My Musical Theater Voyage of Discovery; The Sondheim Files - The Revues

THE REVUES

SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM is one really important cast album to me. I was in college when I got it and I was trying to learn as much as I could about my chosen craft: theater. I wanted to be an actor and, even though I wasn’t a singer, I dreamed of doing musicals. So I took the musical theater class and I spent my money on cast albums and I devoured all that I could – especially Stephen Sondheim. So when I picked up Side By Side, I did so knowing it was a revue and it would help me in my education. It was here that I was introduced to Julia McKenzie (oh my GOD – I have loved her ever since; she is a great actress who can do ANYTHING – including sing in an alto belt and a legit soprano) and to David Kernan (oy, what a sexy voice). I had, previously, known Millicent Martin because I had the great honour and privilege of seeing her as Dorothy Brock on Broadway. I loved and love that woman.

There I was, almost daily, listening to my Side By Side cast album and this morning I played it again (for the first time in years – isn’t it amazing how something we love can become something we never visit?) and marveling about how much I STILL love it. Some specific examples:

--Every single harmony. The three part on Everybody Says Don’t is thrilling. The women, dueting on If Mama Was Married, the arrangement of harmonies on Company.. all the harmonies are just divine (and SO well blended!).

--The album is where I, first, heard the songs I Remember Sky, I Never Do Anything Twice, We’re Gonna Be Alright and The Boy From; and those recordings remain my favourites of those songs.

--Millicent Martin’s Send in the Clowns and I’m Still Here are particularly effective, even when compared to all of the others I have heard. I’m not saying they are the definitive versions; but she makes both songs her own and she goes places that are unique to her performance. DeLISH.

--The Too Many Mornings on this recording is one of the most heartbreaking recorded. When I listen to it, I can actually see the two of them on a black stage in a pinspot.

--Julie McKenzie’s There Won’t be Trumpets is an exemplary performance.

--David Kernan doing How Could I Leave You… (?). ‘Nuff said. Brilliant.

It is just so wonderful to listen to this rich material in the hands of actors AND singers who know how to handle it, who aren’t intimidated by it to the point of pushing it. They trust the material, they have confidence in their strengths, in their talents, in each other and they work together, with each other AND the material, to create a perfect listening experience for the audience.

Pardon the expression; but –

Fuck a doodle doo!

PUTTING IT TOGETHER is one of the most oft played cds in my Ipod. It cannot be helped. It is an elegant, sophisticated, funny, sexy, smart piece of theater. They took all those songs from all those Sondheim shows and turned them into a story for this non book musical revue and, never, does any of it feel shoehorned in. That cannot be said of every other revue or jukebox musical. It also never feels, at any time, contrived, trite or boring (which DOES happen in a lot of reviews – oh, golly, don’t make me name names). The orchestrations are good and the recording of the instruments is classic – they sound like instruments and not like a Casio and they sound like they are on a stage and not in a closet.

Then there are the performers.

Michael Rupert, long my favourite boy voice on Broadway, is so gorgeous to listen to (and for the record, he remains one of my favourite boy voices, right alongside Christopher Sieber, Brian d’arcy James and Cheyenn Jackson) and he has such a quiet wistfulness on his ballads.
Stephen Collins, long my favourite actor (a list he remains on) and one of my favourite people (one of the top five nicest people with whom I worked on The Sweater Book), happens to have a wonderful and sexy singing voice.
Rachel York, who can sing anything and sound good does one of my FAVOURITE recordings of The Miller’s Son (my other favourite will be named in a subsequent blog). She is so mellifluous and sensuous when she sings. It is all from a combination of places within her, the vocal performances she delivers.
Christopher Durang. Um. Legend! And he can sing! And he’s funny!
Then there is the little matter of Dame Julie Andrews. I am left speechless. All you need to say is JULIE ANDREWS. Ok, you could also say GODDESSS. Dudes, if you haven’t heard this cd, you have to. She is (as always) SUPERLATIVE.

I saw this cd advertised in a magazine before it came out and I haunted the stores until it did and when it did, I snatched it up and played it voraciously, which I still do.

Often, I play my dvd of the Broadway production that starred Carol Burnett, George Hearn and John Barrowman. These are three people I love so much that they feel like family. George Hearn and Carol Burnett are ALSO two of the nicest people I ever worked with (she is actually in the number one spot – always has been, always will be) but they are also legendary talents (he’s one of the greatest bass/baritones (I think?) of Broadway, alongside John Raitt, Alfred Drake and Brian Stokes Mitchell (I think? Me = not a singer). They were so wonderful in that show. Pat and I sat in the fourth row and just cheered and cheered for that show. And John Barrowman, we just cheer for. He’s so marvelous. He’s like Scott Bakula – one of those celebrities we just WISH success on. We have always wanted him to flourish and been elated with each new triumph. When we saw the show, Bronson Pinchot was out and David Engel was on for him and all I can say is “Bronson Who?” Damn, that boy can sing and he looked ASTOUNDING in that suit. I still remember it. Next thing I’m going to say, quickly, and get it over with. Don’t like Ruthie Henshall, thinks she is schmacty and over the top. The rest of the show, though, thrilled us and that is why I get out my dvd to look at it. That, though, only happens a couple of times a year.

This cd, I listen to at least every other month.

Dudes, look at the cast list. I have to. It cannot be avoided.