My Musical Theater Voyage of Discovery; The Kander and Ebb Files -- 70 Girls 70, The Act, And The World Goes 'Round
70 GIRLS 70 is a show I didn’t take the time to get to know until the ENCORES! Series did a concert version of it starring Olympia Dukakis, Anita Gillette, Bob Dishy, Mary Jo Catlett, Carole Cook and Charlotte Rae (I’m doing this from memory, so I have no idea who I have forgotten to mention) and I was so incredibly enchanted by it that I went right out and picked up the cast album! There, I discovered songs I already knew and already knew I knew. I had heard Liza Minnelli sing SAY YES and SEE THE LIGHT; I had heard various people (most notably Bea Arthur) sing BROADWAY MY STREET; I had heard Mandy Patinkin sing COFFEE IN A CARDBOARD CUP (and it was one of my audition songs when I was an actor). So I was bound to enjoy the score – I had just never gotten around to it.
Now, here’s the thing about Kander and Ebb…
I have said that Sondheim is like air to me; Kander and Ebb are like water. Their musicals actually tend to be my favourites – they sit so naturally in my mindset and my outlook on life. There is always an optimism, a message about actually getting out and living your life (hello? Say Yes?). I just seem to gravitate most easily, most naturally, most spiritually to their shows. I cannot think of a K&E show that I haven’t liked.
70 Girls 70 is no exception.
It’s not every day I actively decide to listen to a bunch of singers croon showtunes; and some of them don’t have the prettiest or best trained voices – nevertheless, the performers on the cd are all delightful actors and seasoned performers and they put forth the best efforts; and the payoff is good, quite good. Mildred Natwick, whose singing is extremely limited, is such a wonderful actor, so committed to the performance, that you cannot help but have a good time. The score is such an absolute fit to the storyline, the age of the characters, the age of the performers – I must say, K&E always create a score that is a full representation of the story they are telling. Coffee in a Cardboard Cup has such an authentic vaudeville flavour to it --- well, most of the songs here have the perfect feel of the early part of the lives that these characters would have lived, until we get to the more aged sounding grandparent feel of Go Visit Your Grandmother, which juxtaposes perfectly with the exuberance of 70 Girls 70 – an exuberance that speaks, that sounds, genuine to an older person who is still young on the inside. It’s a really good, a really fun and authentic score, one that I left in my Ipod, to listen to from start to finish
THE ACT is actually up in my Liza Minnelli section. Pat and some other people make fun of me for things like this. In my Ipod I have all my Liza music in one place; just like, in our living room, I have all my Diane Lane movies in one place (actually a big part of my cd collection is by star – it’s just something I do.
Especially for Liza Minnelli.
I remember when I saw the Tony Awards, the year that The Act won Liza the best actress Tony. I saw her do the song City Lights and I knew I would have to go out and buy the record. I was a kid, a teenager, visiting my grandmother and grandfather in Reedley, California – and the closest town where I would be able to find the record album of The Act was Fresno, 45 minutes away. I would have to wait until a day when we drove into town for something. When we did, though, I snatched that sucker up and played it until my grandmother threatened me with bodily harm. I loved that record. I played it, regularly, throughout my teenage years – and when we got back to Switzerland and I did that, eventually, my mother threatened me with bodily harm. I could turn on City Lights and have it on permanent loop, the entire weekend. It isn’t, though, all about City Lights. I am queer for the song The Money Tree – I think it is one of the greatest songs (and performances!) ever. I always that It’s the Strangest Thing was so beautiful, both in melody and poetry; and I must (to this day) sing My Own Space at least three or four times a week. In recent years, I have read or heard that this isn’t a good show, that the script is week and the score is criticized – I don’t care. That doesn’t affect me. I know if I like something or if I don’t and I love TheAct.
Of course, my devotion to Liza Minnelli is a big part of that – but I think these songs speak for themselves.
AND THE WORLD GOES ROUND is actually not my cup of tea. I tend to think revues have to be something really special to interest me. They have to be either very original (innovative, interesting – or the other end of the spectrum: simple, sophisticated) or performed to spectacular perfection. Every time I listen to the cd from And The World Goes Round, it feels like a show created by someone in college. It just doesn’t feel or sound right to me…
That didn’t stop me from importing the Karen Mason and Karen Ziemba tracks into my Ipod. I could, would and do listen to everything these two women sing. I am devoted to both of them – I love them as performers and as people and I am never disappointed by anything they do. So I listen to their tracks from this cd that I find, otherwise, pretty bland; especially wonderful are Mason’s Colored Lights and the Isn’t This Better Trio. Ziemba’s Arthur in the Afternoon is a lot of fun and her duet with Jim Walton on Marry Me/A Quiet Thing is simply lovely. I will admit this – I love the Bob Cuccioli version of Kiss of the Spider Woman. Damn. That man can sing.
Taken out of the (what I feel to be) clumsy contrive of the flow of the revue, each of these tracks is enjoyable and there was no reason to leave them out of my Ipod because I do play them and enjoy the heck out of them. It lies, entirely, in the hands of the performers; and it just doesn’t get better than the Karens.
Now, here’s the thing about Kander and Ebb…
I have said that Sondheim is like air to me; Kander and Ebb are like water. Their musicals actually tend to be my favourites – they sit so naturally in my mindset and my outlook on life. There is always an optimism, a message about actually getting out and living your life (hello? Say Yes?). I just seem to gravitate most easily, most naturally, most spiritually to their shows. I cannot think of a K&E show that I haven’t liked.
70 Girls 70 is no exception.
It’s not every day I actively decide to listen to a bunch of singers croon showtunes; and some of them don’t have the prettiest or best trained voices – nevertheless, the performers on the cd are all delightful actors and seasoned performers and they put forth the best efforts; and the payoff is good, quite good. Mildred Natwick, whose singing is extremely limited, is such a wonderful actor, so committed to the performance, that you cannot help but have a good time. The score is such an absolute fit to the storyline, the age of the characters, the age of the performers – I must say, K&E always create a score that is a full representation of the story they are telling. Coffee in a Cardboard Cup has such an authentic vaudeville flavour to it --- well, most of the songs here have the perfect feel of the early part of the lives that these characters would have lived, until we get to the more aged sounding grandparent feel of Go Visit Your Grandmother, which juxtaposes perfectly with the exuberance of 70 Girls 70 – an exuberance that speaks, that sounds, genuine to an older person who is still young on the inside. It’s a really good, a really fun and authentic score, one that I left in my Ipod, to listen to from start to finish
THE ACT is actually up in my Liza Minnelli section. Pat and some other people make fun of me for things like this. In my Ipod I have all my Liza music in one place; just like, in our living room, I have all my Diane Lane movies in one place (actually a big part of my cd collection is by star – it’s just something I do.
Especially for Liza Minnelli.
I remember when I saw the Tony Awards, the year that The Act won Liza the best actress Tony. I saw her do the song City Lights and I knew I would have to go out and buy the record. I was a kid, a teenager, visiting my grandmother and grandfather in Reedley, California – and the closest town where I would be able to find the record album of The Act was Fresno, 45 minutes away. I would have to wait until a day when we drove into town for something. When we did, though, I snatched that sucker up and played it until my grandmother threatened me with bodily harm. I loved that record. I played it, regularly, throughout my teenage years – and when we got back to Switzerland and I did that, eventually, my mother threatened me with bodily harm. I could turn on City Lights and have it on permanent loop, the entire weekend. It isn’t, though, all about City Lights. I am queer for the song The Money Tree – I think it is one of the greatest songs (and performances!) ever. I always that It’s the Strangest Thing was so beautiful, both in melody and poetry; and I must (to this day) sing My Own Space at least three or four times a week. In recent years, I have read or heard that this isn’t a good show, that the script is week and the score is criticized – I don’t care. That doesn’t affect me. I know if I like something or if I don’t and I love TheAct.
Of course, my devotion to Liza Minnelli is a big part of that – but I think these songs speak for themselves.
AND THE WORLD GOES ROUND is actually not my cup of tea. I tend to think revues have to be something really special to interest me. They have to be either very original (innovative, interesting – or the other end of the spectrum: simple, sophisticated) or performed to spectacular perfection. Every time I listen to the cd from And The World Goes Round, it feels like a show created by someone in college. It just doesn’t feel or sound right to me…
That didn’t stop me from importing the Karen Mason and Karen Ziemba tracks into my Ipod. I could, would and do listen to everything these two women sing. I am devoted to both of them – I love them as performers and as people and I am never disappointed by anything they do. So I listen to their tracks from this cd that I find, otherwise, pretty bland; especially wonderful are Mason’s Colored Lights and the Isn’t This Better Trio. Ziemba’s Arthur in the Afternoon is a lot of fun and her duet with Jim Walton on Marry Me/A Quiet Thing is simply lovely. I will admit this – I love the Bob Cuccioli version of Kiss of the Spider Woman. Damn. That man can sing.
Taken out of the (what I feel to be) clumsy contrive of the flow of the revue, each of these tracks is enjoyable and there was no reason to leave them out of my Ipod because I do play them and enjoy the heck out of them. It lies, entirely, in the hands of the performers; and it just doesn’t get better than the Karens.
posted by StephenMosher at 6:40 AM
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