European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 5, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse V re Victor Elekta nonesuch. Rosie o Donnell in John Cullum and Michelle Nicastro perform so the off Broadway hello grease what in Pardon my again cd is Worth a listen. Stephen Sondheim Center discusses the recording of the Glenn close version of polydor Sunset Boulevard is a Winner. Gary Beach heat lamberts and Tom Bostey perform a scene from Beauty and the the cast recording is As much fun As the play it old hits top new releases of musicals on cd a a _ by Edward Karam staff writer Roadway s new season opening with the hit show soar looks like a continuation of last year s nostalgia trip. All last season s shows Are now available on cd and there was t much new shows Beauty and the beast and Stephen Sondheim s passion vied weakly for the Tony award and a third hello again was ineligible because it was off Broadway. Ironically the Best show music album of last season comes from the West coast. The los Angeles version of Sunset Boulevard which will be on Broadway this month with Glenn close is a knockout cats composer Andrew Lloyd Webber set the fur flying by choosing close for Broadway Over Patti Lupone who played the aging silent screen Star Norma Desmond in the show s London opening. But the . Recording justifies the decision. Although Lupone has a stronger voice than close she sounds too Young for Norma on last year s London version in the big number with one look close is far Superior As she is simply acting the dialogue which is included almost Complete with a the London opening Lloyd Webber tinkered with the show and the los Angeles version which has a Catchy. New song is now playing London. Although you can still hear Lupone on he original recording the new close version is preferable. Back to Broadway. Disney took its film of Beauty and the beast hired lyricist Tim Rice to help composer Alan Menken with new songs film lyricist Howard Ashman had died of aids refurbished a Broadway theater and put the show in it where it looks set to run a Long time. They even brought Tom Bosley Back to Broadway As Belle s father after 34 years away. Of you re planning to visit new York and take the kids you might look into the album which contains enough new songs by Menken and Rice to have constituted a new score. The film s songs by Menken and Ashman Are there too be our guest and Caston Are still fun. 1 6 the stars and stripes although Sondheim s pass on won the Tony for Best musical it is a grim Story of obsessive love that will Appeal mostly to Sondheim fanatics and there Are a few. Passion tells the Story of an italian Soldier assigned to a Remote outpost far from his mistress. There his commander s Cousin a sickly homely woman becomes obsessed wit him and he strangely becomes attracted to her. Sondheim s 90-minute musical which has so Little spoken dialogue that it s practically a chamber opera charts their tragedy. The performers Are excellent but it s not Bright or bouncy. The third hew musical last season did t open on Broadway and was ineligible for tonys. Still Michael John Lachiusa s hello again is Well Worth hearing. It s based on Arthur Schnitzler s play , in which a couple a and a meet and make love. Ditto happens when b meets a c meets d and so on until the last person meets a again. Lachiusa s twist is to set eath scene in a different decade so that a Schoolboy meets a housewife in one decade and the next Liaison finds the housewife and a different partner Jack Carson Paul Hartman Broadway Angel of thee i sing won a pulitzer prize for drama. In a different decide. With its theme of mismatched lovers it too is More melancholy than traditional musicals. Apart from the new it s the revivals reconstructions and reissues that continue to fuel show music. The 1970 musical crease returned to Broadway and there s a rousing new recording. It has Energy spunk great singing and rosie7 o Donnell the comedian who is Betty rubble in the of Atstone film. The 50s-style songs we co together look at me i m Sandra Dee and Beauty school dropout sound like classics already. Two albums the London cast recording of Rodgers and. Hammerstein s Carousel and the revival of Damn Yankees Point up a frequent practice of cast albums nowadays that you May or May not like. Great chunks of dialogue Are included with the idea that you get a feel for the acting As Well As the music. \ the entire show is recorded As with Sunset Boulevard and the performances Are Strong enough to come to life it works. But too often the dialogue is not enough to re create an actor s performance yet there s so much it intrudes on the enjoyment of the songs. Crazy for you had the problem on the Broadway cast album the Superior London version trimmed the jabbering and ballyhooed the fact when the cd came out while both Carousel and Damn Yankees Are Sung Well the dialogue slows things Down. Still another revival Lloyd Webber s Joseph and the amazing technicolor Dreamboat is Well Sung and handsomely issued including a Booklet with All the lyrics. The production got flak for being overblown but the music is Justine. For anyone who s been collect tip the Superb series of. Gershwin musicals from Elektra nonesuch the latest Pardon my English May be a letdown. It was the Brothers worst Flop a favor they did for some friends and its Story is utterly in biotic. John Cullum Holling of Northern exposure and a Good cast give their All and if you re a Gershwin fan it s definitely Worth having. Second rate Gershwin is better than most anything else and George s music does tend to grow on you. The silly Story is set in Dresden in 1933 and involves a Crook who keeps getting conked on the head and forgetting who he is thereby becoming engaged to two women. With Ira writing lyrics their instruments Are shiny their music has a swing the patriotic Hemie must get right up arid sing Well what can you do but it has the wonderful in t it a pity and the naughty the Lorelei and a Novelty song with the refrain Freud and Jung and. Adler Adler and Jung and Freud six sex psychos you la have to buy it if you want to know what hat s about. The Gersh wms Are in much better form in a cast album revival of of thee i sing the first musical to win a pulitzer prize for drama. Jack Carson is the handsome president who turns Down a Debutante to marry a Sweet girl who makes Corn muffins. Of it sounds almost As Sappy As Pardon my English the songs include because because love is sweeping the Cour itry who cares and the amusing the illegitimate daughter As Well As the title tune. The Broadway Angel reissue is one of the better ones this year although the 1963 skyscraper in t too bad. It features Julie Harris in her Only musical. Her leading Man is Peter Marshall yes the Hollywood squares Host and along for the rid is the frequent Center Square Charles Nelson Reilly. The score is pleasant enough if Ria Factor Walter Pidgeon Eileen Herlie in the Peter Grenville proof action of Robert Morse Fhon Merkell mum him � smut Matuu 3k re Victor this show is a musical version of a you re a show music aficionado. Other reissues Range from insipid to tedious walking 7 Happy for instance has Only a memorable title tune and _ Ben Franklin in Paris has Robert Preston with merely serviceable music. The Canterbury tales a British musical flopped in 1969 one look at the songs tells you Why. None even reaches three minutes and not one is memorable. Salvation and Celebration both Rock musicals from 1969, Are oddities. Salvation is a bit of false advertising purporting to be about christianity but wit most of the songs focusing on sin. Ria has also been digging deep for reissues of old shows. The Gwen Verdon redhead for which she won a Tony snot terribly interesting but the Gwen ver Don new girl in town for which she also won a Tony tying with co Star Thelma Ritter has a splendid score by Bob Merrill. Based on Eugene o Neill s Anna Christie this 1957 show has the familiar flings. The music ranges from love songs to housing chorus numbers like there Ain t no flies on me. Merrill and o Neill were a Good match. Merrill s take me along a 1959-Musicalversion of o Neill s Only comedy a wilderness it stars Walter Pidgeon Una Merkel a Young Robert Morse and Jackie Gleason who won a Tony. Once you hear the syncopated title song you la have a hard time driving it out of your mind. Both Merrill s shows Are first rate scores in second tier not second rate shows. Do re i seems like it would fee instantly accessible with stars like Phil silvers and Nancy Walker. The lyrics Are by and the music is by Jule Styne who died in september at 88. _ " _. Styne wrote Bells Are ringing funny girl gentlemen prefer blondes and dozens of pop standards As the Christmas classic let it Snow let it Snow let it Snow but _ you can sense that the 1962 show wanted to move along the serious musical path opened up by West Side Story and Styne s own masterpiece Gypsy written with Sondheim. There s a dark Strain in do re of that makes it a Downer despite it s legitimate an amusing song in which silvers pitches a scam to a prospective underworld investor. Still the score has two pop classics that Styne the least known of the great show music composers was so adept at / know about love and make someone Happy. To a Foit v hit Sena few in vhf Troi of Vic Mmott Mihu. Y Reynolds Julian slave salad Days had a seven year run in London. Forthe record Little known shows from London Ith most of the Broadway s major hits and Many of its most interesting flops now on compact disc record companies have turned to mining London s West end. Since the British musical was pretty dire till Andrew Lloyd Webber the results Are decidedly v mixed. Both Angel and Sony have British cast versions of Broadway hits like she loves me fiddler on the roof Flower drum song and no no Nanette that Are pallid imitations of the British version of a funny thing happened on the Way to the forum can t hold a roman Candle to Zero mostel on the Broadway cast album. Where the two labels have an Edge is introducing British shows that never made it to America. Although some were flops the scores can be enjoyable listening As with Many Broadway cast album flops. And there is an occasional hit Worth discovering. Take the 1916 musical Chu Chin Chow. West end Angel has issued the songs London revival that ran 1959-61 As Well As a couple from a 1934 film and amazingly several tracks from the 1916 original it s exotic arabian nights fluff from the operetta world but if you like that sort of thing you la find it charming. Much More familiar in style is a Flop show called Windy City a musical version of the front Page. The Raffis Ness of the classic play about newspaper reporters covering crooked politicians comes across in a tuneful score with loads of Energy. The show probably should be revived. Sony has salad Days a legendary seven year hit that opened in 1954. The Story involves a tramp who trusts a magical piano to a Young couple. It comes across As a bit like the Fant Sticks m its mix of simplicity arc Ness and frivolity. There s even a flying the end salad Days is the Bestif the twittering Soprano sort of show mindless fun. Another show Charlie girl from 1965, has a lilting Rock score Early 60s, pre beatles style and a cast that performs the songs with gusto. The Story has a Fant Sticks theme too. Instead of two fathers plotting to get their children together Here the parents Are two sex showgirls who married Well. In a charming twist the son turns out to be a cad and does t get the he s played by Stuart Damon now Best known As or. Alan Quartermaine on general Hospital. De Karam \ i saturday november 5/1994 the stars and stripes 17
