the songs and struggles of the characters is also lost, since not even a ghost of the book is presented to string together the songs.

That said, the music-making is very good. Audra McDonald proves her worth with "A Little Bit in Love." Kim Criswell is a wonderful character singer in "Conga" and "100 Ways to Lose a Man". Operatic baritone Thomas Hampson sings the surprise of the score for me, the beautiful "A Quiet Girl". Musical theater veteran Brent Barrett takes on what must be several roles in singing the opening "Christopher Street" and "I Could Pass that Football".

Even with this fine singing, though, I felt like I was missing too much.

Wonderful Town
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green

Book MIA
Concert by Berlin Philharmonic
Conducted by Simon Rattle
Released on DVD in 2002
Cast: Thomas Hampson, Audra McDonald, Kim Criswell, Brent Barrett

On The Town film on DVD

New York, New York, it's a Wonderful Town. And this is a Wonderful Film! Deservedly a classic musical picture with a star-studded cast. The stage show of On The Town has some music that didn't make it to the film, most notably for me is "Lonely Town", a ballad which Gabey sang in the original Broadway production. It's a great song and I miss it. I also miss "I Can Cook, Too" which Nancy Walker sang in the stage version as cabby Hildy. The songs that Roger Edens wrote for the film, aren't all that special when compared with Bernstein.

With Gene Kelly as star and co-director, it's not surprising that dance plays a big role in this film, as it must do in the stage version, too, since the show originated as an idea for a Jerome Robbins ballet with music by Bernstein. As the theatrical trailer, which is about the only DVD extra, states--"It's twice as gay as 'Anchors Aweigh' " and boasts "A Torrent of Talent and Tunes."

I wonder if there is a more accurate version of On the Town on film, perhaps a taping of a stage production.

On The Town
Music by Leondard Bernstein
Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Screenplay by Comden and Green based on their stage play
Additional music by Roger Edens
Directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen
Cast: Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Jules Munshin, Betty Garrett, Ann Miller, Vera Ellen.

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