My Musical Theater Voyage of Discovery; The Letter P
PURLIE. Never played it before. I loved several tracks on it, especially Melba Moore’s. It is impossible to NOT feel good when she sings I Got Love. I left a lot of this score in my Ipod but cut out some of the comedy numbers and screaming chorus numbers. Glad I have this one. Love that Melba Moore. What a gift!
PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES. Oh my gosh, this is so good! I had such a good time listening to it. This is my kind of cd. I left the whole thing in my Ipod. What fun! Debra Monk and Cass Morgan are true divas.
PRETTYBELLE. This strange little musical never made it to Broadway. Based on a novel, it is the story of a woman whose abusive husband died and she becomes and alcoholic, schizophrenic, nymphomaniac prostitute and ends up institutionalized. The production was plagued with difficulties and closed out of town after a week of boos and hisses from the audiences ( I read all this on Wikepedia). However, the Styne Merrill songs are ones I like and the star is Angela Lansbury, so I am down. I liked it in spite of myself.
PLATINUM. Well the truth is, there is no cast album from Platinum, though there is a cast album of what Platinum became: SUNSET, starring Tammy Grimes. That cd was much unlistenable, though a handful of songs were cool. There is an audio bootleg of Platinum that I can’t find the time to wade through. This is just the song Nothin’ But, taken off of the tv special Broadway Plays Washington. I loved Alexis Smith and her performance of this song and had to have it in my Ipod
PLAIN AND FANCY. This was, clearly, a big hit on Broadway because according to IBDB it ran over 400 performances. I actually liked some of it, choosing to delete songs I wouldn’t play again. I particularly like the overture and Barbara Cook’s numbers. Sweet.
PIPE DREAM. I can’t believe I didn’t like this cd. I love Rodgers and Hammerstein and I have never known this show; so I put it in my Ipod and gave it a listen and, while I liked some of the songs, I was not into the performances. I wouldn’t be listening to these singers any time soon, though I did leave in the Overture (I love overtures) and the original recording of The Next Time it Happens, though I prefer the Andrea McArdle recording from when they put the song into State Fair.
[For the Record: PIPPIN is in my Ipod from start to finish because I love this show and score, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA has been trimmed down to 5 songs – I don’t really like listening to this show, though I saw it and thought it was good theater; it’s just a mostly boring score to me. I have some of the Mary Martin cuts from PETER PAN and some of the Cathy Rigby cuts (I like both women in the role), every note of PETE N KEELY and of PLAY ON!, some of Carolee Carmello’s cuts from PARADE (I don’t know how she didn’t get that Tony award). Now.. about PAL JOEY. I have known the movie for years but never bothered to learn the Broadway score. Shame shame shame on me because I love Rodgers and Hart. I’ve always known the big songs but some of the lesser known songs slipped right by me. So this year Pat and I were so excited to go see Stockard Channing in this show. We REALLY enjoyed the show, loved Martha Plimpton and LOOOOVED Stockard. Her Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered was devastating. So I put every recording of Pal Joey that I have into my Ipod to investigate…. And I had a hard time deleting. I hate taking up room in my Ipod with the same songs over and over, so I DID try to delete some tracks, based on which recording is better…On the Harold Lang/Vivienne Segal recording, I really enjoy his vocals and even though Vivienne Segal is wonderful, it takes a special soprano to get me excited. On the Dick Beavers/Jane Froman recording, it’s pretty much the same story – like his vocals and hers but I LOVE the Elaine Stritch vocals. Then there is the Encores! Recording with Patti LuPone and Peter Gallagher. Cut most of his tracks, kept all of hers and even Bebe Neuwirth, though I am driven to distraction by her lateral lisp. I actually wish I had a recording of the show I saw. I am, now, a minor expert on Pal Joey. ]
PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES. Oh my gosh, this is so good! I had such a good time listening to it. This is my kind of cd. I left the whole thing in my Ipod. What fun! Debra Monk and Cass Morgan are true divas.
PRETTYBELLE. This strange little musical never made it to Broadway. Based on a novel, it is the story of a woman whose abusive husband died and she becomes and alcoholic, schizophrenic, nymphomaniac prostitute and ends up institutionalized. The production was plagued with difficulties and closed out of town after a week of boos and hisses from the audiences ( I read all this on Wikepedia). However, the Styne Merrill songs are ones I like and the star is Angela Lansbury, so I am down. I liked it in spite of myself.
PLATINUM. Well the truth is, there is no cast album from Platinum, though there is a cast album of what Platinum became: SUNSET, starring Tammy Grimes. That cd was much unlistenable, though a handful of songs were cool. There is an audio bootleg of Platinum that I can’t find the time to wade through. This is just the song Nothin’ But, taken off of the tv special Broadway Plays Washington. I loved Alexis Smith and her performance of this song and had to have it in my Ipod
PLAIN AND FANCY. This was, clearly, a big hit on Broadway because according to IBDB it ran over 400 performances. I actually liked some of it, choosing to delete songs I wouldn’t play again. I particularly like the overture and Barbara Cook’s numbers. Sweet.
PIPE DREAM. I can’t believe I didn’t like this cd. I love Rodgers and Hammerstein and I have never known this show; so I put it in my Ipod and gave it a listen and, while I liked some of the songs, I was not into the performances. I wouldn’t be listening to these singers any time soon, though I did leave in the Overture (I love overtures) and the original recording of The Next Time it Happens, though I prefer the Andrea McArdle recording from when they put the song into State Fair.
[For the Record: PIPPIN is in my Ipod from start to finish because I love this show and score, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA has been trimmed down to 5 songs – I don’t really like listening to this show, though I saw it and thought it was good theater; it’s just a mostly boring score to me. I have some of the Mary Martin cuts from PETER PAN and some of the Cathy Rigby cuts (I like both women in the role), every note of PETE N KEELY and of PLAY ON!, some of Carolee Carmello’s cuts from PARADE (I don’t know how she didn’t get that Tony award). Now.. about PAL JOEY. I have known the movie for years but never bothered to learn the Broadway score. Shame shame shame on me because I love Rodgers and Hart. I’ve always known the big songs but some of the lesser known songs slipped right by me. So this year Pat and I were so excited to go see Stockard Channing in this show. We REALLY enjoyed the show, loved Martha Plimpton and LOOOOVED Stockard. Her Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered was devastating. So I put every recording of Pal Joey that I have into my Ipod to investigate…. And I had a hard time deleting. I hate taking up room in my Ipod with the same songs over and over, so I DID try to delete some tracks, based on which recording is better…On the Harold Lang/Vivienne Segal recording, I really enjoy his vocals and even though Vivienne Segal is wonderful, it takes a special soprano to get me excited. On the Dick Beavers/Jane Froman recording, it’s pretty much the same story – like his vocals and hers but I LOVE the Elaine Stritch vocals. Then there is the Encores! Recording with Patti LuPone and Peter Gallagher. Cut most of his tracks, kept all of hers and even Bebe Neuwirth, though I am driven to distraction by her lateral lisp. I actually wish I had a recording of the show I saw. I am, now, a minor expert on Pal Joey. ]
posted by StephenMosher at 10:32 AM
1 Comments:
Your post of this made it into my mailbox under my Stockard Channing alert and I'm really glad it did.
I wish they did a recording for that show. It would have been completely fabulous.
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