My Musical Theater Voyage of Discovery; The Letter B
BUBBLING BROWN SUGAR OBC. Ok, TOTES in love with this cast album! I love every single moment of it and have listened to it some three or four times since discovering it. That Vivan Reed can sure sing! This whole cast can sure sing! I have found a new favourite!
BRIGADOON. This is the sweetest musical. I have, for years, had an affection for the film (even though songs were cut and the heather on the hill is one enormous painted backdrop and Gene Kelly cannot handle the vocals (but he can sure handle the dancing!). I have also, for years, enjoyed the soundtrack from the tv version with Robert Goulet and Sally Ann Howes (but I love Sally Ann Howes and true love lasts forever) and I have, for years, enjoyed the studio recording with Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy. My friend, Stan, though, sent me the definitive recording with Rebecca Luker, Judy Kaye and Brent Barrett. When you hear a score sung by those voices, you cannot help but fall in love with it; AND the cd has all the incidental dance music! It’s just lovely. I should also say that in the male vocalists section of my Ipod, I have a Robert Meadmore playlist. I don’t know which production they come from but in that playlist you will find his cuts from a recording of Brigadoon. I love Robert Meadmore’s voice and I love Brigadoon.
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S. This is a studio recording of a Bob Merrill musical that, famously, was riddled with trouble (the stars: Mary Tyler Moore and Richard Chamberlain) and never opened on Broadway. With good reason, too. It is simply awful. I admit to liking a few of the songs and I admit to liking all the performers -- John Schneider, Hal Linden, Patrick Cassidy and original cast member Sally Kellerman -- (though Faith Prince as Holly Golightly is a HUGE stretch of the imagination—but for a studio recording you can, sort of, suspend your disblief). I didn’t leave very many tracks in my Ipod, though; I was especially quick to delete the screaming chorus numbers. Snore.
BROADWAY MUSICALS OF 1951/
BROADWAY MUSICALS OF 1960
These are two cds that a friend copied for me and I put into my Ipod – they are from a popular series in New York at Town Hall, where they hire local stage actors to do a retrospective of that year in musical theater history. It is a blatant knock off of Brady Schwind’s old cabaret show THE SEASON (also incredibly popular, in spite of the absence of celebrities). I found both of these cds to be a balance mix of boredom and excitement. It just depends on which celebrity (among them are Marc Kudisch, Tovah Feldshuh, Chip Zien, Alison Fraser and Davis Gaines) is singing which song, the level of saccharine in the arrangements vs the level of simplicity, and the choice of songs. I would say that, for each of these benign cds, I made an equal amount of cuts and left an equal amount of music in my Ipod. We’ll see if I ever listen to them…
BRAVO GIOVANNI. Surprised myself, completely, with this cd. The lead actor is from the opera world and a lot of it is either legit sung or big group numbers – and yet I enjoyed it a really lot and left most of it in my Ipod. Imagine my surprise when I googled the show and read what a flop it was. Oh well. I make up my own opinions and the one I have of this show is a good one; especially the Michele Lee numbers. LaDeDa.
BOMBAY DREAMS. This is a cd from when the show was on the West End in England and, dudes, I loved every single note! This is supremely listenable music! Yay!
BLUES IN THE NIGHT. This is a cast album from another British musical that starred Maria Friedman. Damn, gurl, you don’t hear singing like this every day. It’s a keeper.
BLOOMER GIRL OBC. Snore. Oh my gosh. I couldn’t stand most of it. I love Celeste Holm in life but this musical bored the living daylights out of me. A couple of the songs were fun and tuneful but most of it was (as we say in German) LANGWEILIG (and that means just what you think it does.) What the heck is this show about anyway? How on earth did it end up on the list of the 101 Best Musicals? Oh my gosh. Delete, delete, delete. I do like the song Evelina.
BLACK AND BLUE was the musical on Broadway that got Ruth Brown her Tony award; and she and Linda Hopkins are so stunning on this cd, along with the rest of the cast, that I couldn’t bring myself to delete one song. I sure do like the musicals filled with smooth black men and screaming black women – that seems to be the type of cast album that I will listen to (except that awful Two Gentlemen of Verona that I hated so much). This cast album fits right into those musical tastes of mine.
BILLION DOLLAR BABY is one of those Encores! Cds that sound like the cast had the microphone shoved down onto their larynx. I hate that so much. Jesus, producers, these are singers, they can project enough for their voice to reach a mike a couple of inches away from their throats. This one fared better than some of the others, so I left in the Kristin Chenoweth tracks (I never cut her from my Ipod, ever) and I even left in the Debbie Gravitte tracks (I love her but when she screams, I delete her – I don’t want screaming piped into my eardrums). Both women fared really well, all their tracks surviving my Ipod cuts. They are all that survived my Ipod cuts.
BIG RIVER. All I ever knew from Big River was the two songs they performed on the Tonys that year. I am so happy I sat down to listen and learn what a sweet musical it truly is. I’m bummed I missed the revival everyone was so in love with; but them’s the breaks. This cd is more than enough for me to cultivate an appreciation for this show. It’s really nice.
BEN FRANKLIN IN PARIS. I have NO clue what this gosh darned musical is about and, frankly, I don’t care. I’m not a history buff, I’m not interested in Mr Franklin or his story – I am, though, a Robert Preston buff and I am interested in his history. This delightful musical is a charming part of that history and listening to it, I found myself smiling. A lot.
BARNUM. I never got to know this show, except for a couple of numbers I did in a revue in college (group numbers – not solos) that I have always liked. So surprised that I liked so much of the rest of the show! What a treat this score is, what fun Jim Dale is and even though she didn’t have the vocal chops for Norma Desmond, Glenn Close is wonderfully perky and belty in this show. I left the whole record in my Ipod – it’s one I will play again.
BALLROOM. Nice. Really nice. I like the score (even the dance instrumentals, which I normally would cut) and the performances. No qualms with having this cd take up space in my Ipod. Yay for Dorothy Loudon.
BAKER STREET Now THIS was a GREAT surprise! I ABSOLUTELY LOOOOVED this cast album! What a fun score and fun performances. I was so happily surprised to hear what a pleasant singing voice Fritz Weaver had; and Inga Swenson really made me smile (hard to do when you are a soprano – I am not, usually, into the sound, unless it is Rebecca Luker or Audra McDonald. Even Barbara Cook has numbers I love and numbers I don’t listen to.) I will listen to Baker Street again and again.
BAJOUR. I didn’t get it. I, so, didn’t get it. Didn’t find the songs particularly tune worthy or interesting, found Herschal Bernardi a bit screamy, found the group numbers loud and hard to listen to. I did, though, like Chita Rivera’s every move and some of Nancy Dussault (most of her, in fact). The rest of it, though, I didn’t get.
BABES IN ARMS. Can you believe I don’t know this show? I know all the songs. I just don’t know the show itself, aside from the Mickey and Judy movie, which (I found, reading the Bloom/Vlastnick book) is the Mickey and Judy movie! I have 2 Babes in Arms in my Ipod – one is with Mary Martin and one is with David Campbell. Both cds are almost completely intact, though I am going to admit (this should surprise nobody) that I deleted a few cuts from the David Campbell recording because it was another one of those Encores! Productions that sound like they were recorded in a home recording studio where the recording booth is the hall closet. Tin, tin, tin. BUT it’s David Campbell. We don’t delete David Campbell. Meanwhile, Mary Martin and Jack Cassidy are divine, as are the production values on their recording. It sounds like a real musical. I happen, by the way, to love this score A REALLY LOT.
[For the Record: BYE BYE BIRDIE is represented in my Ipod by the OBC, the movie soundtrack and the tv soundtrack. I love Bye Bye Birdie and, as far as I’m concerned, when you are starting with this score, you can’t go wrong. I admit it, though, I would rather listen to Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera than any of the others – but the Ann-Margret recording of the title song is paramount on my playlists! BY JEEVES is one of the ALW shows that I actually like. It is one of his more original scores, the show stays true to the original Jeeves and Wooster books, the UK cast album is a sheer delight and the lyrics by Ayckbourn are better than most of the other non-Tim Rice lyrics that accompany ALW’s music. It can be said that I am a fan of this show – even the silly “it’s a pig!” number that Pat hates SOOO much. It is only natural that THE BOY FROM OZ should be in my Ipod in its’ entirety. Since my teenage years I have been an ardent fan of Peter Allen and since my adult years I have been a devoted fan of Hugh Jackman. I love Stephanie Block and Beth Fowler, I have great memories of that show – listening to this cast album makes me smile. I need smiles. BLOODBROTHERS is in my Ipod twice – once with Kiki Dee and once with Petula Clark. I had Stephanie Dickson (I think that is her name) but, upon listening, discovered I didn’t like the cd. I really love the Kiki Dee version but it is hard to argue with Petula Clark and the Cassidys – both recordings are wonderful. I loved this show when I saw it on Broadway (once with Petula and five times with Helen Reddy), I play these cds a lot. BIG, I didn’t love. A lot of the songs are banal and some are downright irritating. Iwon’t say I hated the show when I saw it – in fact, I sort of enjoyed it. I enjoyed it more, years later, when my best friend played the hell out of the lead at Stages St Louis. However, the show is represented in my Ipod through a couple of lovely ballads and a couple of peppy uptempo numbers. Especially good is the final track where Josh and Susan say goodbye and the ballad that Barbara Walsh (a talent I have never really ‘gotten’) sings as the mom. Especially bad are the opening number and the awful song ‘Here we go again’ that introduces Susan to the audience. I’m so glad I cut them. BELLS ARE RINGING is one of my alltime favourites and I would never cut one song from my Ipod - Judy Holiday is never cut; not one track. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is lovely and all of Susan Egan’s songs and Burke Moses’ songs are in my Ipod. Most of the ‘characters’ are in my Ipod (I especially love ‘Human Again’, ‘Be Our Guest’ and Beth Fowler doing ‘Beauty and the Beast’. Those screaming chorus numbers like ‘Kill the Beast’? Gotta. Go. BEA ARTHUR ON BROADWAY, as a concert album, must be heard straight through. So I left it in. It’s Bea Arthur, ya’all. THE BAKER’S WIFE is a score I have always been able to listen to from start to finish – lovely. The OBC, though is expurgated, which is probably why; I understand there is a UK version that has a LOT of extra material. Even money says I would delete some of that extra material if it were in my Ipod. I do love the LuPone Sorvino cd, though; especially Teri Ralson. BABY is one of my happy places. Like STARTING HERE, STARTING NOW and CLOSER THAN EVER, it is proof that I get, like, love, and understand Maltby and Shire, in spite of the rather unkind things I just said about BIG. For me, BABY is the antithesis of BIG. Put in the cd and hit play and walk away. It is mwahvelous. ]
BRIGADOON. This is the sweetest musical. I have, for years, had an affection for the film (even though songs were cut and the heather on the hill is one enormous painted backdrop and Gene Kelly cannot handle the vocals (but he can sure handle the dancing!). I have also, for years, enjoyed the soundtrack from the tv version with Robert Goulet and Sally Ann Howes (but I love Sally Ann Howes and true love lasts forever) and I have, for years, enjoyed the studio recording with Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy. My friend, Stan, though, sent me the definitive recording with Rebecca Luker, Judy Kaye and Brent Barrett. When you hear a score sung by those voices, you cannot help but fall in love with it; AND the cd has all the incidental dance music! It’s just lovely. I should also say that in the male vocalists section of my Ipod, I have a Robert Meadmore playlist. I don’t know which production they come from but in that playlist you will find his cuts from a recording of Brigadoon. I love Robert Meadmore’s voice and I love Brigadoon.
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S. This is a studio recording of a Bob Merrill musical that, famously, was riddled with trouble (the stars: Mary Tyler Moore and Richard Chamberlain) and never opened on Broadway. With good reason, too. It is simply awful. I admit to liking a few of the songs and I admit to liking all the performers -- John Schneider, Hal Linden, Patrick Cassidy and original cast member Sally Kellerman -- (though Faith Prince as Holly Golightly is a HUGE stretch of the imagination—but for a studio recording you can, sort of, suspend your disblief). I didn’t leave very many tracks in my Ipod, though; I was especially quick to delete the screaming chorus numbers. Snore.
BROADWAY MUSICALS OF 1951/
BROADWAY MUSICALS OF 1960
These are two cds that a friend copied for me and I put into my Ipod – they are from a popular series in New York at Town Hall, where they hire local stage actors to do a retrospective of that year in musical theater history. It is a blatant knock off of Brady Schwind’s old cabaret show THE SEASON (also incredibly popular, in spite of the absence of celebrities). I found both of these cds to be a balance mix of boredom and excitement. It just depends on which celebrity (among them are Marc Kudisch, Tovah Feldshuh, Chip Zien, Alison Fraser and Davis Gaines) is singing which song, the level of saccharine in the arrangements vs the level of simplicity, and the choice of songs. I would say that, for each of these benign cds, I made an equal amount of cuts and left an equal amount of music in my Ipod. We’ll see if I ever listen to them…
BRAVO GIOVANNI. Surprised myself, completely, with this cd. The lead actor is from the opera world and a lot of it is either legit sung or big group numbers – and yet I enjoyed it a really lot and left most of it in my Ipod. Imagine my surprise when I googled the show and read what a flop it was. Oh well. I make up my own opinions and the one I have of this show is a good one; especially the Michele Lee numbers. LaDeDa.
BOMBAY DREAMS. This is a cd from when the show was on the West End in England and, dudes, I loved every single note! This is supremely listenable music! Yay!
BLUES IN THE NIGHT. This is a cast album from another British musical that starred Maria Friedman. Damn, gurl, you don’t hear singing like this every day. It’s a keeper.
BLOOMER GIRL OBC. Snore. Oh my gosh. I couldn’t stand most of it. I love Celeste Holm in life but this musical bored the living daylights out of me. A couple of the songs were fun and tuneful but most of it was (as we say in German) LANGWEILIG (and that means just what you think it does.) What the heck is this show about anyway? How on earth did it end up on the list of the 101 Best Musicals? Oh my gosh. Delete, delete, delete. I do like the song Evelina.
BLACK AND BLUE was the musical on Broadway that got Ruth Brown her Tony award; and she and Linda Hopkins are so stunning on this cd, along with the rest of the cast, that I couldn’t bring myself to delete one song. I sure do like the musicals filled with smooth black men and screaming black women – that seems to be the type of cast album that I will listen to (except that awful Two Gentlemen of Verona that I hated so much). This cast album fits right into those musical tastes of mine.
BILLION DOLLAR BABY is one of those Encores! Cds that sound like the cast had the microphone shoved down onto their larynx. I hate that so much. Jesus, producers, these are singers, they can project enough for their voice to reach a mike a couple of inches away from their throats. This one fared better than some of the others, so I left in the Kristin Chenoweth tracks (I never cut her from my Ipod, ever) and I even left in the Debbie Gravitte tracks (I love her but when she screams, I delete her – I don’t want screaming piped into my eardrums). Both women fared really well, all their tracks surviving my Ipod cuts. They are all that survived my Ipod cuts.
BIG RIVER. All I ever knew from Big River was the two songs they performed on the Tonys that year. I am so happy I sat down to listen and learn what a sweet musical it truly is. I’m bummed I missed the revival everyone was so in love with; but them’s the breaks. This cd is more than enough for me to cultivate an appreciation for this show. It’s really nice.
BEN FRANKLIN IN PARIS. I have NO clue what this gosh darned musical is about and, frankly, I don’t care. I’m not a history buff, I’m not interested in Mr Franklin or his story – I am, though, a Robert Preston buff and I am interested in his history. This delightful musical is a charming part of that history and listening to it, I found myself smiling. A lot.
BARNUM. I never got to know this show, except for a couple of numbers I did in a revue in college (group numbers – not solos) that I have always liked. So surprised that I liked so much of the rest of the show! What a treat this score is, what fun Jim Dale is and even though she didn’t have the vocal chops for Norma Desmond, Glenn Close is wonderfully perky and belty in this show. I left the whole record in my Ipod – it’s one I will play again.
BALLROOM. Nice. Really nice. I like the score (even the dance instrumentals, which I normally would cut) and the performances. No qualms with having this cd take up space in my Ipod. Yay for Dorothy Loudon.
BAKER STREET Now THIS was a GREAT surprise! I ABSOLUTELY LOOOOVED this cast album! What a fun score and fun performances. I was so happily surprised to hear what a pleasant singing voice Fritz Weaver had; and Inga Swenson really made me smile (hard to do when you are a soprano – I am not, usually, into the sound, unless it is Rebecca Luker or Audra McDonald. Even Barbara Cook has numbers I love and numbers I don’t listen to.) I will listen to Baker Street again and again.
BAJOUR. I didn’t get it. I, so, didn’t get it. Didn’t find the songs particularly tune worthy or interesting, found Herschal Bernardi a bit screamy, found the group numbers loud and hard to listen to. I did, though, like Chita Rivera’s every move and some of Nancy Dussault (most of her, in fact). The rest of it, though, I didn’t get.
BABES IN ARMS. Can you believe I don’t know this show? I know all the songs. I just don’t know the show itself, aside from the Mickey and Judy movie, which (I found, reading the Bloom/Vlastnick book) is the Mickey and Judy movie! I have 2 Babes in Arms in my Ipod – one is with Mary Martin and one is with David Campbell. Both cds are almost completely intact, though I am going to admit (this should surprise nobody) that I deleted a few cuts from the David Campbell recording because it was another one of those Encores! Productions that sound like they were recorded in a home recording studio where the recording booth is the hall closet. Tin, tin, tin. BUT it’s David Campbell. We don’t delete David Campbell. Meanwhile, Mary Martin and Jack Cassidy are divine, as are the production values on their recording. It sounds like a real musical. I happen, by the way, to love this score A REALLY LOT.
[For the Record: BYE BYE BIRDIE is represented in my Ipod by the OBC, the movie soundtrack and the tv soundtrack. I love Bye Bye Birdie and, as far as I’m concerned, when you are starting with this score, you can’t go wrong. I admit it, though, I would rather listen to Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera than any of the others – but the Ann-Margret recording of the title song is paramount on my playlists! BY JEEVES is one of the ALW shows that I actually like. It is one of his more original scores, the show stays true to the original Jeeves and Wooster books, the UK cast album is a sheer delight and the lyrics by Ayckbourn are better than most of the other non-Tim Rice lyrics that accompany ALW’s music. It can be said that I am a fan of this show – even the silly “it’s a pig!” number that Pat hates SOOO much. It is only natural that THE BOY FROM OZ should be in my Ipod in its’ entirety. Since my teenage years I have been an ardent fan of Peter Allen and since my adult years I have been a devoted fan of Hugh Jackman. I love Stephanie Block and Beth Fowler, I have great memories of that show – listening to this cast album makes me smile. I need smiles. BLOODBROTHERS is in my Ipod twice – once with Kiki Dee and once with Petula Clark. I had Stephanie Dickson (I think that is her name) but, upon listening, discovered I didn’t like the cd. I really love the Kiki Dee version but it is hard to argue with Petula Clark and the Cassidys – both recordings are wonderful. I loved this show when I saw it on Broadway (once with Petula and five times with Helen Reddy), I play these cds a lot. BIG, I didn’t love. A lot of the songs are banal and some are downright irritating. Iwon’t say I hated the show when I saw it – in fact, I sort of enjoyed it. I enjoyed it more, years later, when my best friend played the hell out of the lead at Stages St Louis. However, the show is represented in my Ipod through a couple of lovely ballads and a couple of peppy uptempo numbers. Especially good is the final track where Josh and Susan say goodbye and the ballad that Barbara Walsh (a talent I have never really ‘gotten’) sings as the mom. Especially bad are the opening number and the awful song ‘Here we go again’ that introduces Susan to the audience. I’m so glad I cut them. BELLS ARE RINGING is one of my alltime favourites and I would never cut one song from my Ipod - Judy Holiday is never cut; not one track. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is lovely and all of Susan Egan’s songs and Burke Moses’ songs are in my Ipod. Most of the ‘characters’ are in my Ipod (I especially love ‘Human Again’, ‘Be Our Guest’ and Beth Fowler doing ‘Beauty and the Beast’. Those screaming chorus numbers like ‘Kill the Beast’? Gotta. Go. BEA ARTHUR ON BROADWAY, as a concert album, must be heard straight through. So I left it in. It’s Bea Arthur, ya’all. THE BAKER’S WIFE is a score I have always been able to listen to from start to finish – lovely. The OBC, though is expurgated, which is probably why; I understand there is a UK version that has a LOT of extra material. Even money says I would delete some of that extra material if it were in my Ipod. I do love the LuPone Sorvino cd, though; especially Teri Ralson. BABY is one of my happy places. Like STARTING HERE, STARTING NOW and CLOSER THAN EVER, it is proof that I get, like, love, and understand Maltby and Shire, in spite of the rather unkind things I just said about BIG. For me, BABY is the antithesis of BIG. Put in the cd and hit play and walk away. It is mwahvelous. ]
posted by StephenMosher at 11:13 AM
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