DESPERATE MEASURES: A CD Review

Off-Broadway Cast – 2018 / Music by David Friedman and lyrics by Peter Kellogg

Starring: Lauren Molina, Emma Degerstedt, Conor Ryan, Peter Saide, Nick Wyman, Gary Marachek

Rate: 5 (from 1 to 10) / Photos by Carol Rosegg

Review:Shakespeare and musical theatre may sound a little bit strange, but it had given us more than a couple of great scores, THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE, KISS ME KATE and WEST SIDE STORY, just come to mind.

This time, Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” becomes a western musical comedy and its authors, Peter Kellogg and David Friedman, saw their work winning the 2018 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics, plus the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical.

With a mixed of country and showtunes, sometimes this score reminded me of CALAMITY JANE, a score that I really enjoy. None of the songs of this new musical are up there with the likes of “Secret Love” and, sometimes, they sound too country for my traditional taste, but it makes for a pleasant listening. For me the highlights are the ballads “Look in Your Heart” and “What is This Feeling?”, both sung with soul by Emma Degerstedt; Laura Molina gives us the steamy “It’s Getting Hot in Here” (this one brings me memories of SMASH), Peter Saide shines with the Alan Menkinsh “Stop There”, the ladies have a good time with “In the Dark” and Lauren Molina and Conor Ryan share the comic-romantic duet “Just for You”.

The cast sounds like they are having fun with their characters and in complete harmony with the spirit of the score. The end result is an unpretentious score, nice to the ears and, sometimes, it puts a smile on our face.

PLAY IT AGAIN, MARVIN! A MARVIN HAMLISCH CELEBRATION: A CD Review

An Orchestral Celebration – 2018 / Music by Marvin Hamlisch 

Featuring:The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra under the direction of J. Ernest Green,

Sylvia McNair, Judy Harrison, Doug LaBrecque, Kevin Cole, Adrian Daurov

Rate: 8 (from 1 to 10) 

Review:Marvin Hamlisch will forever be remembered for his score for A CHORUS LINE and for giving us one of the most romantic songs of all time, the theme of the movie THE WAY WE WERE. But there’s much more from this award-winning composer, one of the two (the other one was Richard Rodgers) who won the PEGOT (this means winning the Pulitzer Prize, EMMY, Grammy, Oscar, Tony). In fact, he won three Oscars, four Grammys, four Emmys, a Tony, three Golden Globe awards and the Pulitzer Prize.

This highly enjoyable live recording is a great way of celebrating the melodious music of Hamlisch and starts with a haunting orchestral version of “The Way We Were”, followed by a terrific “A Chorus Line Concert”; later on, Judy Harrison gives us a good version of “Nothing” and the concert ends with a touching “What I Did for Love”.

Between all this, there’s the 007 song “Nobody Does It Better” from THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and Hamlisch’s famous adaptation of Scott Joplin’s ragtime music “The Entertainer” and “Pineapple Rag” from THE STING. Of special interest for musical lovers like me, there’s the song “Dreamers” from the musical JEAN SEBERG, plus two great songs from SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, “I Cannot Hear the City” and “At the Fountain”, beautifully sung by Doug LaBrecque; this musical has a highly interesting score that deserves to be rediscovered and its cut song “That’s How I Say Goodbye” fits perfectly within it and Sylvia McNair rendition is a strong one. For me, these three songs are among the highlights of this recording.

Hamlisch himself can be heard in previously recorded versions of “They’re Playing My Song” and “If You Really Knew Me”, both from THEY’RE PLAYING OUR SONG. Back to the movies, there’s the theme song from ICE CASTLES, the “Suite” from SOPHIE’S CHOICE, a song from THE CHAMP and Hamlisch’s first movie theme, THE SWIMMER. Near the end they give us a “Marvin’s Medley”, intimately played on piano by Kevin Cole.

On the whole, this is a wonderful celebration of Hamlisch’s music and he may be gone, but, as another famous composer wrote, “the melody lingers on”. Don’t miss it!

JANUARY-APRIL 2018: A QUICK PERSONAL LOOK TO SOME NEW SHOW MUSIC RELEASES

Before reading this, take a look at MY FAVORITE SCORES, so you may get an idea of what I like and keep in mind two other things. First, I don’t understand nothing about music; second, when it comes to my music tastes, I’m very narrow-minded and old fashioned. 

Now that I got that off my chest, here is a quick look at some of the show music recordings that were released from January to April 2018.

CALENDAR GIRLS – Gary Barlow & Tim Firth musical adaptation of the hit movie has a light pop score, that’s not really my cup of tea. The very British cast, led by Claire Moore and Joanna Riding, sung their songs with honesty. In the entire score there are three numbers that I enjoy, “Sunflower”, “Who Wants a Silent Night?”, where the cast sounds like they’re having fun, and, specially, “So I’ve Had a Little Work Done”, sung with gusto by Sophie-Louise Dann. 

ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE – Would you believe me if I told you that the name Jimmy Buffett meant nothing to me? Well, it’s true. While listening to this recording of a new jukebox Broadway musical I realized one thing, I don’t care much for Jimmy Buffett’s songs. Anyway, the tropical flavor of some of the songs and the nice cast makes this is a listenable recording. Numbers like “Volcano”, "We Are the People Our Parents Warned Us About/The Natives Are Restless", "My Head Hurts, My Feet Stink and I Don't Love Jesus" and “Grapefruit – Juicy Fruit” are mildly entertaining. If you’re a Buffett fan, I’m sure you’ll love this.

EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE – This new score with music by Dan Gillespie Sells and lyrics by Tom Macrae, isn’t for me. Its rock/pop songs are far from the style of music I enjoy and, although the cast sings them with heart and soul, I think the songs sound too much alike and only one was able to catch my attention. It’s sung by Josie Walker and it’s called “If I Met Myself Again”. I believe the younger generation and older ones with an open mind will like it.

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR LIVE – People who know me know that I’m not a big fan of Andrew Lloyd Weber, but there’s no doubt the guy writes some great songs, although not great scores. This new recording of one of his first big hits has a strong cast, with John Legend in the title role, but the score was never very high on my list. Anyway, I always liked “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” and “King Herod’s Song” was an entertaining number in the musical style I love; in this new recording, Sara Bareilles sings the first one with emotion and Alice Cooper has fun with the second one. “Superstar” and “Everything’s Alright” are the other two songs that I don’t mind listening to, the rest of the score is too ‘rockish’ for me. As for this new recording, I don’t think it’s better than previous ones.

KRIS KRINGLE – Christmas is still far away, but here is the studio cast recording of a new Christmas musical. Composers & lyricists Tim Janis & Angelo Natalie managed to get a cast that includes Broadway’s Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Nikki Renée Daniels, Janine LaManna and Kim Crosby, among others. The songs are cheerful, without being great, in the kind of the traditional Broadway style that I enjoy, with some of them on a more modern ballad mood. My favorite ones are “What Is So Merry ‘bout Christmas”, “Something Wonderful in You”, “Skip Ba Doo” and “Tonight We Will Roar”. If you’ll like Christmas songs you’ll enjoy this one.

ONCE ON THIS ISLAND – I have to confess that I never cared much for the original cast recording of this Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens musical, so I was surprised to find this new cast recording very pleasant to hear. It was like listening it for the first time and I enjoyed rediscovering songs like “Ti Moune”, “Mama Will Provide” and “Some Girls”. Some of the music reminded me of THE BOOK OF MORMON but, since the original Broadway production opened in 1990, I know that it should be the other way around. The songs are melodious, and the new cast sung them perfectly. I don’t love this score, but it gets a new life in this recording and that’s good news!

PRINCE OF BROADWAY – This revue or jukebox musical built around the work of Harold Prince take us back to some terrific scores but, with the rare exception of a riveting version of “The Right Girl” from FOLLIES (Tony Yazbeck sounds terrific), don’t bring nothing new to the songs. But there’s plenty to enjoy. Besides the mentioned number, my favorite tracks are Karen Ziemba’s “So What” and “The Worst Pies in London”, Brandon Uranowitz’s “Dressing Them Up” (one of my favorite Kander & Ebb songs), Chuck Cooper’s “Ol’ Man River”, Emily Skinner’s “Now You Know” and Tony Yazbeck’s “This Is Not Over Yet”. As for the new song “Do the Work”, it pales compared with the old ones. Anyway, for me, the highlight is “The Right Girl”!

WORKING – Here is another musical to which I never payed attention to and this London Cast recording won’t be changing it. There’s nothing wrong with the cast, but I don’t find the songs interesting. I know that several people wrote the songs but to my ears they don’t diverge much from one another, it’s like all composers were exactly on the same mood. Only one song caught my attention, “It’s an Art” by Stephen Schwartz. I know this is about real people, but there’s was no need for almost all songs being kind of depressing. Not my kind of score.

CHARLOTTE’S WEB: A Soundtrack Review

Original Movie Soundtrack – 1973 / Music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman

Starring: Debbie Reynolds, Henry Gibson, Pamelyn Ferdin, Dave Madden, Agnes Moorehead, Paul Lynde

Rate: 6 (from 1 to 10)

Review: I think I was a kid of 11 years old when I saw this movie for the first time on a television matinee. I enjoyed it immensely and I remember humming the songs. At the time, I didn’t have a clue who the Sherman Brothers were.

Since that day, I tried to get the movie soundtrack but without luck (living in Portugal made it practically impossible). So, what I did was recording the songs on a tape when the movie was shown again on television. But the days of tape are long gone and so was my recording of the soundtrack. Now, this soundtrack was re-released in vinyl, “for the first time in almost 40 years”, and finally I can enjoy the songs once again; although it had been a long time since I heard them for last time, I’m still able to hum some of them.

This isn’t the best work of the Sherman Brothers, but it’s difficult to resist the charms of the one and only Debbie Reynolds (she gives voice do Charlotte) as she sweetly delivers “Chin Up”, “Deep in the Dark” and “Mother Earth and Father Time”. Henry Gibson make us believe a pig can sing with “I Can Talk” and Agnes Moorhead and Paul Lynde has a fun time with “A Veritable Smorgasbord”.

If you like melodious scores and are a fan of the work of The Sherman Brothers (MARY POPPINS), plus a Debbie Reynolds admirer, this one is for you. Personally, I enjoyed it and it was great to go back in time.

KID VICTORY: A CD Review

Original Off-Broadway Cast – 2017 / Music by John Kander and lyrics by Greg Pierce

Starring: Dee Roscioli, Jeffry Denman, Karen Ziemba Brandon Flynn,Joel Blum, Laura Darrell, David Garrison, Blake Zolf, Daniel Jenkinns, Ann Arvia

Rate: 6 (from 1 to 10) / Photos by Carol Rosegg

Review: John Kander’s collaboration with Fred Ebb, made him one of my all-time favorite composers. When Edd  left this world, Kander found a new work companion, Greg Pierce. Their first work, THE LANDING, show us a new Kander, far from the compositions he wrote with Ebb. Personally, I was very disappointed with it.

This KID VICTORY is Kander & Pierce new musical and this time around I enjoyed their work. It’s not up there with Kander’s best work and sometimes reminded me of Stephen Sondheim, but there’s enough here for my liking.

As you may guess, my favorite song is “What’s the Point?”, sung with gusto by Blake Zolfo. Karen Ziemba delivers the beautiful “There Was a Boy”, Jeffry Denman the haunting “You, If Anyone” and Dee Roscioli the moving “People Like Us”. “You Are the Marble” is a funny number sung by Ann Arvia and Company and Joel Blum’s “Not Quite True” has a vaudeville vibe that I like.

It’s good to know that John Kander is still working and delivering interesting scores. This one has plenty to enjoy and I recommend it.

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE: A CD Review

New Broadway Cast – 2017 / Music by lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Annaleigh Ashford, Brooks Ashmanskas, Jenni Barber, Phillip Boykin, Mattea Conforti, Erin Davie, Claybourne Elder, Penny Fuller, Jordan Gelber, Robert Sean Leonard, Liz McCartney, Ruthie Ann Miles, Ashley Park, Jennifer Sanchez, David Turner, Max Chernin, MaryAnn Hu, Michael McElroy, Jaime Rosenstein, Laura Irion, Julie Foldesi, Andrew Kober

Rate: 8 (from 1 to 10) / Photos by Matthew Murphy

Review: This critically acclaimed score by Stephen Sondheim isn’t among my favorite Sondheim’s work and I only began to appreciate it after seeing the DVD release of the Broadway cast with Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters. Today, I love some of its songs, “Sunday” (that gives me goosebumps), “Putting It Together”, “Move On” and “Finishing the Hat”; I also enjoy “We Do Not Belong Together”, “Everybody Loves Louis”, “Beautiful”, “It’s Hot Up Here” and the title song.

We already have more than one cast recording of this score, but the star power of Jake Gyllenhaal was reason enough to release another one. Surprisingly, he more than delivers the goods and his George is, at least for me, the best I have ever heard. He may not have a very strong voice, but he sings the songs with heart and emotion, like if they were written specially for him. He is more than enough reason to buy this new recording, but there’s more.

At Gyllenhaal side, Annaleigh Ashford is a perfect Dot and make her songs her own. The rest of the cast is a perfect ensemble and the orchestrations by Michael Starobin never sounded better. Yes, you may call me a heretic, but I prefer this recording to the original Broadway cast. Like they say, it’s only a matter of opinion, but you should have this one on your Broadway library.

IN FULL SWING: A CD Review

Easy listening – 2017 / Music and lyrics by various

Singers: Seth MacFarlane, Norah Jones, Elizabeth Gillies

Rate: 10 (from 1 to 10) 

Review: Seth MacFarlane is back and once again he gives us a highly pleasant album of fabulous movie and show tunes. Who can ask for anything more.

This IN FULL SWING begins with one of my all-time favorite songs, “The First Time It Happens”, written by Joe Raposo for THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER. Later, MacFarlane delivers another of my favorites, “I Like Myself” written by André Previn and Betty Comden & Adolph Green for IT’S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER. As you can see by this two songs, this standards album, with fabulous lively arrangements by Joel McNeely, doesn’t rely only on well-known songs.

It’s a pleasure to listen MacFarlane strong, sweet velvet voice singing classics like “Almost Like Being in Love”, “Isn’t This is a Lovely Day” or “Have You Met Miss Jones?”. But is even better when he delivers less known songs like “That Face”, “If I Had a Talking Picture of You” (a terrific duet with Norah Jones), “You Coulnd’t Be Cuter”, “You Can’t Love ‘Em All”, “A Kiss or Two” and “But Beautiful”. This exciting recording ends with a terrific duet between MacFarlane and Elizabeth Gillies, “My Buick, My Love and I” by Jack Brooks & Frank Skinner.

This is one of the best albums I listened to this year and I can only say one thing, don’t miss it.  You’re in for almost 50 minutes of pure joy and entertainment!

HOLIDAY INN: A CD Review

Original Broadway Cast – 2016 / Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin

Starring: Bryce Pinkham, Lora Lee Gayer, Corbin Bleu, Megan Lawrence, Megan Sikora,

Rate: 8 (from 1 to 10) / Photos by Joan Marcus

Review: If, like me, you love Broadway’s golden age, a “new” musical by Irving Berlin is always a reason to get excited. Based on the Fred Astaire & Bing Crosby 1942 movie that introduced the song “White Christmas” to the world, this score plays like a Berlin songbook and there’s nothing wrong with it.

Larry Blank is the responsible for the new and exciting orchestrations and Bryce Pinkham, Lora Lee Gayer (my favorite), Corbin Bleu, Megan Lawrence and Megan Sikora sung the songs like if they were written for them. Of course we all heard these songs before, but even so is always a pleasure to rediscover less known (at least for me) songs like “Marching Along with Time”, “Plenty to Be Thankful For”, “Nothing More to Say”, “Let’s Start the New Year Right”, “Be Careful, It’s My Heart”, “Song of Freedom” and “Let’s Say with Firecrackers”.

There’s also more than a couple of big Berlin hits like “Steppin' Out with My Baby”, “Blue Skies”, “Heat Wave”, “It’s a Lovely Day Today” (a song that I simply love), “Shaking the Blues Away” (the big production number), “You’re Easy to Dance With”, “Easter Parade” and, it couldn’t fail, “White Christmas”.

A reminder of simple days, when the musicals only pretend to entertain and people get out of the theatre humming the songs, with a smile in their heart and rhythm on their feet. In fact, no one seems to write songs like this anymore (exception for the guys who wrote YANK!). You know what? I believe “it’s a lovely day today” to listen to this nostalgic cast recording!

ANASTASIA: A CD Review

Original Broadway Cast – 2017 / Music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens

Starring: Christy Altomare, John Bolton, Ramin Karimloo, Derek Klena, Caroline O'Connor, Mary Beth Peil, Lauren Blackman, Kyle Brown

Rate: 8 (from 1 to 10) / Photos by Matthew Murphy

Review: With the huge success of the Broadway adaptations of Disney’s animation musicals, it’s not a surprise that Fox’s 1997 musical ANASTASIA, with songs by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (RAGTIME), would arrive sooner or later to the stage. Specially because it appeals to the young girls’ audience that made WICKED a hit, plus it has touristic appeal. In fact, I don’t know why it took so long to get to a Broadway stage.

The movie score had a hit with “Journey to the Past” (a song in Alan Menken’s style), plus a few more songs, my favorite being “Paris Hold the Key (To Your Heart)”. Gone is the villain’s song “In the Dark of the Night”, plus the pop tune “At the Beginning”. In their place, there’s a dozen of new songs lively orchestrated by Doug Besterman.

In the title role, Christy Altomare reveals a sweet powerful voice, giving us strong renditions of “Journey to the Past” and the beautiful “Crossing a Bridge”. As the villain, Ramin Karimloo, who has a terrific voice, has is big moment with “Still”, but he deserved more interesting songs. Derek Klena, in the role of Dmitry, is a nice surprise shining with “My Petersburg”, “Everything to Win” and “In a Crowd of Thousands”, a romantic duet with Altomare. But my heart is with Caroline O’Connor’s Lily, who deliver my favorite songs of the score, “Land of Yesterday” and “The Countess and the Common Man”, here in an amusing duet with a great John Bolton. Bolton also sings, with the rest of the cast, another song that I love “We’ll Go from There” and leads the company with the already mentioned “Paris Hold the Key (To Your Heart)”.

This is an entertaining and melodious score, better than the movie soundtrack. Personally, I think it’s one of the best cast recordings of the year, but you know me, more heart than brains. Anyway, I think it really deserves to be part of any musical lover music library.

WAR PAINT: A CD Review

Original Broadway Cast – 2017 / Music by Scott Frankel and lyrics by Michael Korie

Starring: Patti LuPone, Christine Ebersole, John Dossett, Douglas Sills, Mary Ernster, Joanna Glushak, Mary Claire King, Barbara Marineau, Jennifer Rias, Steffanie Leigh, Angel Reda, Stephanie Jae ParkErik Liberman, David Girolmo,

Rate: 8 (from 1 to 10) / Photos by Joan Marcus

Review: A new musical starring two big Broadway veterans (or should I say divas?), is always something to look for and this new recording really deliver the goods.

Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole shine as the true stars they are in the roles of Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden. The team responsible for the score of GREY GARDENS, Scott Frankel and Michael Korie, came up with the right kind of songs for their leading ladies and they sung them with gusto. There are times that this sounds like a small epic musical, specially when Ebersole sings “Pink” and LuPone sings “Forever Beautiful”, or in their duets “Face to Face” and “Beauty in the World”.

John Dossett and Douglas Sills are overshadowed by their leading ladies, but even so their voices can be enjoyed in “My Secret Weapon” and their duets “Step on Out” (that reminded of the score of YANK!) and “Dinosaurs”.

The songs are all very character oriented and have an old fashion musicality that I enjoy, plus a haunting quality that makes the score grow on you with repetitive listening. The opening songs, “Best Face Forward” and “Behind the Red Door” are pure Broadway and full of promise, but as the plot goes on the songs became bitter and you can really feel the loneliness of their main characters. This may not be for anyone’s taste, but it’s a highly interesting score, with a melodious quality that conquered me and two great ladies at the top of their form. A sophisticated score with lush orchestrations by Bruce Coughlin, not to be missed!

HELLO, DOLLY!: A CD Review

Broadway Revival Cast – 2017 / Music and lyrics by Jerry Herman

Starring: Bette Midler, David Hyde Pierce, Gavin Creel, Kate Baldwin, Taylor Trensch, Beanie Feldstein, Will Burton, Melanie Moore, Jennifer Simard, Kevin Ligon

Rate: 8 (from 1 to 10) / Photos by Julieta Cervantes

Review: I fell in love with this score since the day I saw the movie adaptation of HELLO, DOLLY! starring Barbra Streisand. For me, that’s the best recording of the score! Later, I bought the original Broadway cast starring Carol Channing and I loved it too. In fact, one of my all-time favorite songs, “Put on Your Sunday Clothes”, was written for this musical and so was the utterly romantic “It Only Takes a Moment”.

When I heard that a new production of this musical was planned to open on Broadway with Bette Midler as Dolly, I was more than excited. I loved her in the television adaptation of GYPSY and I could easily imagine her in the role. I still don’t doubt she’s a terrific Dolly on stage but, unfortunately, she isn’t on this recording. Her rendition of the songs sound tired; sometimes it seems she’s sleepwalking around the musical numbers. Maybe she’s a little bit too old for the role.

The problem isn’t only Better Midler. There’s no excitement in the songs, there’s a lack of energy that’s upsetting. This is one of the best scores ever written and has that uplift spirit that only Jerry Herman can write, but in this recording it seems the songs never “fly” as they should. Even so, this is an unforgettable score! 

I always preferred the opening song of the movie, “Just Leave Everything to Me”, instead of the one originally written for the show, “I Put My Hand In” and, I don’t know why, I thought they would use it on this new production, maybe because I could imagine Middle singing it. One good surprise is the addition of “Penny in My Pocket”, a song cut form the original production that here gives David Hyde Pierce a great moment. I also love Kate Baldwin’s rendition of “Ribbons Down My Back”; for me she’s the best of all the Irene Molloys I heard and she makes a perfect couple with the sweet Gavin Creel.

This is far from the best or most up-lifting recording of this fabulous score, but with Bette Midler attached to it I’m sure it’ll conquer new fans. Don’t get me wrong, but I envy all the people who will hear this score for the first time.

CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY: A CD Review

Original Broadway Cast – 2017 / Music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Scott Wittman / Additional songs by Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley

Starring: Christian Borle, John Rubinstein, Emily Padgett, Kathy Fitzgerald, F. Michael Haynie, Ben Crawford, Emma Pfaeffle, Alan H. Green, Trista Dollison, Jackie Hoffman, Michael Wartella and Jake Ryan Flynn, Ryan Fous and Ryan Sell as Charlie

Rate: 6 (from 1 to 10) / Photos by Joan Marcus

Review: I saw the original London production starring Douglas Hodge and I was disappointed by it (you can read my review of it by clicking here). The show was huge, but heartless and soulless. I never thought it would reach Broadway, but it did and by listening to this new recording it seems things became livelier than in London.

The best song of the London score was the beautiful “Pure Imagination”, written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley for the Gene Wilder movie. The original songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman were kind of uninteresting and I wished they have used more songs from the movie. It seems someone have the same thought and, for the Broadway production, they add two more songs from the 1971 movie: the famous and catchy “The Candy Man” and “The Oompa Loompa Song”. And they did something else too, they ordered new songs, so the Broadway score is different and an improvement over the London one.

Of the new songs, “The View from Here” is the better one and, although silly, “When Willy Met Oompa” is funny. I also like “Charlie, You and I” and the first part of “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?”. As for the ballads “A Letter from Charlie Bucket” and “If Your Father Were Here” sound as depressing here as in the London recording.

One thing that makes this a better recording is Christian Borle performance. This actor sounds perfect as Willy Wonka and songs like “It Must Be Believed to Be Seen” and “Strike That, Reverse It”, written for the London production, gain a new life thanks to him. He is as great in the comic numbers as in quiet numbers like “Pure Imagination” and “The View from Here”. John Rubinstein has a good time with the new songs “Grandpa Joe” and “Charlie, You & I”. In the role of Charlie we have three kids (Jake Ryan Flynn, Ryan Fous and Ryan Sell) singing the songs and they all do it well.

I haven’t see the Broadway production, but it sounds like a different show and this recording is more enjoyable than the London cast recording. It’s true, this isn’t a great score and none of the new songs is better than the ones written by Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley for the movie, but I believe you’ll have a good time with it.

DREAMGIRLS: A CD Review

Original London Cast – 2016 / Music by Henry Krieger and lyrics by Tom Eyen

Starring: Amber Riley, Liisi LaFontaine, Ibinabo Jack, Joe Aaron Reid, Adam J. Bernard,  Tyrone Huntley, Nicholas Bailey, Lily Frazer, Rohan Richards, Gabriel Mokake, Ashley Luke Lloyd

Rate: 8 (from 1 to 10) / Photos by Brinkhoff/Mogenburg

Review: For some reason I don’t know, this hit Broadway musical had to wait 35 years to open at London’s West End but did it with a bang! This production was received with great reviews and it became an instant success. So, a cast recording was inevitable and I’m glad they did it.

I always try to imagine how was the reaction of the audience when they first heard “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” sung by Jennifer Holliday and I can’t. Here, the song is sung by Amber Riley, who started her career as Mercedes in the television series GLEE, and here has her big chance to be a star. She really deserves it and got an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical! Her rendition of the song is a powerful one, different from the original, but her biggest moment is with “I Am Changing”; I confess I prefer this song to “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” and I believe it was overshadowed by the more famous one. For me, Riley’s rendition of “I Am Changing” is the best one ever (before her, my favorite was the one by Lillias White).

But this rich score by Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen, with its Motown sound, is more than those two songs. It’s true, this doesn’t sound like the conventional or traditional musicals I love so much, so maybe I shouldn’t like it, but I can’t resist it. The songs have a melody that easily conquers me and a contagious rhythm. The title song, “One Night Only” and “Family” are good examples of what I’m saying.

The fact that this recording was done live in front of an audience, give it a strong theatrical feeling and if we close our eyes we can almost see what’s happening on stage. Amber Riley sounds fabulous, but she’s isn’t alone. Liisi LaFontaine is very good as Deena and their “Listen” duet is another highlight of the score. Ibinabo Jack is the other Dreamgirl. As for the boys, Adam J. Bernard has his shining moment with “I Meant You No Harm”, Joe Aaron Reid delivers a sweet “When I First Saw You” and Tyrone Huntley leads the company with the beautiful “Family” and later has a strong duet with Riley, “I Miss You, Old Friend”.

For me, this is the best and more lively recording of this score. So, let these DREAMGIRLS charm you and I’m sure you’ll spend an enjoyable time in their company.