Cast Albums Blog
REVIEW: Sweet Charity & The Importance
Sweet Charity was one of the biggest hits of the 1960s. The Importance, one of several musical adaptations of Oscar Wilde’s classic comedy The Importance of Being Earnest, was briefly produced twice in the 1980s, and has since more or less disappeared without trace. They don’t, on the face of it, appear to have a great deal to do with each other – but the (terrific) London cast recording of Sweet Charity has just been reissued by Masterworks Broadway, and Stage Door Records recently released a 20-years-in-the-making studio recording of The Importance. Listening to them reveals that each recording, albeit for different reasons, is probably best approached as a variation on a theme.
That, actually, is possibly selling the London cast recording of Sweet Charity a little short. It’s a fine, sharp, snappy rendition of Cy Coleman’s score, and in many respects it’s more or less the equal of the original (and definitive) Broadway cast album. Juliet Prowse has a rather bigger voice than Gwen Verdon, though she’s perhaps less distinctive; this is as well-sung an account of the role as you’ll hear on any English-language recording of this score, and she can belt notes Verdon could only dream of. It’s a very strong performance, made all the better by the fact that she isn’t simply forced to provide an imitation of her predecessor. Her ‘I’m a Brass Band’, in particular, is a joy to listen to.
REVIEW: Mrs. Henderson Presents & Bend It Like Beckham - Original London Cast recordings
Amid the ongoing onslaught of musicals based on recent-ish films, Bend It Like Beckham stands out, if only because you could be forgiven for wondering how well any film about football could be adapted for the musical stage. Mrs. Henderson Presents, on the other hand, would seem like a sure bet as a stage musical: it mostly takes place in a theatre, it’s full of chorus girls, and there are two larger-than-life, somewhat eccentric star roles at the centre of the plot. The musical version of Bend It Like Beckham just closed in the West End, while Mrs. Henderson Presents just opened, and listening to their respective cast recordings back-to-back is an interesting experience. In the theatre, even the surest bets aren’t always as surefire as they seem.
REVIEW: Gypsy - 2015 London Revival
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, or perhaps abducted by aliens, you could hardly have missed the roars of acclaim for Imelda Staunton’s performance in last year’s revival of Gypsy. That level of hype isn’t always justified, but it was in this case: her Rose is as phenomenal a performance as I’ve ever seen in a theatre, musical or not, and it was also fascinating to watch UK audiences and critics rediscover a show that gets revived every ten minutes on Broadway but hadn’t been seen in the West End for over four decades.
REVIEW: His Monkey Wife / Aladdin - Original London Casts
From Stage Door Records, here’s a real curiosity. His Monkey Wife and Aladdin are two all-but-forgotten minor works from opposite ends of the 1970s by the English composer/lyricist Sandy Wilson. Their relatively short scores are brought together and re-released on this single disc, and they both prove to be thoroughly charming – even if, like me, you find a little of ‘The Boy Friend’, Wilson’s best-known score, goes a (very) long way.