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

Richard Rodgers: The Sweetest Sounds on DVD

When I took this DVD out of the Netflix envelope, I was afraid it was going to be another special concert offering, but it turns out Richard Rodgers: The Sweetest Sounds was made for PBS's American Masters series, and is more talking heads about the history, importance and substance of Rodgers' music than singing heads. I actually would have like a little less conversation and a little more music-making, but seeing as I've already listened to a Rodgers one-off concert, perhaps this is better--for now.

The documentary goes through the three major phases of Rodgers' career--two decades of work with Lorenz Hart, including some time in Hollywood; nearly two more decades of work with Oscar Hammerstein II; and the post-Hammerstein years when Rodgers is working on his own, and several others.

Among the many knowledgeable and informative talking heads are performers--Shirley Jones, Barbara Cook, Diahann Carroll, Maureen McGovern, and jazz musicians Billy Taylor and Barbara Carroll; Rodgers family members--daughter and composer Mary Rodgers Guettel, daughter Linda Rodgers, and grandson and composer Adam Guettel; music theater historians and producers such as Ted Chapin, president of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, which licenses Rodgers' shows.

There are several interesting historical clips the documentary including the wonderful "Bench Scene" from Carousel with John Raitt recorded for television, and the lovely Diahann Carroll singing the title song from "No Strings". I must make a point of finding more to listen to from this show.

I've had the idea for a while to do a concert called Rodgers Without Hammerstein, focusing on his work with Hart, his work alone and including things that wouldn't have lyrics like "Victory at Sea", "Slaughter on 5th Avenue", and the dance music from R&H shows --like "The Carousel Waltz" which has always been one of my favorite pieces of music.

Any takers?

Richard Rodgers: The Sweetest Sounds
Produced for PBS American Masters in 2001
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers and others
Cast: Shirley Jones, Julie Andrews, Ted Chapin, Mary Rodgers, Adam Guettel, Barbara Cook, John Raitt, Diahann Carroll, Maureen McGovern

Once Upon A Mattress--live performance

On a weekend trip to visit my parents, I had cause to see a community theater performance of a perennial favorite--Once Upon A Mattress. While the memory of Carol Burnett is firmly planted in my ear as far as this score is concerned, I was happy to use the extra ticket my parents had for the performance.

The delightful nature of this story and this score very nearly make any performance of Mattress fool-proof, and most of the humor sparkled in this production. For the most part, the players were well-cast and well-matched with their counterparts. This was particularly true for the couples--Dauntless/Winifred and Larkin/Harry. Pairings like this must be particularly tricky when casting from a selection of community performers--each with widely varying abilities and experience.

Lady Larkin had the best voice of the cast; clearly she has some training and her credits included singing Pamina in a college production of Magic Flute. Harry, while having less vocal training, possessed a lovely high-baritone voice that he used well. The comic duo in the show were also well-matched. Dauntless proved a particularly good physical comedian and was literally tumbling across the stage during the Act I finale. Winifred was very good drawing humor from her facial expressions, and managed to project her songs up and down her full range without pushing into an unattractive belt voice.

There was a cast of 24, which is large for my hometown's little community theater company; and the production was staged in a middle school in town that had a larger stage than the small community center holds. The production took full advantage of having more space by including a sizeable set that still left room for the whole cast to dance the Spanish Panic. The costumes were appropriately colorful.

The best side of the performance, perhaps, was seeing that an enthusiastic audience of 400 would show up on a cold Friday night to see a 50 year-old musical. It's good to know that theater is still a priority in some of the provinces.

Once Upon a Matress
Music by Mary Rodgers
Lyrics by Marshall Barer

Book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller and Marshall Barer
Cast: 24 community theater actors of varying ability, but high-energy enthusiasm

Hey, Love the songs of Mary Rodgers on CD

In many ways, I love cabaret even more than musical theater. The emphasis is usually on the song and the singer which leads to much more successful results often, while in a full-blown musical the sets and costumes and story can lead to the show just being fully blown. So I was happy to discover the album of Hey Love the songs of Mary Rodgers in the bin at the library. I was doubly happy to discover that Faith Prince leads the cast of three, since I've recently enjoyed her in Guys & Dolls and A Catered Affair.

Cabaret works best for me when it has a very catch-all theme that lets in a lot, but makes you look at it from a certain perspective and Hey Love fits that mold. Loosely following the struggles of one woman and two men to pair up, either with one other or with someone else, the show uses Rodgers' songs from Once Upon a Mattress, The Mad Show, Hot Spot, The Lady or the Tiger, and songs from unproduced ventures. I knew the songs from Mattress, but all the other songs are new to me--and they are uniformly delightful.

The songs from Hot Spot were written for Judy Holliday, and it is in that vein that Ms. Prince thrives here, showcasing both lyric singing and comic timing. Ms. Prince's two leading men (who vy for her hand and heart) are Mark Waldrop and Jason Workman. Both have pleasant voices that can get into the upper range of some of these songs. The booklet with the CD doesn't identify who is singing at what time, so I can't really differentiate between them.

The number of lyricists Ms. Rodgers has used runs a long gamut. Stephen Sondheim was a long-time friend of the Rodgers family, so it is no surprise that he has been a frequent partner with Ms. Rodgers. His lyrics to "The Boy from..." are particularly hysterical. The song Sondheim co-wrote with Rodgers "Once I had a Friend" is a beautiful gay-friendly ballad. I was also taken with the setting of Shakespeare's "O Mistress Mine."

Richard Malty, Jr. is credited with the creation and original direction of this show, along with writing some new lyrics in several places. Mr. Waldrop is credited with having written some of the lyrics to these songs, as well as directing this incarnation of the show. I believe this was the third production of the show, so I don't know if it was created for some specific performer, or merely as a showcase for the songs. Regardless, I'm glad to have have it brighten my Year.

Hey, Love the songs of Mary Rodgers
Music by Mary Rodgers
Lyrics by Marshall Barer, Martin Charnin, Richard Maltby, Jr., William Shakespeare, Stephen Sondheim, MArk Waldrop
Cast Album recorded in 1997
Cast: Faith Prince, Mark Waldrop, Jason Workman

Once Upon a Mattress Original Broadway Cast Recording

I find it very easy to be inspired by Carol Burnett. She's the quintessential comedic performer who took her own personality and unique skill set to build a significant and lasting career. And no show better epitomized Ms. Burnett's uniqueness than Once Upon a Mattress.

You have to be a real singer to perform Princess Winifred, I think. While the big "Shy" number can just be belted out to some effect, "The Swamps of Home" and "Happily Ever After" require good legato singing and are rangier than expected. The singing by the "legit" singers in the cast is a little disappointing at times. "Yesterday I Love You" is a beautiful, tuneful song and needs good singing actors. Maybe the Sarah Jessica Parker revival includes some of that. But that's for another day.

I have performed in Mattress, when I did summer stock with College Light Opera Company on Cape Cod in 1984. It's a fun show to perform in--lots of good in-jokes. The best one that the audience never sees is Queen Agravaine's big monologue, which in the script is called the mamalogue.

The liner notes for this CD release give what I thought was interesting background on the show's creation and how certain characters developed in the way they did.

Once Upon a Mattress
Music by Mary Rodgers
Lyrics by Marshall Barer
Book by Jay Thompson, Marshall Barer, Dean Fuller
1959 Broadway Cast Recording
Released on CD in 1993 by MCA Classics Broadway Gold
Cast: Harry Snow, Joe Bova, Allen Case, Anne Jones, Carol Burnett, Jane White, Matt Mattox, Ginny Perlowin