Album Review: THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY (ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST RECORDING)

It’s here, ladies and gentleman: Jason Robert Brown’s return to Broadway. And it just so happens that he’s provided us with the most intensely romantic score since Adam Guettel’s The Light in the Piazza.

There’s a difference here, though. While Piazza gently floated on the wind with a classical sensibility infused with piano, strings, and harp that touched us in the heart, The Bridges of Madison County has a musical approach that’s more muscular… it virtually punches us in the gut. It reflects a type of love unlike the innocence of Fabrizio and Clara, two naïve young people from two different worlds. The romance between Francesca Johnson and Robert Kincaid is one of forbidden love, a deep and complex affair that oozes with palpable danger and sexuality. And Jason Robert Brown’s work reflects that in a way that few other composers today could achieve. If Brown hadn’t written the brilliant score for Parade, I’d say Bridges is his most significant contribution to musical theatre to date.

Album Review: A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER (ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST RECORDING)

This is an unusual circumstance for me. When I first listened to the cast recording for A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, I knew nothing about the show. Usually, I'm the guy who researches every show that interests me and knows virtually everything about it before I even see it or hear the music from it. But for whatever reason, I didn't immediately gravitate toward this show. But when I heard the cast album was released, I said "What the hell!" and bought the thing.

What a delicious surprise.

In true Edwardian theatrical style, A Gentleman's Guide is the story of Monty Navarro, who suddenly learns that he's actually a member of the D'ysquith Family, a family of great estate and wealth. Thing is, there are 8 people standing in Monty's way that would inherit any fortune before he does. So his plan is, naturally, to kill every person ahead of him in line.

Sounds kind of grim, doesn't it? Not in the least. When A Gentleman's Guide isn't being hysterically funny, it's still all kinds of fun.

Album Review: FUN HOME (ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING)

Fun Home, the Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron musical based on Alison Bechdel's famous graphic memoir of the same title, took the New York theatre scene by storm upon its premiere at the Public Theater. The production made it onto countless Top Ten lists and the reviews were almost entirely raves. And for musical theatre fans like me, who don't live in the United States let alone New York, this cast recording was highly anticipated and incredibly appreciated.

I hardly know where to start with this album... and the reason for that is because there is so much that's fantastic about it that it's almost overwhelming to write about. Immortalized absolutely beautifully by the excellent record label PS Classics, Fun Home is so good, it deserves to be the album that is played continuously in musical theatre heaven.

Album Review: BIG FISH (ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST RECORDING)

 

Say what you will about Andrew Lippa, but the man has written some undoubtedly great music. His latest musical based on the Tim Burton film Big Fish finally has a long awaited cast recording. The question is: What end of the Lippa spectrum does this music fall on? Is this the next Wild Party or is it another Addams Family?

Happily, this score isn't just good. It's great.

Sung primarily by the always excellent Norbert Leo Butz, the golden-voiced Kate Baldwin, and Bobby Steggert (a seriously underrated musical theatre talent), Lippa's score certainly doesn't break any new ground musically... but in a rare case, it doesn't really matter. If you're a fan of huge chorus numbers and big brassy Broadway orchestrations, Big Fish will be a huge catch for you. But even for the musical theatre fans who are more into something more subdued and emotional, this album delivers the goods in that category as well.

The songs strike a balance between gigantically energetic musical theatre numbers, twangy country tunes, and gentle, personal, poignant ballads. While no song can be classified as bland, some songs are admittedly predictable and rather melodically standard. And sometimes, Lippa's usually lovely lyrics come off as forced and, in some cases, a bit nonsensical or random.

But the great majority of the songs don't carry these quibbles with them. Listeners will find immediate favourites in the poignant and touching songs Fight the Dragons and Time Stops, and will find it impossible to get the melodies of songs like Be a Hero (the show's opener) and What's Next out of their heads. And of course, for anyone who knows the show's three stars, it goes without saying that the vocal performances are top notch. Norbert Leo Butz's perfect performance as Edward Bloom shines, while Kate Baldwin's beautiful soprano works beautifully on songs such as the emotional I Don't Need a Roof... and Bobby Steggert's unique and addictive tenor makes you wonder why we don't see or hear more of him.

If anything, Big Fish strikes a beautiful balance musically between being a crowd pleaser as well as being a show with a serious emotional undercurrent. Even without having seen the show, I was still quite moved by the time the album ended and, the more I listen to it, the more I'm growing to appreciate Lippa's lovely work. This album is going to satisfy a lot of musical theatre fans, and I'm living proof of that. Besides providing me with a bunch of great songs, Big Fish left me feeling emotionally full.

TOP TEN MUSICAL THEATRE ALBUMS OF 2013

The end of 2013 has arrived... so, of course, this list had to happen. This wasn't an easy decision... so many cast albums and musical theatre based albums were released this year, and so many were terrific. Finding a top ten out of all of the albums I bought this year was quite the task, but I've reached a list I'm satisfied with.

Disclaimers: Some of the albums on this list are interchangeable in terms of their order. Also, this list is not strictly limited to cast albums. Anything musical theatre themed is eligible.

So, without further ado, let's begin with number ten...

Album Review: NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812

Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 is a new musical that, when described, sounds like one of the most bizarre shows ever. Categorized as an 'electro pop opera', this site-specific theatre piece based on Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace is performed in a cabaret where an unknown cast of actors perform the story around the tables of guests while they enjoy a meal consisting of popular Russian food and drink. Composer Dave Malloy wrote this two-hour opera, but don't expect typical opera fare from this music. In fact, don't expect to have heard anything quite like this before. Ever.

Album Review: LIZZIE (Original Studio Cast Recording)

This album's been a long time coming, having been delayed for release a few months ago for unexplained reasons. But Lizzie, a concept recording of a new rock musical retelling of famous murderess Lizzie Borden, is finally here. The question is: Was it worth the wait?

I've always been wary of musicals that take historical subject matter and set it to anachronistic modern music. Some musicals do it well, such as Pasek and Paul's Dogfight which had a contemporary pop score that still paid homage to the 1960s era of the story. Lizzie, conversely, makes no effort to harken back musically to the 1800s, but rather presents us with a full-on heavy rock-and-roll score by Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer, Tim Maner, and Alan Stevens. And it commits so fully to this that it really, really works. I went into this album with trepidation, but emerged with a huge grin on my face. Lizzie is campy, creepy, fun, and thunderously rockin'.