I saw the production at the Menier, before it transferred into the West End, and I loved it, and thought Smith gave a phenomenal performance.
I'm afraid I did not completely love the cast recording. Smith is a brilliant comic actress and a better-than-decent singer, but she's not the kind of phenomenal lightning-in-a-botle voice we're all used to hearing in this material. That's not an issue in the theatre - she doesn't have Streisand's voice, but her 'People' still raised goosebumps - but the recording doesn't play to her strengths. And while ten musicians in the band is fine - indeed, lavish - in the 180-seat Menier Chocolate Factory, it's not enough in the 1200-seat Savoy (and really not enough in the 2000-seat Palace in Manchester - my local touring theatre - where the production is playing the last leg of a tour this week, which is one reason I'm not going to see it again), and it's certainly not enough on a recording. The band sounds very thin on the album, which doesn't do the score any favours. The recording, overall, was a disappointment. The supporting cast come over very well, particularly Marilyn Cutts and Joel Montague, but the album doesn't come close, to me, to communicating what a thrilling performance Smith gave in the (original) theatre. |
