Everything I Know I Learned from Musicals

Clearing Off My Desk - Part 2

More stuff that somehow didn't warrant a full-length post, but nonetheless caught my interest:

A CHORUS LINE: The Broadway revival of A Chorus Line will close in August. The production will have played 759 performances, which is about 12% of the show's original run of 6,137 performances. Although the show recouped its investment in only 19 weeks, recently its weekly grosses have been all over the place, maxing out at about $500,000 in March, but lately coming in at about half that. Apparently, Mario Lopez and his big guns weren't artillery enough to keep the show open. Go figure.
Do I Care?: Just the fact that I couldn't be bothered to craft a full-length post about this one should tell you where it registers on my care-o-meter. (P.S. My sources tell me that another VERY long-running revival will close sometime later this year as well. I'll keep you posted.)

NINE: Daniel Day-Lewis is reportedly in talks to star in director Rob Marshall's upcoming movie version of Maury Yeston's Nine. Day-Lewis would join an already stellar cast of female co-stars: Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Sophia Loren, and recent Oscar winner Marion Colillard.
Do I Care?: As talented as Daniel Day-Lewis is, I would be much more excited if Javier Bardem were still going to play the role, or even Antonio Banderas. Guido needs to be sexy, and Day-Lewis just doesn't do it for me.

SEUSSICAL: The revised version of Seussical, which recently played Off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theater, will receive a cast recording from Jay Records. The Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens musical was not a hit when it played Broadway, but it has gone on to become one of the most frequently performed musicals in regional theaters and in schools. The show has been significantly streamlined, and its score pruned and revised.
Do I Care?: I always care about what Flaherty and Ahrens are up to; I have a deep and abiding affection for them and for their shows, and I greatly look forward to hearing the new version of Seussical. I saw the show twice in Boston and once on Broadway, and was heartbroken that the creators couldn't seem to find a way to make it work. Let's hope they finally have.

New Gypsy Recording Will Include Cut Songs

So, there's going to be yet another recording of Gypsy for us to add to our collections. Any showtune queen worth his or her salt will already have Ethel Merman, Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters, and Bette Midler singing the classic Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim score. (The Tyne Daly recording is for fanatics only, and you could certainly be excused for giving the Rosalind Russell soundtrack a miss. Yeesh.) But there's always room for Patti LuPone, no matter how many recordings of Gypsy you already have.

But to make this new recording even more of a must-have, the CD will feature six songs that were cut from the show. These will include "Mama's Talkin' Soft" and "Nice She Ain't," both of which have been recorded before. But the CD will also feature first-time-ever recordings of "Three Wishes for Christmas," "Smile, Girls," and "Who Needs Him?," as well as two versions of "Mother's Day."

There's an interesting story behind why "Mama's Talkin' Soft" was cut. It's a charming song, currently available on the "Lost in Boston III" CD, and it was meant for young Louise and Baby June to sing in counterpoint to "Small World." The pairing of the two songs would have illuminated just how much the two young girls comprehend their mother's conniving nature.

However, one of the girls in the original Broadway production was afraid of heights, and the location from which they were meant to sing the song was very high up. So, rather than replace the girl, the creators cut the song. (That's actually sort of sweet, when you think about it.) It makes you wonder whether the scene would have been better with the two songs sung in counterpoint, although it's hard to imagine Gypsy any more effective than it already is. 

The new Gypsy CD will be recorded on May 5 and 6, with a release set for August.

Adding Machine Extends Through Summer

The critically acclaimed Off-Broadway musical Adding Machine has extended its run again. The show is now scheduled to play at the Minetta Lane Theater until August 31st.

If you haven't seen it, go. Just go. (See my review here) From the title and the plot description, you might get the impression that this show is a dull depression-fest, but it's actually quite lively and uplifting. Sure it's dark, but so are The Threepenny Opera and The Cradle Will Rock, two shows that bear strong comparison with Adding Machine. This is easily the best new musical of the season, on or off Broadway, and anyone who cares about the future of musical theater owes it to himself/herself to take in this subversively brilliant show.

On a related note, PS Classics will be releasing the cast recording for Adding Machine on June 3rd, but the CD will be available at the theater and at the PS Classics Web site two weeks prior. See the show, then buy the CD. Then see the show again.

Passing Strange to Receive Hybrid Cast Recording

The new Broadway musical Passing Strange will receive a cast recording from Ghostlight Records, but it will be a bit different from your typical album of showtunes. This is appropriate, given that the show itself is a different breed of cat: a hybrid of a rock concert and a through-line musical. (Read my review.)

The show's cast album will be a bit of an amalgam as well. Rather than heading into a studio to record the score, the cast and band will have a live recording session on April 15th at the Belasco Theater, where the show is playing. The cast will perform the songs, without any costumes or lighting, before a live audience of fans of the show.

According to Stew, co-author and star of Passing Strange, the hope is to create more than just a live-show document or a studio recording. "We are aiming for a freaky hybrid of the two," he said in a statement. "The audience will be in on the process, witnessing it. Heidi Rodewald and I have always tried to bring the spontaneity of live performance into our studio recordings." To hear four studio cuts from the show, check out the Passing Strange Web site.

Tickets are $20 cash at the door, and all of the proceeds will go to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. That's a lot of good karma: getting the fans involved, and donating the proceeds to a great cause. All the more reason to see the show if you haven't already, or to see it again if you have. The show is still struggling at the box office: the weekly grosses are heading in the right direction, but attendance has all too often been at less than half of capacity.

The Passing Strange cast recording is scheduled for a June release. 

Sondheim's Evening Primrose on CD

Some good news for Sondheim fans: Kritzerland is going to release the CD of the soundtrack to Stephen Sondheim's 1966 television musical Evening Primrose, which features Anthony Perkins and Charmian Carr (who played Liesl in the movie version of "The Sound of Music").

Kritzerland is now accepting online orders for early shipping starting in early May; the street date will be in late May. The CD release will be a limited edition: the company is only printing 3,000 copies, and "when they're gone, they're gone," according to the Kritzerland Web site. 

The songs from the score have had numerous recordings, particularly "I Remember" and "Take Me to the World." Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters performed four of the songs from the show on Patinkin's otherwise unbearable, and grammatically challenged, "Dress Casual." Gary Beach and Liz Callaway also recorded the songs for "Sondheim at the Movies." The entire score received a studio cast recording in 2001, featuring Neil Patrick Harris and Theresa McCarthy. But this will be the first time the original soundtrack has appeared on CD.

Anyone who's never heard Sondheim's score is in for a treat: in addition to the glorious ballads listed above, there are some terrific up-tempo numbers, including "If You Can Find Me I'm Here" and "When." The story is weird, bordering on creepy: a writer takes up residence in a department store after hours, only to find that a whole subculture of people have beaten him to the punch. And there's a really bittersweet, O. Henry-style ending.

I've already ordered my copy, so you'd better hurry: there are fewer than 2,999 left.

ArkivMusic CDs: Just Like the Real Thing

Last week I posted about ArkivMusic.com securing the rights to sell on-demand copies of a number of out-of-print cast recordings and soundtracks. And if you don't know the difference between a "cast recording" and a "soundtrack," stop reading now, leave this site, and never return.

OK, OK, that's mean. A "cast recording" is for a stage show and a "soundtrack" is for a movie. Now, don't ever get that wrong again, OK? Especially when you're listing CDs for sale on eBay. There is no "soundtrack" to Wicked, although the person who posted this eBay listing seems to think so. If and when Wicked is made into a movie, then there'll be a soundtrack. However, there IS a soundtrack for "Dreamgirls," as well as an original cast recording, which makes this eBay listing confusing and potentially misleading. 

Anyway, although I already own most of the CDs ArkivMusic is offering, there were a few that I didn't have, plus I wanted to see what the quality of the CDs would be. Would they be cheap-looking CD-Rs with photocopied liner notes, or would they look like the actual original CDs?

Well, I'm happy to report, it's the latter. I ordered a copy of the soundtrack for "Oliver." Given my history and association with the show Oliver, I was surprised to discover that I didn't already own it, but there you are. I also got the soundtrack to the French-language version of the animated feature "The King and I" (titled, appropriately enough, "Le Roi et Moi"). The liner notes and even the CDs themselves all appear to have the same design and visual identity as the original releases, although since I didn't already own these two CDs, I can't say for sure. I haven't played them yet, but when you're talking digital copies, there shouldn't be all that much to worry about in terms of sound fidelity.

I'm not much of an audiophile, anyway. I seem to recall R. Crumb saying in the fascinating and surprisingly moving biographical film "Crumb" that for the truly demented collector, it's not about playing, it's about having. I paraphrase, of course.

Gloria Swanson's Sunset Boulevard Musical

Some forty years before Andrew Lloyd Webber created his own musical version of Sunset Boulevard, the star of the original "Sunset Boulevard" movie had pretty much the same idea. Gloria Swanson for years shopped around a prospective stage musical of the Billy Wilder film, although the show never made it past the workshop/demo stage. Swanson held numerous backer auditions and performed the numbers at cocktail parties, but the show didn't progress any further than that.

Now Stage Door Records is releasing a CD collection of demo recordings from the various versions of the show as well as bonus cuts from Swanson's film career. Footlight.com will be the exclusive U.S. retailer for the CD upon its release, which is scheduled for April 15th. The score features music and lyrics by Dickson Hughes and Richard Stapley. According to the product information at Footlight, the show stalled because Paramount refused to grant permission.

But at IMDB, there's a cryptic note under Dickson Hughes' listing that says the show never happened because of "Swanson's relationship with Stapley," whatever that means. Did the relationship break up, causing one of them to walk off in a huff? Did the studio disapprove of the affair? Was Hughes jealous of the relationship, desiring Swanson for his own?

In his book Closeup on Sunset Boulevard, author Sam Staggs paints a picture that's less prurient and more consistent with the Footlight product description: Swanson was difficult to deal with, and Paramount wasn't comfortable with her ideas about the show.

Too bad. I'm an ardent defender of Lloyd Webber's Sunset, although it certainly has its problems (e.g. WAAAAAAY too much recitative). But there's an irresistible appeal to the notion of Gloria Swanson singing as Norma Desmond. There's a clip on YouTube of her performing one of the show's songs on "The Steve Allen Show." The title is most likely "Those Wonderful People out There in the Dark," and it's a fascinating precursor to "As if We Never Said Goodbye." Her voice may not be the strongest, but it's a damn sight better than Glenn Close's.

Ah, to contemplate what might have been...

Out-of-Print Cast Recordings

Have you been trying to find the CD of the Zorba original cast album for years, but always get outbid when a copy comes up on eBay? Do you scour used-record stores in the faint hope of landing a copy of the Pearl Bailey Hello, Dolly!

Well, you're in luck, my friend, because record label ArkivMusic.com has secured the rights to release a number of currently out-of-print cast recordings. According to CastAlbums.org, these won't be bootlegs but rather fully licensed CD-Rs with reproductions of the original artwork and liner notes. And the prices are pretty good: $11.99 or $13.99 for most of the ones I browsed through.

The CDs are available "on demand," meaning that once you order one they'll burn you a copy and mail it out to you. That's the reason they're able to offer these rare titles at all: they don't have to invest capital into producing thousands of CDs and then wait for people to order them. The Arkiv.com site is hard to navigate, so the easiest way to order these items is to click through the following link on CastAlbums.org, select the title you're looking for, and then click the "Buy Now at Arkiv" link. Or you can click though the links in the shows listed below.

I haven't ordered any of these myself, mostly because I already own most of them, but I'll be interested to see whether Arkiv strikes any deals with other record labels. But, as a service to my readers, I offer the following buyer's guide to some of Arkiv's current offerings.

MUST-HAVES
WILDCAT - Worth it just to hear Lucille Ball singing "Hey, Look Me Over," but "You're a Liar" is fun, too. 
LITTLE ME - Not a great score overall, but some truly great songs such as "I've Got Your Number" and "Real Live Girl," and a terrific performance from Sid Caesar.
HOW NOW DOW JONES - Terrible show, but some rousing numbers, including "Step to the Rear" and "He's Here."
CELEBRATION - I love Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones, and although this show doesn't work at all, there are some amazing songs, such as the title cut and "Orphan in the Storm."
ZORBA - Includes such John Kander and Fred Ebb classics as "Life Is," "The First Time," and "I Am Free."
TENDERLOIN - A great score to a forgettable show, with such unmissable numbers as "The Picture of Happiness," "How the Money Changes Hands, " "Artificial Flowers," and "Little Old New York."
STARTING HERE STARTING NOW - Worth it just for "I Don't Remember Christmas" and "Crossword Puzzle." Plus, Richard Maltby and David Shire just plain rock.
KWAMINA -  A fascinating failure from Richard Adler (The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees). Best numbers are "The Cocoa Bean Song" and "Nothing More to Look Forward To," the latter featuring a young Robert Guillaume. 

FOR COLLECTORS ONLY
CANTERBURY TALES - A failed attempt at updating Chaucer's classic with electric guitars and awkward hipness. Just awful.
WALKING HAPPY - Totally forgettable. Nary a decent number in the whole batch.
GOODTIME CHARLEY - Other than the mildly passable title number, there's not really much here worth seeking out. Stick with Hal Hackady's and Larry Grossman's far superior scores to Minnie's Boys and Snoopy.
CHU CHIN CHOW - Of interest solely because it's the show in which Vera Charles and Mame Dennis had previously performed together in Auntie Mame. Fictionally, of course, but I remember being tickled when I discovered that the show itself is real.
JOHNNY JOHNSON - I'm a huge Kurt Weill fan, but this show is an acquired taste at best. Start with Lady in the Dark, Lost in the Stars, and Threepenny Opera before tackling Johnny Johnson.
LEGS DIAMOND - Notorious Peter Allen flop from the 80s, of interest solely for the presence of cabaret chanteuse Julie Wilson.
DARLING OF THE DAY - Vincent Price in a musical? 'Nuff said.
HELLO, DOLLY! - I'm not a big Pearl Bailey fan. Too self-referential and often disrespectful of the material she performed. But I know that there are many people who've been looking for this one for years. Well, here's your chance folks, and enjoy. I'll stick with Carol Channing, thank you.

Converting Vinyl to MP3s

Writing yesterday about the Donnybrook YouTube clip got me thinking about the many shows that have still not come out on CD, of which Donnybrook is one. Because I've long since traded in my turntable for CD players and iPods and such, I have a pretty significant stack of vinyl that I never listened to.

But then I was at Costco one day and I came across a nifty device called the Ion USB turntable, which turns vinyl (and even cassettes) into MP3 files for your iPod or other digital-music device. There are certainly similar devices on the market, but the Ion is incredibly easy to install and use, and I've been having a blast converting my beloved old record albums into something that I can actually listen to. So far, I've ripped and burned the following shows:

• You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (TV cast)
• High Society (London cast with Natasha Richardson and Stephen Rea) (CD released but out of print)
• Show Girl (Broadway cast with Carol Channing)
• Hello, Dolly! (London cast with Mary Martin)
• The Threepenny Opera (1976 revival with Raul Julia, Ellen Greene, and Blair Brown)

And next on my list of LPs to covert are: 

• Donnybrook (Broadway cast)
• Of Thee I Sing (TV cast with Carroll O'Connor, Cloris Leachman, and Michelle Lee)
• Maggie Flynn (Broadway cast with Jack Cassidy and Shirley Jones) 
• The Cradle Will Rock (Off-Broadway revival with Jerry Orbach)
• Let My People Come (Off-Broadway cast)

I'm eagerly anticipating being able to listen to all of the above, although I'm sure that much of it will be atrocious, especially Let My People Come, a sort of Oh, Calcutta! wannabe. Much of the stuff I've already converted has been disappointing (Hello, Dolly!) if not downright painful (High Society).

But it has been very interesting comparing various translations of The Threepenny Opera, including the 1950s Off-Broadway production with Bea Arthur, Lotte Lenya, and Charlotte Rea, as well as the 1994 London revival at the Donmar Warehouse. It's fascinating to see how different translators find ways to bring Bertolt Brecht's lyrics to life in English, all to the stunning theatricality of Kurt Weill's music. The stuff of master's theses, I know, but I find it fun in my own parochial way.

Anyone care to weigh in on the cast recording you'd most like to see come out on CD?

Xanadu CD on Sale and Carter Beane Interview

The official release date for the Xanadu CD isn't until January 8th, but PS Classics is already selling advanced copies on its Web site. The price is about the same, so there's really no need to wait to order your copy. As I said in my review, I absolutely loved this show, and I can't wait to get the CD and listen to those ridiculously wonderful ELO songs lovingly rendered by the outstanding Broadway cast.

I recently had an interview with Xanadu librettist Douglas Carter Beane for an article I'm doing about the upcoming Boston premier of his play The Little Dog Laughed. I had seen him on "Theater Talk" and thought he was a real stitch, brimming with funny ideas and topical references, and I was hoping he'd be just as engaging with me on the phone, and indeed he was. I have to save all the Little Dog material for my article, but I couldn't resist asking him about Xanadu. Here are some interesting snippets from that conversation:

- We were originally looking for an abandoned theater, because of the setting of the show, but then we heard that the Helen Hayes was having a renovation. [I mention that there are some unusual sights outside the Helen Hayes of late: a line and scalpers.] Oh, yeah, they absolutely love us there. They tell us we could keep running there for years.

- We're currently putting the national tour together. We've got a bunch of dates already, and we're trying to get a Boston date, but it hasn't been easy. [I mentioned that Boston's Wilbur Theater is currently dark] It won’t be the Wilbur, because the union agreements at that theater make it prohibitive.

- Putting the audience on stage was partly a reference to shows like Spring Awakening and Inherit the Wind, but it also works with the theme of the show. When we were working with the set designer, he suggested a combination of a roller-skating rink and a Greek amphitheater, and we thought that would be great. We could put actual audience members on stage and give them glow sticks to wave during the finale. I thought, great, we just tripled the size of the cast.

- When you think about it, the entire show is one giant theatrical reference. The show is all about what there was at the beginning of theater, from the first inspiration of theater, to Greek tragedy, to comedy making fun of the gods, and then there's just a big party at the end. It’s all just very silly, and very funny, and very sexy.

- But the show is also about current theater as well. There’s a point in the show when two band members stand in for two of the missing muses, and that’s a reference to John Doyle. And there are numerous references to jukebox musicals. I mean, you’ve got this big bad movie on stage with songs just thrown in. What really cracks me up is how well "Evil Woman" goes over, and if you listen to the lyrics, it totally makes no sense. It’s like in Mamma Mia, where nobody’s really listening to the lyrics, they just think it’s funny that they found a place for a certain ABBA song.