There are some recordings of show scores that make
perfect background music for a party. This isn't one of them. There are some
score albums that you might put on to play one or more specific songs. This
isn't one of them. Then there are recordings that beg to be listened to
intently - either by yourself or with someone else, it doesn't matter. What
matters is that the listener take 76 and a half minutes and give this
intellectually challenging, emotionally involving, musically fulfilling and
lyrically delightful program complete and undivided attention. If the phone
rings and you answer it, or the dog barks and you let it out, it will be
worth your while to start over again - at least the first time you listen -
for so much of the material is interrelated that its richness relies on your
considering each element as part of a whole. Such dedicated listening
will be amply rewarded. |
Storyline: Three separate stories are
interwoven into an examination of the human urge to soar: Orville and Wilbur
Wright struggle to understand the physics of aerodynamics, Charles Lindbergh
fights both the skepticism of others and his own fatigue to fly solo over
the Atlantic, and Amelia Earhart works to overcome prejudice to become
an air-woman in a world of air-men.
This is a much more complex compilation than earlier
shows by Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire such as the revue Closer
than Ever or the Broadway musicals Baby and Big. Shire's
score is more than just a collection of about twenty different song
melodies. The interrelationship of those melodies forms a larger structure.
For the premiere production captured in this well-recorded package, Shire
created his own orchestrations and they are rich and often subtly supportive
of the message of Maltby's story-driven lyrics. One fascinating aspect of
this recording is its display of just what the functions of the "book" for a
musical really are. Not just the words that go between the songs, the book
establishes which part of the story is to be told at which point in the
show, what should be communicated in song and what in dialogue, and how the
entire thing carries the audience from initial concept to the finale. Just
as John Weidman did in Assassins with Sondheim, here he uses songs to
form scenes that move the story along, each making a point illustrating a
facet of the overall topic as well as telling a part of a linear story.
The recording is of the premiere production of the show
at the Menier Chocolate Factory, a theater built in a former chocolate
factory in London. Amazingly, for a London cast, almost all of the
characters have American accents that seem particularly appropriate for
them, especially Sam Kenyon and Elliot Levey as the Wrights with their flat
Ohio sounds. Only Sally Ann Triplett as Bostonian Amelia Earhart seems to
force an accent from time to time. As a show that blends song and dialogue
extensively, the recording captures both the singing and speaking accents
and does it very well. Shire's orchestrations sound sharp and solid as
performed by the eight member orchestra. (Due to doubling, the eight are
listed as playing fifteen different instruments.)
A personal note: this reviewer had the privilege of being
present at the creation of one of the songs in this score and it is a
delight having it now available on disc. In 2001, I covered the O'Neill
Music Theater Conference in Connecticut for Show Music Magazine. A number of
new musicals were being workshoped including Take Flight. This was
before John Weidman joined the project to craft the current book. At that
point, Maltby and Shire were working with Marsha Norman. The day before I went to the O'Neill, I interviewed
David Shire by phone and he told me that Norman had suggested the addition
of a song in the style of a Ziegfeld Follies number and they had agreed on a
theme and title for the song. He was working on the music when I interviewed
him and turned it over to Maltby to write lyrics later that night. With
Maltby working on the lyric, Norman set to writing the scene in which it was
to be sung. After the next day's rehearsal, I watched as Maltby and Shire
sang the song "Lady Lindy" to the cast and then sat in on the rehearsals.
While Shire helped cast members learn the number, director/choreographer
Jerry Mitchell (The Full Monty) worked with others to craft a dance
for the segment. The next night I saw its first pubic performance in a
reading in the O'Neill's Dina Merrill Theater. Having the song - much
revised to be sure - finally in my cd player is a thrill.
|
