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Deep in December, it's nice to remember that good things come to those who wait: often, some of the most rewarding album releases seem to flow in at the end of the year. This December is one of those very good years. Released this month are satisfying vocal albums by musical theater performers Norm Lewis and Natalie Toro. And cabaret favorite Marieann Meringolo, has—just in the (Saint) Nick of time—gotten her Christmas album online for sale only yesterday. Any of the following would be highly recommended holiday presents for procrastinators still gift-shopping: with such good choices, this is the life!
To put it simply and to start with good news, if you're among those of us who've been moved and exhilarated by vibrant musical theater performer Norm Lewis' live performances and contributions to cast albums (A New Brain, Side Show, The Little Mermaid, and Broadway Unplugged), you won't be disappointed with his first solo CD. As hoped for, the album bursts and rocks with emotion and intelligence. He has a big voice, a rich voice, with a roar and gusto tempered with sensitivity and, maybe more than anything, a joie de vivre and positive energy. I guess the bad news is that the album is shorter than we'd like for a belated solo debut—or any CD—considering how much can fit on a compact disc. Why only forty-odd minutes on this (and others in today's column)? There are only 11 songs and, at first glance, they seem like a random collection of tunes with nary a nod to Norm's noted theatre resume (well, at least he's not rehashing songs you'd have by him on cast and concert albums!). The proceedings get going in a strong way with the CD's title song, from the Charles Strouse/Lee Adams score of Golden Boy, starting with a bang and a burst of bubbling-over good spirits. No stock market crunch or crash or gloom and doom here: it's all "plush velvet all the way" and all-out exuberance. In fact, the big serving of show tune is front-loaded, with the first four tracks all well-known theater songs; a likewise upbeat, sunshiny "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" follows. Then, two songs that focus on the need for being fully a part of life while facing the challenges that knock us down: "No One is Alone" and "Before the Parade Passes By." The last-named number is an interesting take on the Jerry Herman selection from Hello, Dolly!; it eventually and fully gets into the musical sounds of a parade with all the bells and whistles and brass, but the metaphor of life being a possibly passing parade gets full attention first. The track begins with an orchestration (Dick Lieb) and arrangement (Lieb and Buryl Reid, the CD's producer and conductor) that creates tension and uncertainty and some darkness, making the eventual ray of sunshine cracking through this cloud a release and a victory. Rewardingly, as reflected in the vocal interpretation and phrasing, this (and other cuts) are very much an actor's performance, not just a singer roaring through. The decades older but grand romantic standard "All the Things You Are," from the 1939 Kern/Hammerstein Very Warm for May, is very warm indeed, with a velvet-like treatment in a duet between Norm and Audra McDonald. The eclectic mix that makes up the balance of the album serves to prove Norm's versatility and willingness to genre-hop rather than provide a cohesive whole as a listening experience. We get an old piece of pop dusted off, the schmaltzy mid-1960s hit from hips-swiveling singer Tom Jones, "It's Not Unusual," a fun, guilty pleasure indulgence. Turning from vamping to Verdi, we get three and a half minutes in the opera stratosphere with "Di Provenza" from La Traviata. Norm acquits himself well, without sounding out of the blue or out of his league, but the change of pace doesn't totally take our breath away as a tour de force either. The album's featured keyboard player, Joseph Joubert, is one of the main arrangers, and, despite some attractive work, the musical treatments are sometimes treading too closely on familiar ground, preventing Norm from really putting his personal stamp on things as much as he could. Though rarely sounding less than fully committed and involved, some moments don't ring true as individual statements: using Johnny Mathis' familiarly dramatic leap to a high falsetto on the phrase "on my own" following the instrumental break on a ho-hum "Misty," for example. In a few cases, some attractive instrumental choices compensate: veteran Charlie McCoy guesting as the harmonica player for a standard take on the standard "Moon River" helps. The presence of strings is a plus, whether it's several players or the cello soloist (Anthony LaMarchina) for Rick Bassett's arrangement/orchestration of the powerful "We Live on Borrowed Time" life lesson written by David Friedman. The album ends with a movie song introduced in a movie project by Norm's current theatre employer, Disney, and also composed by Mermaid composer Alan Menken (who contribute brief liner notes): "Go the Distance" (also known as "I Can Go the Distance") from Hercules, with lyrics by David Zippel. The song works well for Norm Lewis, very much a hero in modern musical theatre for those who like their songs brought to them with not just chops but smarts and integrity that suggest and explore the vital human spirit. Shortly after the short-lived Broadway musical of A Tale of Two Cities, its intense Madame Defarge has started a new chapter in her own tale of a career. Natalie Toro has a big voice and shows a big heart, too, in her second album, this one full of theatre songs. She preserves her song from the just-closed production, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind"; out of context, it's not as effective, especially in the middle of so many very different styles and splashy moments. Nevertheless, Natalie belts, croons, and socks right to you through your speakers. She's kind of terrific, and so is her impressive voice. Despite the wildly varied material and the different characters whose mindsets they sprang from, there's a more-unified-than-might-be-expected personality that comes through. She's earthy and down-to-earth and has a very youthful and upbeat sound, even on material that might seem to "want" a heavier or gloomier sensibility. Mostly, this is for the good—it's refreshing. This CD is especially satisfying for those who like theatre songs first and foremost, as it's full of them, including some of more recent vintage (the bubbly and audacious "Here I Am" and the dramatic "Easy as Life"). There are generous slices of sass and soulfulness and Sondheim and Streisand. Three Sondheim lyrics test Natalie's interpretive skill and attention to words and she passes the test with high marks, especially if you give extra points for trying something a little different (even if it feels gimmicky or too "busy"). Her harbinger that "Something's Coming" from the soon-to-be-coming-again West Side Story takes some liberties, adding bits and pieces and embellishments and repetitions (echoes) of lines and voices. It's a bit giddy; some will find it cluttered, but it's zippy, and I like the zip. Company's "Another Hundred People" more than suggests the urban setting by adding voices and noise pollution of noisy passers-by chattering and subways zooming, plus the anachronism of the later-written theme from the film New York, New York to identify the city in question. The arrangement and performance find a bit of everything, including amusement and embracing the hectic, hellish urban lifestyle. "I Remember" is more traditional, and shows she needs no tricks—she really pays attention to the crisp visual images and articulates them one by one to experience and present each sensory specific example. Streisand memories come via Yentl's swirling, soaring "Where Is It Written?" and the memorable combo of "Happy Days Are Here Again" combined with "Get Happy" as done when a young Barbra Streisand guested on Judy Garland's TV series. But Natalie Toro is no copycat purring here. She takes the ballad seriously, not slavishly and the counterpoint medley of the two songs is a very dissimilar treatment. Her singing partner there is Sutton Foster. "Happy Days" is done simply and very lightly here, so this time the diva duo with counterpoint has less point and is more just a breezy thing (for those who like a light breeze this winter; I'd prefer something stormy or bracing in my wind, but to each his own "happiness"). Group vocals here and on "Where Is It Written" add some gospel, churchy feel that add some heft and atmosphere. One of Natalie's theatre resume highlights is significant time logged in the miseries of Les Misérables' high drama. She gets to make a permanent record of the score's "I Dreamed a Dream" on this album and does it full justice without going over the top or going strictly by the numbers on this number, she adds a bit of her own originality as she handles the words and attitudes. Yes, there's plenty of drama and emotions flung and sung at the wind, but a scaled-down, guitar-accompanied intimate and very real "If I Could" (outside the theatre canon) is one of the most effective tracks. I found myself drinking in certain lines in the lyrics I'd heard so many times, because Natalie sings it with so many slight variations in tone and with careful, very attentive phrasing. This brand new album is a most satisfying listen; theatre lovers will give it a rousing round of applause. UNDER THE CHRISTMAS TREE
Just in time for Christmas, a truly lovely CD that includes the gorgeous "Just in Time for Christmas" should not be overlooked in the last week building up to the big holiday. David Zippel's collaboration with another David, the famous-for-heartfelt-rhapsodies-and-power-ballads David Friedman, gets a tender and terrific treatment here. Though there are only ten tracks, three are medleys, so the song total climbs up to 14 and it's worth the climb. A combination of carols and contemporary, with one comedy number ("It's Christmas and We're Jewish" by Alan Chapman adds a matzoh ball to the banquet), makes for a pretty full serving of music. The CD starts with the ancient "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and somehow Marieann makes the transition from the Mendelssohn majestic mystique to the secular pop of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year." I usually cringe when I see that one on a song list as it's usually done with bland or blind cheer with more lumpy sweetness than the dreaded holiday fruitcake, but Marieann's genuine joy gets me in the spirit, too. The sincerity of the singer wins me over on Karen Benedetto's earnest tale of someone eschewing doing the usual material Christmas gift-giving, "I'm Giving Love This Christmas" previously issued on a 2005 holiday EP). In a similar vein, there's a also a fine performance of the still-relevant "My Grown-Up Christmas List" detailing a want list of peace and global understanding ("no more lives torn apart and wars would never start ..."). The centerpiece and highlight of the album is the "A Child Is Born"/ "Gesu Bambino"/ "Mary, Did You Know?" medley that lets us revel in rhapsodies of reverential renderings. Thinking back over many, many renditions of songs old and new, there is the frequently-visited, frequently-attempted expression of the sense of awe at the birth of the Saviour that often come up short. Not this time. It really works here without feeling fake or overdone or over-preached. Avoiding cliche and clunkiness, the arrangements, playing and singing just go back to basics with hushed wonder and in-the-moment momentous realization. It's a tall order to have a performer bring us back even a bit to being there on that day, but Marieann succeeds far more than most I've heard. Perhaps because the singer envelops and welcomes deeper feelings and serious intent without hesitation or resistance, the lighter fare doesn't fare as well. "Silver Bells" feels innocuous and incidental, kind of a non-event, rather than really painting a full and vivid winter picture, but it's kind of a piece of candy anyway. On the other mittened hand, there's a marvelous "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" Usually peppy and perky, the album's arranger (and very good pianist) Doyle Newmyer has a new idea: he slows things way down to make this a lush and uber-romantic ballad. You've never experienced such a slow snow and one-degree-at-a-time warm-up for a love nest away from the frigid elements. I occasionally missed having more instruments, but the trio of piano, bass (Boots Maleson) and drums (Brian Woodruff) brings us some toasty and tender sounds for an intimate—rather than overblown—Christmas. Produced by the singer and Susan G. Winthrop, this is a winner that should wear well for many Christmases to come. Marieann Meringolo will be performing this material in her CD release shows at the Manhattan nightclub on West 22nd Street, The Metropolitan Room on December 19 and 20. The CD will be on sale there, too, if you're tight on shipping or shopping time.
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NORM LEWIS
NATALIE TORO
MARIEANN MERINGOLO
