With over 60 recordings of cast albums and similar material reviewed in 2005,
any list of "10 Best" or "10 Favorites" will leave out many fine recordings and
some great star turns. Feeling that it's not fair to have the past compete with the present,
I decided not to consider the reissues we've reviewed here for this Top 10. My main criteria, besides the basic overall quality of performance and production, was: does the CD hold up with repeated playings? Does it grow on the
listener and become more rewarding with familiarity? The albums on my list did not wear
out their welcome and I think are especially notable. (You can also read part two: Top Ten Vocal Albums of 2005.) The ten titles are not in any particular order.
The Light in the Piazza remains an emotionally nourishing and cathartic
listening experience. A stunningly beautiful achievement in purely musical terms, it is
ravishing, especially with the love and care in the recording of the orchestra under the
direction of Ted Sperling. But it's more than just a rush of the lush; the rhapsodic sounds
may overwhelm everything else when first experienced, but there's much more here.
With well-shaded acting performances through singing, with attention to detail, this
recording has many satisfying moments. Gifted composer-lyricist Adam Guettel is
well suited to the open-hearted declarations of feeling in this story. Victoria Clark, Kelli
O'Hara and Matthew Morrison are up to the challenge and deliver the goods with
especially attractive voices and focused performances.
Another album with lovely music that could upstage its other qualities without careful
attention to them is The Little Prince. This filmed version of the new opera based on the classic book was released as both a 2-CD set and a DVD. Rachel Portman,
whose main experience is writing instrumental film music, found many musical colors for
this tender story about the basic values in life (Nicholas Wright is librettist). Opting mostly for sweet or soaring
melodies, some of the satire on human foibles in the original feels softer, though it's there
if you pay attention to the words (and pictures speak louder than words, as evidenced by
the reaction shots and visuals in the film).
A natural, non-cloying, non-"show bizzy" child
actor-boy soprano was needed and found for the title role. Don't let the classification
"opera" put you off; it's neither grand opera nor a razzle-dazzle musical comedy. Like
Piazza, it's a big-orchestra first class production of a story that reaches the heart.
In this case, it's a fantasy about a character from a small asteroid and his travels to
various planets, including ours. This is a musical trip well worth taking.
Another musical with an outer space theme is The Last Starfighter. This one
is as wild and wacky as The Little Prince is sublime and sensitive. Imaginatively
comic science fiction, the bright and winking work is by talented composer-lyricist Skip
Kennon and librettist Fred Landau. Satirical but warm-hearted, there's solidly crafted
songwriting with top (or over-the-top) cast performances. As a video game about
intergalactic action finally comes to life, mayhem ensues. But the entertainment begins
from the start, with clever, campy material to mock the stock characters from movies
about small town life and big dreams, young love and old cliches. It's a guilty pleasure that
lasts. The record label is a new one, Kritzerland, but the producer has a long history with
high-energy theatrical albums with music old and new, Bruce Kimmel.
Speaking of tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek musicals that parody old genres and are
a hoot, come travel down The Road to Ruin. This welcome surprise is still a work
in progress but already has a lot going for it. Set in 1928 and based on a silent movie
from that year, it's a cautionary tale - or rather a skewering of such things. The innocent
good girl gone bad has rarely sounded so good. Multi-tasking William Zeffiro wrote the
music and lyrics and is pianist, vocal arranger, production supervisor and ensemble
member. Broadway veteran George S. Irving is a major asset, capturing the right tone.
Sebastian Arcelus is also just right as a gee-whiz teenager in love with the heroine, a
role shared by Brooke Sunny Moriber and Stephanie Kurtzuba. With risque moments
and good clean fun, fasten your seat belts while traveling along The Road to Ruin.
The CD is from the adventurous label Original Cast Records and executive producer
Bruce Yeko, with scores of scores from little-known musicals found and recorded.
40 years after the time in which The Road to Ruin is set and almost 40 years
ago came Hair, a very different look at young people and society's mores. This
year's exciting new recording of the score has 31 tracks under the strong musical
direction of Seth Rudetsky. It's all in the spirit of the original but has its own fresh
musical ideas. The songs are especially well matched to some of the bright musical
theater talents of today. Recorded in a studio after a one-night-only benefit concert, the
album is a celebration. Among the great female performers are Sherie Rene Scott, Lea
DeLaria and Julia Murney. On the male side, some highlights include contributions from
Chuck Cooper, Darius deHaas, Norm Lewis and Euan Morton.
The same four men are also heard on another starry set, Broadway
Unplugged
. A show recorded live at The Town Hall in Manhattan, it consists of
musical theater classics by Broadway performers, performed without microphones to
amplify voices. The focus on the part of the singers and the appreciation of the audience
is very much in evidence here. The grace of Christine Andreas' "My Ship" and Alice
Ripley ripping through "Serenity" are two contrasting but equally effective moments. With
numbers from hits like Gypsy, Ragtime, Carousel and The Desert Song, it's
overflowing with highlights. An outgrowth of creator-writer-host Scott Siegel's
Broadway by the Year concerts recorded at the same venue, three in the
long-running series were released this year.
Let's make this spot the tie in the list of ten
favorites, technically bringing us to 11, or just say I can't decide between this one and
Broadway by the Year: 1926 which has some truly rare material. With Gershwin,
Rodgers and Hart and more, it's grand. Both CDs benefit from the participation of Bill
Daugherty, Nancy Anderson and Marc Kudisch. 1926 also features Nancy Opel
and Eddie Korbich and some wonderful contributions by Sutton Foster.
Sutton Foster was the main character in the musical Little Women and its cast
album is one that really grew on me. Divorced from whatever disappointments I had with
the show onstage, the cast album is masterfully executed. The company is at its best,
with committed performances from all on the Jason Howland/Mindy Dickstein songs. The orchestra sounds simply sensational and I
fell in love with the orchestrations. Although I still find a few numbers resistible, I must
say that this show's heart was in the right place and it's the heart that wins out. It
becomes a moving experience and the whole is more than the sum of its parts. In
addition to Sutton Foster as a winning Jo, Danny Gurwin's energy and zest is for the best
and the company works well together. Maureen McGovern's two solos are the state of the
art of theater singing. And this album is just one of several state-of-the-art productions
from Ghostlight/Sh-K-Boom Records this year.
Like the novel Little Women, William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night has
seen many stage adaptations. It is the basis for Illyria, a rewarding and varied
listen, brightly presented on disc. Its satisfying score, music and lyrics by Peter Mills, is
well performed with characterful singing. Originally produced by Manhattan's Prospect
Theatre Company, this cast album represents the regional premiere at The
Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey and is on their own label. Recorded with seven
musicians, conducted by pianist F. Wade Russo, and orchestrations by Daniel Feyer,
the accompaniment is a big plus. The singing is alternately robust and romantic,
capturing the flavor of this old comedy of identity confusion. A couple of tongue-twisting
songs as well as twists of plot are among the musical highlights, but the lovely melodies
(especially "Olivia" and the "Prologue") are also well-served by this attractive
14-member cast.
As a character, Shakespeare appears in the climax of the next show and one of its
songs uses his original words. The rest of the score is by the composer-lyricist who
celebrated his 75th birthday in 2005, Broadway's great Stephen Sondheim. The CD of
his The Frogs was especially well produced by Tommy Krasker. Recorded with
sparkling sound and energy that hops out of your speakers, the performances are sharp
and the humor holds up well on repeated listenings. The songs heard on this Lincoln
Center cast album production are the original score and more. Fleshing out the songs
written for a production at Yale thirty years earlier are razor-sharp new ones performed
with great flair and polish. Based on the ancient Greek play, this broadly satirical tale of
a visit to "Hades" (also the name of one of the great new production numbers) is
deliciously entertaining. The orchestrations are full of rich and rewarding ideas, the music
being in the hands of Sondheim's usual musical partners, Paul Gemignani and Jonathan
Tunick. Nathan Lane and Roger Bart as the traveling companions (god and slave) are
delightful and deliver the goods. The PS Classics recording includes zingy bits of the
dialogue which was newly adapted by Nathan himself.
Nathan Lane and Roger Bart are also two happy reasons the next item is on the list:
the soundtrack of The Producers. Directed by Susan Stroman (who worked with
them in the stage versions of this musical as well as The Frogs), their
performances are fresh. Some may have trouble fully appreciating the merits of this
disc, distracted by comparisons to the original cast album or one's feelings about the
screen adaptation. The giant-orchestration bows to the sounds of golden age movie
musicals are more appreciated at leisure when attention is paid to that aspect. The
Producers becomes a winking tribute to the trademarks of both Broadway
and film musicals. The fact that several members of the Broadway cast repeat
their roles without major changes in interpretation should not take away from the
appreciation of their talents. The new song, "There's Nothing Like a Show on
Broadway," is the icing on the cake. I still find Mel Brooks' jokey pastiche score to be an
entertaining valentine and neat and nifty as ever. Seen, I mean heard, on its own, the
soundtrack album is full of great moments and bursts of joy and grand silliness.
As Oscar Hammerstein wrote, "These are a few of my favorite things." It's been a
pleasure listening to so much newly recorded theater music all year and I look forward to
what's to come in the new year.
-- Rob Lester
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