I know that I am probably going to regret saying this, but the musical theater is alive and well in the year 2001. The pre-Broadway run, in Chicago, of the musical version of Mel Brooks's The Producers was proof of that. Combine that with Rosie O'Donnell's efforts on behalf of Seussical The Musical (including performing in it) and a recent reference to the same show on Will & Grace, and things are looking brighter.
Some recent reissues of original Broadway cast recordings serve as reminders of the musical theater's rich past. Bells Are Ringing (Sony Classical), by Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Jule Styne, opened on Broadway 45 years ago. The musical romantic comedy tells the story of Ella Peterson, played by the wonderful Academy Award-winning actress Judy Holliday, an operator at Susanswerphone, a telephone answering service (talk about a period piece!). Directed by Jerome Robbins, and choreographed by Robbins and Bob Fosse, Bells Are Ringing contains songs that have since become part of the American songbook, including "The Party's Over," "Just In Time," and "It's A Perfect Relationship" (with the lines "I'm in love with a man/PLAZA 0 double four double three/It's a perfect relationship/I can't see him, he can't see me"). The expanded reissue also features three bonus tracks including "Boogie Woogie Shoogie, Baby Of Mine," which had been cut from the show.
More than 30 years later Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom Of The Opera was a perfect example of the excesses of London theater transplanted to Broadway. We'd already seen the signs (Cats, Les Miserables) that this kind of over-the-top show business was coming our way, but once audiences saw the chandelier crash to the stage, they were hooked. The original cast recording of Phantom (Really Useful/ Decca Broadway), which introduced the world to Sarah Brightman (as Christiane Daae) and Michael Crawford (the titular character), has been re-released in a newly remastered edition. Like some of the songs in Bells Are Ringing, songs from Phantom, such as "Think Of Me," "The Music Of The Night," and "All I Ask Of You," to name a few, have become a part of the popular music vocabulary.
Please step back into the time machine, for a second, if you would be so kind. If there was an equivalent of The Phantom Of The Opera in the 1960s, it was probably Fiddler On The Roof, which opened on Broadway in 1964 and in London in 1967 (20 years before the Phantom hit Broadway). Topol, who played the lead character Tevye in the movie version, also played the character in London production, and you can hear him on the original London cast recording of Fiddler On The Roof (Sony Classical). This expanded reissue includes early sketches of a few songs and a demo of "We Haven't Missed A Sabbath Yet," the original show opener.
Speaking of the '60s, there are few things that capture the era better than the rock musical Hair. The expansive reissue of the 1968 Original London Cast Recording of Hair (Decca Broadway) features all of the familiar and beloved songs from the musical as well as songs from Fresh Hair (1970) which included several songs that were cut from the original theatrical production. Other notable facts about this reissue include some of the cast members who went on to achieve a degree of fame and notoriety. Marsha Hunt, who shares lead vocals on "Black Boys," was once a paramour of Mick Jagger. Tribe B chorus members Elaine Paige and Maxine Nightingale may also be familiar to some. Paige performed lead roles in many Weber musicals and Nightingale had hit songs during the 1970s with "Right Back Where We Started From" and "Lead Me On." Other reissues of note in the Decca Broadway series include Man Of LaMancha (with Richard Kiley), Arlen and Harburg's Bloomer Girl (which starred Celeste Holme), and Rodgers & Hart's A Connecticut Yankee.
The flipside of Fiddler On The Roof would have to be Godspell, which actually has more in common with Hair. The 2000 Off-Broadway cast recording of Godspell (Fynsworth Alley/Varese Sarabande) is an updated version of the early '70s Christian musical. The band Shirley Temple of Doom supplies the rocking musical backbone and the young and enthusiastic cast infuses Stephen Schwartz's musical with a Rent-like energy, especially on "Day By Day."
After seeing Ron Howard's hateful movie version of Dr. Seuss's How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Seussical The Musical is a step in the right direction. It's easy to understand Rosie O'Donnell's fascination with this show. In addition to having been in the right age group for Dr. Seuss's books to have been a part of her childhood, she also has young children of her own with whom she wants to share the joys of Seuss. Overflowing with familiar characters from Dr. Seuss's books, such as Horton The Elephant, The Cat In The Hat and The Grinch, lyricist Lynne Ahrens and composer Stephen Flaherty make them sing, sometimes in unexpected ways. For instance, "It's Possible (McElligot's Pool)," with its Beach Boys musical reference certainly broadens the appeal of the song. Turning "Green Eggs and Ham" into a military marching song is also a unique twist. The messages in the songs don't stray too far from the child pop psychology of the books, making them as light as Gertrude McFuzz's tail feather.
In addition to including a few songs that were dropped from the original 1930s Broadway production of Cole Porter's You Never Know (Fynsworth Alley), the world premiere cast recording of the Pasadena Playhouse's 1991 production of the musical also features original A Chorus Line cast member Donna McKechnie and a pre-You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown Kristin Chenoweth.
During the 1950s, three musicals by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein made the transition from the stage to the screen. The musicals Carousel, and in particular Oklahoma and The King and I remain classics of the silver screen. Expanded editions of the soundtracks to the aforementioned movies musical, with between 20 and 35 additional minutes of music, have just been released by Angel Records. Each reissue has been remastered with 24-bit technology and contains "deluxe" booklets, as well as one bonus track apiece.
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