Do Re Mi--1999 Encores Cast on CD

For a while in Chicago there was a series of musical concerts based on the Encores Series in New York. Ovations (as the Chicago incarnation was called) lasted one season, maybe two. Listening to this recording of an Encores production of Do Re Mi has made me miss the Chicago version.

I didn't know anything about this show until I bought this recording probably 5 years ago. I'm sure I bought it because Nathan Lane starred in it. While the talents of Mr. Lane are ably on display on this disc, there is a lot of other stuff to appreciate here, too.

Let's start with the singing of Brian Stokes Mitchell. Yes, I know I've gone on and on about Mr. Mitchell before, but this is some of his finest singing, in my humble opinion. He taps into all of his baritonal colors and richness and still has the ability to reach into his upper register. His Act I "I Know about Love" shows off all of Mr. Mitchell's abilities and is a wonderful song to boot. I don't know why I had never heard it before; it deserves a life outside the show. I will add it to my list of "lonely" songs for my one-man show in my head.

The most recognizable song from this score is "Make Someone Happy". But that song doesn't interest me nearly as much as others from the show--"It's Legitimate" (a Politics and Poker-type quartet), "All of My Life", "Cry Like the Wind", even the kitschy "That's What's new at the Zoo" are fun in their own ways.

The original cast for this show was also interesting--Phil Silvers, John Reardon, Nancy Walker and Nancy Dussault. I wonder if I can find that recording?

Do Re Mi

Music by Jule Styne

Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green

Book by Garson Kanin

Opened on Broadway in 1960

This cast from 1999

Cast: Randy Graff, Heather Headley, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Nathan Lane

A Class Act--Manhattan Theatre Club production on CD

I don't know why I felt compelled to identify this recording as from the Manhattan Theatre Club production; to my knowledge there are no other recordings of A Class Act. This show contains a group of songs by Edward Kleban (right, who most notably wrote the lyrics for A Chorus Line). After Mr. Kleban's death in from mouth cancer in 1987, these songs lay fallow until they were grouped together and written into a new book musical telling the story of Mr. Kleban's life. A Class Act premiered in 2001.

While I have certainly listened to the songs from A Chorus Line, and know something about their composer, Marvin Hamlisch, I knew nothing about their librettist. Well, Edward Kleban was a composer also, but most of his songs remained unknown at the time of his death. That's too bad, because many of those included in A Class Act are worthy of being heard. I wonder if his compositional style--which sounds much like William Finn to me--was too ahead of its time.

The format of the show is not overly original, but works for a bio-musical about a musical theater composer. We open at Mr. Kleban's funeral and are sent back on a journey through his live. Along the way, we meet his friends, his colleagues, and his songs.

The songs that work best for me are the upbeat or character songs. The love songs come off slightly too sappy for me, as even their titles--"One More Beautiful Song", "Follow Your Star", and "Next Best Thing to Love"--suggest. The upbeat songs, particularly "Gauguin's Shoes" (with knowledgeable and funny lyrics) and "Better" (which was recorded by Barbra Streisand) are much more successful to my ears. The "Broadway Boogie Woogie" also includes some hysterical lyrics and should be in somebody's cabaret act.

The eight-member cast all perform well. Lonny Price, portraying Kleban" has the bulk of the singing assignments. Mr. Price is a likable performer with obvious (even just by listening to him) personality. Randy Graff is also a singer I have heard before and find very listenable, even if the music she is asked to sing here, often falls into the sappy category. The seven-member orchestra provides all the variations of breadth and color I could ask for these songs.

A Class Act: A Musical about Musicals
Music and Lyrics by Edward Kleban
Book by Linda Kline and Lonny Price
Opened in 2001
Cast: Lonny Price, Randy Graff, Jonathan Freeman, Nancy Kathryn Anderson, Carolee Carmello, David Hibbard, Julie Murney, Ray Wills