New Pajama Game CD

Just got the CD of the Pajama Game revival. Again, TPJ holds a very special place in my heart: it was the first musical I ever did, when I was thirteen. (And no, Brian, this wasn't the production in which Coco played Sid.) Overall, I'm impressed by the CD. Harry Connick, Jr. does extremely well on the ballads, although he seems just a tad awkward on some of the up-tempo numbers.

The big revelation to me is Kelli O'Hara as Babe. I was skeptical when I heard she was cast, because I only really knew her from The Light in the Piazza. She has such a lovely head voice, but I'd never heard her really belt, so I wasn't sure she'd be a great Babe. Well, she acquits herself very nicely, at least on CD. Lots of resonance and plenty of character, especially on one of my all-time favorite numbers, "I'm Not At All in Love."

Michael McKean is a bit amorphous as Hinesy. McKean is a very talented guy, and an absolute stitch in Christopher Guest's movies (Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind, and my favorite, Best in Show), but his performance on CD is a bit bland. I haven't seen the revival, so I don't know if something got lost in the translation from stage to disc.

A final note on the packaging. As you might be aware, the recording company packaged the Pajama Game CD with a studio recording of Connick's dreadful flop Thou Shalt Not featuring Connick and Kelli O'Hara. Connick is a major recording star, and no doubt his economic power drove this decision. But I resent having to buy both together, since I already have Connick's self-published original cast album. (Although I probably would have bought both CDs anyway, it's presumptuous of them to assume that I would.) Connick is basically forcing you to buy a CD that very few people will ever listen to. It's a total vanity ploy. I fully expect to see scads of these unwanted CDs listed on eBay within a matter of hours.