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Holiday Gift Guide - 2008 |
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Late Addition |
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Ziegfeld
The Man Who Invented Show Business
Ethan Mordden
St. Martin's Press 0-312-37543-3 |
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Ethan Mordden's books have included decade-by-decade
reviews of the genre of musical theater that have always been sprightly
reads, even when you stumbled over an opinion you didn't share from time to
time. Now he turns his hand to biography and turns out a book that is as
entertaining as a Ziegfeld show. His ability to turn a memorable phrase is,
well, memorable. Some are frivolous ("The French like music, but they love
their language") some devilishly descriptive (Ziegfeld's first star,
strongman Eugen Sandow, was "hairless but for a few wisps at the place of
sin"), some blazingly opinionated ("A. Seymour Brown's Lyrics are humdrum
when not amateurish" - Lillian Lorraine's "inability to fake talent was
worse than her simple lack of it") and some are deeper thoughts worth
pondering ("the art that changes art is not made by the adherents of
convention" or " it is all but impossible to dispel a tale that allows
people to believe the worst of a celebrity"). Through it all, he tells the
fascinating story of Florence Ziegfeld's career with a delightful eye for
intriguing detail. |
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Click here to buy the book
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Recordings |
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Howard Sings Ashman
Songwriter Series
PS Classics PS - 869
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The top spot of the list for the year has to go to this
incredibly enjoyable double disc set, the latest in the Library of Congress'
series of demo recordings by great theater songwriters, in this case Howard
Ashman, whose output in his tragically short life included both works for the
stage such as Little Shop of Horrors and for the animated movie
screen, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, some of
which then went on to become great stage musicals. These are not only
superbly entertaining songs with fabulous lyrics, the demonstration
recordings he prepared are fabulous. One disc offers a wide range of songs
from many of his projects. The second disc is the songs he wrote with
Marvin Hamlisch for the Broadway musical Smile. A treasure! |
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Click here to buy the CD
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South Pacific
2008 Cast Recording
Masterworks Broadway 88697-30457-2 |
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Having included a new recording of the classic score of
this musical in last season's Holiday Gift Guide it comes as a surprise that
another recording of the same music needs to be not only on this year's list
but right up here at the top. But one listen to the opening strains of the
often recorded overture makes you want this one, the Lincoln Center's
revival. Then Kelli O'Hara's chipper "Cockeyed Optimist" seduces you.
Finally Paolo Szot's silky yet masculine baritone joins her on the "Twin
Soliloquies" and you find that you just need to have this one too. |
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Click here to buy the CD
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When the Wind Blows South
Philip Chaffin
PS Classics PS - 870 |
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The top slot for a vocalist's solo album this year
belongs to Philip Chaffin. Of course, he's held a similar place in earlier
lists as a result of the lovely Warm Spring Night and the rapturous
Where Do I Go From You? This time out he mixes a Broadway sensitivity
with his down-south heritage on songs from such southern-tinted writers as
Johnny Mercer and some who probably never had a southern bone in their body
such as George Gershwin. As with the earlier outings, this is a superbly
produced song set that can contribute to a gathering as background music
or reward solo listening under earphones with an evening drink - perhaps a
mint julep. |
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Click here to buy the CD
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The Little Mermaid
Original Broadway Cast
Disney Broadway D000103302 |
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One of the strongest
traditional Broadway musical scores to come along in a while is captured in
a glowing recording that repays repeated listening with new revelations of
the care and craft that composer Alan Menken, the original movie lyricist,
the late Howard Ashman, and the lyricist for the Broadway expansion, Glenn
Slater, brought to what could well have been a simplistic and formulaic
juvenile show. In a period when unconventional scores for Broadway musicals
are becoming more and more frequent (Grey Gardens, Spring
Awakening, juke-box scores such as Jersey Boys) this throwback to
traditional approaches to moving a story along through character and plot
driven songs in a variety of styles unified by full counter-melody rich
orchestrations and spirited dance segments is a delight. Menken and Ashman's
score for the 1989 movie had a distinctly Broadway feel to it, and so the
shift from film to stage is a logical one. There were seven songs, not
enough for a full Broadway show. Glenn Slater, who had worked with Menken
before, took on the task of crafting lyrics for what turned out to be
another eleven songs for the stage musical. His lyrics are clever in the way
Ashman's were with a sentimental streak that matches nicely. The recording
has a sonic breadth and a sparklingly clean sound thanks in part to the
efforts of recording engineer Bruce Botnick, but mostly to the
orchestrations of Danny Troob and the vocal arrangements of Michael Kosarin,
who also conducts the large, full string orchestra. |
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Click here to buy the CD
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13
2008 Cast Recording
Ghostlight 8-4413 |
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This up-tempo, soft-rock musical about teenage angst over
the kinds of things adults think teens worry about might have had a longer
run on Broadway had the balance between the voices of the talented kids
singing the songs and the rock-band-inspired combo that accompanies them been as good in the theater as it is on the disc. As it is, the show is
closing on January 4 but the music will live on with this brightly pleasing
disc. The show will also probably get many productions around the country as
soon as it is available for license on the strength of this recording. It is
a delightful listen. |
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Click here to buy the CD
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Gypsy
2008 Cast Recording
Time Life Entertainment 19659 |
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Who'd have thought a new recording of Julie Stein
and Stephen Sondheim's classic score could offer not just a fabulous reading
of the title role as compelling as the original but a better performance in
the role of Herbie than was captured on records the first time out and a
superior Louise? The 2008 revival earned Tony Awards for each - Patti LuPone
in the role originated by Ethel Merman, Boyd Gaines in the role first played
by Jack Klugman and the incandescent Laura Benanti whose "Little Lamb" tops
even that of the original of Sandra Church. With some bonus tracks that are
to fun to have, the new disc is a must for theater lovers who don't have the
original already, and even those who do will find things to treasure.
Amazingly, even the lead trumpet work of Tony Kadleck comes close to the
excitement that Dick Perry generated back in 1959. |
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Click here to buy the CD
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Xanadu
Original Broadway Cast
PS Classics PS-858 |
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The Broadway musical that no one thought could
possibly be any good made quite a splash by exceeding expectations. The
original Broadway cast recording doesn't get the benefit of the outlandishly
low expectations that greeted the show when it opened at the smallest of all
Broadway houses, the 597-seat Helen Hayes Theatre, it makes a fine souvenir
for those who have fallen for its seductive charms in person, and makes a
pretty enjoyable listen all by itself. The show was an outlandishly
entertaining, outrageously ingratiating and absurdly enjoyable little
entertainment which, at a top ticket price of $110, probably had no place in
the high priced real estate of Broadway. After all, that is over a dollar a
minute. The disc, on the other hand, runs only 45 cents a minute and you can
play it over and over again! |
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Click here to buy the CD
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Faith, Trust & Pixie Dust
Kerry Butler
PS Classics PS - 862 |
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Speaking of Xanadu - Kerry Butler, who
starred in the Broadway production and is featured on its Original Cast
Album, also has a solo vocal set out which is likely to please those who
appreciate a song with a lyric that has a message. There are many solo vocal
sets that attempt to link songs in a "theme" that ultimately seem too much
of a stretch. Butler's, however, has a really nice mix of songs that fit the
title which is also the concept of the disc. From "This Only Happens in the
Movies" from the movie Who Discovered Roger Rabbit, to Howard Ashman
and Marvin Hamlisch's Disneyland from Smile, these songs explore the
wonder of having faith in a dream. What is more, Butler's voice is just the
right brand of pixie for these songs. |
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Click here to buy the CD
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Young Frankenstein
Original Broadway Cast
Decca Broadway |
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A second Mel Brooks
musical followed the incomparable hit The Producers. It was Young
Frankenstein - it can be compared to The
Producers but it suffers by comparison. However, it also offers proof
that some of the strengths of The Producers were the result of pure
talent on the part of Mr. Brooks and some of the creators who have teamed
with him again. Brooks' melodies are solid and
functional and reaffirm, if reaffirmation is needed, that he's a clever
mimic of the styles of others while bringing his own style to the work. In
The Producers there were many moments that seemed attempts to
out-Gershwin Gershwin, which was completely justified by the story. Here
Brooks attempts to out-Berlin Berlin and out-Porter Porter along with some
clear Sigmund Romberg-ing and Vincent Youmans-ing for the operetta fans in
the house as well. It is in the area of lyrics that the recording best
documents Brooks' unique talent. There are so many apparently predictable
rhymes that it seems nearly effortlessly clever. However, who knew there
were that many "predictable" rhymes? Brooks reaches with ease to stretch
rhyming to its limits. When not rhyming, Brooks is punning, or, as Will Friedwald points out in his cleverly formatted notes in the booklet,
stringing together not double-entendres but single-entendres. (Has any
Broadway lyricist ever focused so single mindedly on anatomical humor?)
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Click here to buy the CD
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Right Here / Right Now
Karen Mason
Zeverly Records KMPR6 |
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A tasteful collection of show tunes and songs that should be show tunes
(such as the Lennon McCarney up-tempo piece of froth "Help" which, when
slowed down turns out to be an affecting intro to Stephen Sondheim's "Being
Alive") is served up by Mason, who can charm a small club with a cabaret set
or a large expectant crowd in a sold out Broadway house. She originated the
role of Tanya, the tall and lanky, sexy friend of Donna in Broadway's Mamma
Mia! and has a following for her studio cast recordings of other shows. This
collection is made all the better by the services of Barry Kleinbort,
Christopher Denny and her husband Paul Rolnick, who produced the record and
wrote the title song. |
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Click here to buy the CD
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| Books |
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The Complete Lyrics of
Oscar Hammerstein II
Edited by Amy Asch
Alfred Knopf 978-0-375-41358-2 |
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Quick. Book yourself onto a slow boat to
anywhere - just make sure you have lots of "at sea days" with nothing to do
but delve into 404 pages of the complete lyrics of one of America's premiere
poets who just happened to also be one of America's most influential makers
of musicals. From The Peace Pirates of 1916 to Rose-Marie, The Desert Song,
Show Boat, The New Moon, Sweet Adeline, Very Warm for May, Oklahoma!, Carmen Jones, Carousel, South Pacific,
and The King and I, to The Sound of Music (and
so many others) his songs often were extensions of the books of his shows,
many of which were of his own crafting. They often worked so well as one
facet of a more (or less) integrated work of art -- including music, scenography and story -- that their strength as poetry was subsumed by other
strengths. Here, in black and white and with just introductory explanations
of their place in a musical, you can marvel at what a lyrical mind can do. |
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Click here to buy the book
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The Oxford Companion to
the American Musical
Thomas Hischak
Oxford University Press 978-0-19-533533-0 |
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Some lovers of theater have a large library of
reference material to which they turn to either prepare to see a show or to
learn more about one they've already seen. The Oxford Companion to American
Theatre from Gerald Bordman and Thomas Hischak has been on many shelves
since it came out in 2004 but it seemed a bit thin when it came to musicals.
Now Hischak fixes that with a new volume in encyclopedia format covering
musical plays, films and television programs. With nearly 2,000 entries
including nearly 650 musicals from A (Across the Universe) to Z (Zorba) it can be both a quick source for an answer to a question that is
bugging you and a fun scan. |
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Click here to buy the book
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American Presidents
Attend
the Theatre
The Playgoing Experiences
of Each Chief Executive
Thomas A. Bogar
McFarland 0-7864-2543-1 |
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The most fascinating read of any theater book to
cross our desks this year, and the first book to be designated a Potomac Stages
Pick, is this volume which details the theater going habits of everyone who
ever served as President of the United States. It includes the shows they
attended before, during and after their Presidencies, the theaters they
frequented and their attitudes toward the experience, all
blended with a general history of the country and of the Presidency itself.
In the process, it presents an enlightening history of the development of the American
theater. Click here to
read our review. |
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Click here to buy the book
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The Back Stage Guide to
Broadway
by Robert Viagas
Back Stage Books 0-8230-8809-X |
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The most useful guide for those who travel north
to sample the delights of "The Great White Way" - and for those who would
like to. Click here to read
our review. |
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Click here to buy the book
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| Miscellaneous |
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On Broadway! Theater
Posters
2009 Calendar
Library of Congress |
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Again this year, the Library of Congress
compiled a collection of vintage show posters for a wall
calendar. This year's calendar includes artwork from such shows as
Breakfast at Tiffany's, Camelot, Show Boat and The Glass Menagerie.
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Click here to buy the calendar
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TixCertificates
Offered by the Helen Hayes Awards
Organization |
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As any regular reader of Potomac Stages knows,
there are more productions offered by theaters in the Potomac Region than
any one theater lover can attend. Tickets to a specific up-coming production
or even a season subscription to a particular theater can be a great gift,
but there are times when you don't know when the recipient might be able to
go or what shows a theater lover has already purchased seats for.
The answer? The Helen Hayes Awards organization sponsors a program called TixCertificates that lets you purchase certificates in $20 denominations
that are good at any one of 40 participating professional theaters. Order at
www.helenhayes.org. |
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