Chess--Broadway Cast Album

I don't like the graphic for the Broadway incarnation of this show nearly as much as the British version with its cascading checkerboard. The British concept album of Chess is the version I have imprinted on my brain, as I owned that album in college. So how would the American version (and an actual cast album, as opposed to a conceptualized version) compare? Very well, actually.

Previously when I had talked about liking Judy Kuhn's voice in a different show, a reader suggested I listen to the Broadway Chess album to get a real sense of Ms. Kuhn's abilities. Thank you for suggestion that, this album demonstrated her to be an an amazing singer, and there is a lot of her to enjoy on this cast album. Even more than there was of Elaine Paige on the concert album. Besides "Heaven Help My Heart" and the duet "I Know Him So Well" the Broadway version has a new song "Someone Else's Story" which is a wonderful addition to the score.

From just listening to the score, it seems like the focus of the show is placed firmly on Florence, with the competition between the Russian and the American more secondary. I wonder if the production supported that focus, or if I'm misreading it?

Philip Casnoff and David Carroll both have nice voices, and I have nothing to complain about either man's singing, although they do sound a bit alike to me. The photos included in the liner booklet also make them look a bit alike too. Maybe the producers wanted Florence to have a specific "type" of man, but from this listener's audiopoint and viewpoint, I wanted some differences--at least vocally.

There is an interesting note in the liner how the lyrics of "Endgame" were changed without the consent of lyricist Tim Rice. What could be so show-altering to warrant this footnote?

Chess
Music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus
Lyrics by Tim Rice
Created in 1984, the Broadway production opened in 1988
Cast: Judy Kuhn, Philip Casnoff, David Carroll

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat television production on DVD

I think this was produced for television, but it may have been a feature film release. Either way, it's a very lavish, colourful production, basically recreating the stage production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat that swept across the planet in the 1990s. The film was made in 1999, thirty years after the show was created for performance by schoolchildren, and 18 years after if first appeared on Broadway.

I've known versions of this show since the early 1980s when a church in my hometown produced the children's version. I've seen the adult version of the show twice, once in a professional summer stock setting, and once in a community theatre production (where my sister played the hairy Ismaelite--get some waxing already!). In any version this show is a delight--witty without being self-pretentious and telling it's wide-ranging story with a lot of verve.

This film version stars Donny Osmond who has done somewhere around 2000 performances as Joseph around the globe. He was in the Chicago production that was here for seemingly ever, but I never saw it. Hats off to Mr. Osmond. In 1999, he would have been 42 or so; he looks good. And we see quite a bit of him as he spends a lot of the show bare-chested in a loin-cloth. That clean Mormon living has some benefits. More to the point he sounds good singing as Joseph, rarely relying on pop-isms when not appropriate and showing good lyric lines in the big ballad "Close Every Door".

The rest of the cast is also good. Maria Friedman as the Narrator is a new name to me, apparently with a busy musical career in England. And deservedly so; Ms. Friedman has a lovely voice, capable of both belt and lyric singing without an obvious break. She is also a lively performer, although I felt sometime she was overused in the film when she was not singing, and the focus should have been on other performers.

In the cast as Simeon is Jeff Blumenkrantz, whom I will make a point of finding again for my Year--if only to name-drop a bit. Jeff and I did summer stock one year on Cape Cod. He was a star in everything, I was an enthusiastic but unfocused chorus member. Some Google-stalking has shown that Jeff has a successful and wide-ranging career, both as performer and song-writer. His song "I Won't Mind" which I first heard on an album of Audra McDonald is beautiful and haunting.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics by Tim Rice
Film in 1999
Cast: Donny Osmond, Maria Friedman, Richard Attenborough, Joan Collins, Jeff Blumenkrantz, Ian McNeice, Robert Torti.

Disney's Beauty and the Beast Original Broadway Cast Recording

I think there is a special kind of alchemy that happens between certain composers and lyricists. When the pairing really clicks, the composer writes better music than s/he would otherwise, and the lyricist's words reach a higher level. I believe that Alan Menken and Howard Ashman were that type of songwriting team, and the Broadway incarnation of Beauty and the Beast helps me make my case.

As most know, this project started as an animated film for Disney with songs by Menken and Ashman released in 1991. In 1994, when the film was expanded to be a Broadway show, additional music was needed. But Howard Ashman had died in the intervening years, so Menken paired up with Tim Rice to add eight songs to the score. Well, no insult intended to Mr. Rice, but the songs he and Mr. Menken wrote don't hold a Lumiere to the original songs by Menken and Mr. Ashman. There is one new song from the stage version that I do love--"If I Can't Love Her". This is a beautiful ballad.

I also think there are some gay references in Mr. Ashman's lyrics. Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but 17 years ago to have a crowd with torches (in the Mob's Song) sing "We don't like what we don't understand, in fact it makes us scared" certainly could refer to reactions to the gay community. I also think that Gaston is given some gay lyrics: "Every last inch of me is covered in hair" (was Ashman a Bear?) and "I use antlers in all of my decorating" (decorating, why is Gaston decorating anything?). And the whole Lefou worship of Gaston is questionable.

I've chosen to picture Gary Beach, the original Lumiere, for today's entry. I have a beef with Mr. Beach's performance, at least as it is represented on the cast album. It feels way over the top. Actually, it feels like he's auditioning for his role in The Producers. I miss Jerry Orbach, who voiced Lumiere in the animated film. God rest the song and dance man's soul.

Disney's Beauty and the Beast
Music by Alan Menken
Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Time Rice
Book by Linda Woolverton
Original Broadway show opening in 1994 based on the 1991 animated film
Cast: Susan Egan, Terrance Mann, Tom Bosley, Kenny Raskin, Burke Moses, Heath Lamberts, Gary Beach, Beth Fowler

Aida Original Broadway Cast album

When I turned this cast album in to the librarian, he proudly launched into "Ritorna vincitore". I had to explain that this was not Verdi's version, but Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida. While the story may be the same, the story-telling is certainly not.

At first this score reminded me of Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, with a belt-voiced female narrator opening the show. But in this case the narrator is Amneris, who becomes a primary character in the story. The rock and pop twinged score is also Joseph-like.

I didn't respond positively to much of this score. I like Heather Headley's singing very much, and she is very successful in "Easy as Life" which is the best song of the show. She also sings the reprise of "Elaborate Lives" very well at the end of the show, but the song is not as strong.

Adam Pascal is most effective when singing full voice. His sotto voce ballad singing is just breathy, rather than emotional. His Act II song "Radames Letter" could be effective but suffers from pedestrian lyrics.

Sherie Rene Scott sings very well as Amneris, showcasing a comic side with "My Strongest Suit" and then more emotional singing in the reprise. Of the rest of the music, I liked the chorus piece that ends Act I, "The Gods Love Nubia" a gospel-like spiritual, which is about the only singing the chorus gets to do. "Not Me" has some interesting four-part writing for Aida, Amneris, Radames, and Mereb. The two songs of Zoser (Radames' father) don't do a thing for me.

I have to question ending the show with three reprises, rather than a new duet for Aida and Radames as they are trapped in the tomb. Maybe the production team didn't want us to focus on the death of the lead characters. Well, then why tell the story?

According to the Broadway database, there was a production of Aida that used Verdi's music, but a new libretto with the story set during the Civil War. A similar thing was done by Oscar Hammerstein II with the music of Bizet for Carmen Jones. My Darlin' Aida was produced in the 1950s (as was Carmen Jones). Hmmm.

Elton John's version ran for more than 1,800 performances, so it must be considered a success. I think I'm going to join the librarian and put Leontyne Price on the turntable.

Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida
Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Tim Rice
Book by Robert Falls, Linda Woolverton, and David Henry Hwang
Based on the opera by Verdi
Cast: Heather Headley, Adam Pascal, Shere Rene Scott, Tyrees Allen, John Hickok, Damien Perkins, Daniel Oreskes

Evita film on DVD

Out of respect for the recent announcement concerning the future of Mr. and Mrs. Guy Ritchie, I offer what may be Mrs. Ritchie's only appearance in my Year. Of course, I mean Madonna's portrayal of that other powerful and over-reaching 20th Century icon in Evita. Oddly, this is Antonio Banderas's second appearance in my Year, previously having been discussed in the cast of the revival of Nine.

This film feels very much like an MTV music video, with much of the singing covered by visuals of other action, presented in quick-cut shots. With non-singers playing the two lead singing roles, that may not be surprising. Both leads are very visually satisfying, though, with Madonna wearing very attractive 40's era dresses on her petite frame and Mr. Banderas just being angry and hot.

Jonathan Pryce, as Juan Peron, out-acts and out-sings both of his cast mates, offering subtleties in both acting and singing, even if his is not a traditional baritone voice.

The song written for the film, "You Must Love Me" doesn't really offer anything new and isn't a pretty enough tune to warrant its inclusion.Does someone have a cabaret show of all song cuts from out-of-town tryouts, or songs added for films or revivals? An interesting idea.

One very nice addition to the film that I don't recall from the stage version (which I saw years ago) is the inclusion of dance, particularly tangos, expecially the "dream tango" that Banderas and Madonna dance during their only duet, "High Flying Adored".

Evita
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Book and Lyrics by Tim Rice
Film released in 1996
Directed by Alan Parker
Cast: Madonna, Antonio Banderas, Jonathan Pryce

Jesus Christ Superstar film on DVD

I grew up with the original Broadway cast album of this show, without having seen the show in person, so watching the film version of Jesus Christ Superstar I had some different voices in my mind's ear. Only Mary Magdelene (Yvonne Elliman) and Pontius Pilate (Barry Dennen) are holdovers from the stage version that ran from 1971 - 1973.

This was the first Broadway cast album I heard for a show that was entirely music. I naively thought that made it an opera. Well, I've since discovered that is ain't necessarily so. There are many operas that have dialogue, and lots of through-sung musicals don't meet the musicological threshold to be opera. Of course, now opera companies often produce musicals, and contemporary operas often don't meet that same musicological threshold. That's a bad phrase (not to mention, a bad sentence), but I hope it makes my point. Which is really to say, that in a strange way Jesus Christ Superstar led me to explore opera. Go figure.

I remember seeing the film for the first time when I was a senior in high school and realizing how easy it was to side with Judas, which I have to believe is part of the point of the show and the film. Following Christ wasn't easy, and (not to make too strong a point) maybe it still shouldn't be.

This is the first appearance in my Year for composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Love him or hate him, he'll be back.

Jesus Christ Superstar
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics by Tim Rice
1973 film directed by Norman Jewison
Cast: Ted Neeley, Carl Anderson, Yvonne Elliman, Barry Dennen