“Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” – Encores! Cast Recording

 

My jaw dropped when I started playing the new cast album of Gentlemen Prefer BlondesI know the Jule Styne-Leo Robin score fairly well, and have heard every recording there is (including the revised Lorelei). However, I was not prepared for the wall of glorious sound that came at me. It was like hearing the score for the first time – the detail in the Don Walker orchestrations during the overture, with its jazzy homage to the 1920s. This new recording of the acclaimed Encores! concert (courtesy of Masterworks Broadway) is an eargasm from start to finish, and manages to do something that many recent revival recordings have failed to do: capture the essence of what made the show such a hit onstage.

Megan Hilty is on the fast track to major musical theatre stardom. One of the reasons I stopped watching Smash is that I knew they were setting up her character to fail as Marilyn, which made absolutely no sense to me. While evoking Marilyn, she was her own gorgeous, sexy creation as Lorelei, bring the laughs to “A Little Girl from Little Rock” and providing the audience with a bona fide showstopper in “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” (The night I saw the show, she scored so big with this number that the audience revived its ovation on her entrance into the next scene). Also, the girl can friggin’ sing…

She is almost outdone by the delectable Rachel York, who as Dorothy Shaw leads the biggest production numbers and does so with a joy that was evident from the balcony of the City Center. Her joy is present here on disc; as York tears into “I Love What I’m Doing” and “It’s High Time” you can practically feel her smiling as she sings.

Aaron Lazar sings the ballads beautifully, Stephen Buntrock is delightfully absurd and in exceptional voice in his ridiculous paean to exercise and the benefits of fiber. Clarke Thorell croons Gus Esmond’s number with great ease. Simon Jones and Deborah Rush are also on hand and lend amiable support. The entire ensemble sings well, especially those who were assigned Hugh Martin’s intricate vocal arrangements. The result is just astounding. The first time the ensemble broke into the “Bye Bye Baby harmonies – both at City Center and in my living room – I got full body chills.

Under the baton of Rob Berman (who also co-produced the album) Don Walker’s orchestrations really shine forth. For the first time, the complete original stage score is preserved with all the encores, first and second act finales, dance breaks, and even that insanely catchy “Button Up with Esmond” jingle (the latter was previously only available on the original London cast album which has never been on CD). Of special note is the ten minute “Paris” sequence. It’s superfluous to the book, but quite attractive to hear. The album itself is packaged beautifully with many photographs, synopsis, essays and the complete lyrics.

Finally, I want to send a huge thank you to Margaret Styne, Jule Styne’s widow, who was instrumental in making sure this recording happened.

“Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”

blondes

For its third and final entry of the year, Encores! lightened things up considerably with a delightful production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, the 1949 classic that made Carol Channing a star (and whose 1953 film adaptation featured some gal named Marilyn). The musical, with a highly entertaining score by Jule Styne and Leo Robin, is a 40s spoof of the 20s and is rather a flimsy affair. Everything will work out for our heroine Lorelei Lee and her pal Dorothy Shaw as they look for love. It just takes a meandering book (by Joseph Fields and Anita Loos) and a lot of specialty filler to get there. Said specialties are a delight, and it was wonderful to see a Golden Age musical staged with separate singing and dancing ensembles. This Encores production, nimbly directed by John Rando (with David Ives again doing the concert adaptation), was bright and breezy fun, but it also showed that the show as a whole doesn’t quite hold up so well.

Megan Hilty is a musical comedy dream. Her funny and sexy performance as Lorelei was captivating; whenever she was on stage you just had to look at her. Blessed with immense beauty and voice for days, Ms. Hilty took Lorelei’s two big solos (and their encores) and turned them into the evening’s high points (I still can see and hear her blissful delivery of the repeated line “The one who done me wrong” from “A Little Girl from Little Rock”). After the second encore of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” the audience went into sheer euphoria, with thunderous applause and cheering that only increased with intensity and volume on Ms. Hilty’s entrance in the next scene. Whenever Lorelei isn’t center stage, the show isn’t as infectious, but fortunately the stellar supporting cast more than made up for that.

Rachel York brought considerable joy and sass as Dorothy, leading various production numbers including “It’s High Time,” the racy “I Love What I’m Doing” and the Charleston fueled eleven o’clock number “Keeping Cool with Coolidge.” Aaron Lazar was virtually unrecognizable as her nerdy Philadelphia stuff-shirt love interest (who gets the show’s few romantic ballads). Stephen Buntrock appeared as a fitness-crazed entrepeneur whose number is an unlikely tribute to fiber. A triumvirate from the recent revival of Blithe Spirit, Simon Jones, Deborah Rush and Sandra Shipley (Rush’s understudy), were on hand as the older generation bringing some expected laughs.

Randy Skinner, who provided the spirited choreography for the Encores! No, No, Nanette four years ago, once again showed he is one of the best with clever, creative and crowd-pleasing work that showed form and integrity. Unlike recent Golden Age revivals on Broadway, Skinner’s work never reeks of the “everything-but-the-kitchen-sink” desperation that make up what is purported to be a showstopper. The dance highlight was a tap speciality to “Mamie is Mimi,” at the top of the second, originally conceived for Atkins and Coles (Atkins would go on to win the 1989 Tony for Best Choreography for Black & Blue, Coles won Best Featured Actor in a Musical for My One and Only in 1983). Phillip Attmore and Jared Grimes brought down the house, along with Megan Sikora, in a tremendously dazzling display.

Don Walker’s orchestrations were fantastic, as were Trude Rittmann’s dance arrangements (lots of music that has never been recorded before). However, the evening really belonged to Hugh Martin. Mr. Martin, who basically created vocal arranging on Broadway, including the famous “Sing for Your Supper” trio in The Boys from Syracuse, created elaborate tight-knit vocal harmonies which were given impeccable musicianship by the singing ensemble.

With a book this flimsy, a Broadway transfer is not a particularly good idea and Encores! was the perfect venue. However, there is good news: a cast recording will be made. On the heels of PS Classics recording Merrily We Roll Along, and the Ghostlight’s live recording of Pipe Dream, this will mark the first time an entire Encores! season has been recorded since 1999.

Well, they made a musical…

“Everyone knows how to fix everyone else’s show.”

Those words were imparted to me after the Wednesday evening performance of 9 to 5 by a journalistic acquaintance. The musical version of the 1980 film of the same name was one of the more anticipated Broadway shows this past season. However, it was met with critical negativity and audience indifference, in spite of a score by Dolly Parton and a leading lady turn by Allison Janney. The show closed yesterday after 148 performances. I decided to take in the show before it closed just because I was curious to see just what went wrong, and also to see Ms. Janney onstage.

The show is a mess, there’s no getting past that. However, in the ruins of the musical there lies the promise of what could have been a better production. The fault lies mostly with director Joe Mantello, choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler and librettist (and co-writer of the original screenplay) Patricia Resnick. The original film is an amusing satiric fantasia of three women (Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton) enacting revenge on their repugnantly chauvinistic boss (a delightfully crass Dabney Coleman). The film holds up as an amusing period piece, even if its Oscar-nominated title song is probably better remembered than the movie itself. The musical tries very hard to be the film, but without making the necessary changes needed for it to be a fully functional musical – namely, a well-structured, clever book and a score that serves the story – it falls considerably short.

As the lights go down, that famous vamp starts up, setting off a series of cheers from the audience. Suddenly I was very innervated as the show curtain (cleverly made up entirely of telephone cords – remember those?) rose for the opening/title song. My disappointment was almost immediate as the first line of the song was sung by… a man? It was clear from the get-go that the show was lacking some sense of focus. “9 to 5” may be a recycled show tune, but it was still the best song in the score (a la “Never on Sunday” in Illya, Darling). The rest of my night was figuring out ways to fix the show to make moments like that actually work. (My idea for the opening? Cut the chorus from the first minute and a half of the song, give the lines to the three ladies as they prepare their mornings and bring the ensemble into the street scene).

In fact, the chorus pretty much sings and dances innocuously throughout. Assisting where they are not needed, including offstage singing back-up during “Backwoods Barbie” or filling out “I’m Gonna Shine Like the Sun” to close the first act. It didn’t help that they were given generic “look ma, I’m dancin'” choreography by Tony award winner Andy Blankenbuehler. In fact, most of the dancing was uninspired and at times, rather pathetic. Office scenes aside, the chorus padded out the rest of the musical numbers for the sheer idea of giving them more to do. You could easily streamline the show and cut the chorus without much loss to any of the musical numbers – at most

Onto the most prolific person behind 9 to 5 the Musical, Dolly Parton. What more is there to say about this diminutive titan of the music industry? Composing hundreds of songs for herself and other artists, selling countless records and one of the most recognizable figures in the world, Dolly decided to take on the arduous task of writing a musical theatre score. If the score fails to meet the expectations of a Broadway musical, I am wary of putting the entire blame on Ms Parton. If her lyrics tended to be generic and more than frequently cliched, the melodies were mostly hummable and there was at least some considerable effort on her part as both composer and especially as the show’s champion. With the exception of librettist Resnick, Ms. Parton was surrounded by Tony-winning musical theatre professionals who should have known better.

What made the musical entertaining were its three leading ladies. When they were onstage there was some sparkle and excitement in spite of the quality of the show around them. Megan Hilty was all beauty and heart as Doralee Rhodes, taking on the role originated by Parton in the film. While the performance is more impersonation of Parton than an original characterization, the young actress made the most of it especially with “Backwoods Barbie,” one of the better numbers.

There is surprisingly very little to the character of Judy who goes from dejected insecure housewife to defiant independent working woman. Part of the problem is that there isn’t much of an arc for the most dynamic of the three leading ladies – it’s obvious she changes but we never really see how. However, the part was well sung by Stephanie Block, who was given the eleven o’clock number, “Get Out and Stay Out.”Judy tosses her husband out halfway through the song, and delivers a powerhouse finish, but I wish the director had thought to keep the character onstage so she would have someone to play to. It’s like taking a production of Follies and having Ben walk out on the line “Wait, I’m just beginning” as Phyllis continues ‘Could I Leave You?’ by herself.

Then we get to the star of the production. Ms. Allison Janney is well known for her four time Emmy winning role of C.J. Cregg on The West Wing, but she also has innumerable film and stage credits to her name. In the months leading up to my visit to the show, I’d read that Ms. Janney can’t sing and can’t really dance but that it didn’t matter. Vocal and dance limitations aside, Ms. Janney can hold a tune and moves well and walks away with the show whenever she is onstage. This is probably the best musical debut debut of a non-musical performer since Lauren Bacall opened in Applause. (By the way, Encores, Janney is your Tess Harding. Now dust off Woman of the Year). In the eleventh hour, Janney stopped the show with a feminist tirade that would have made Dixie Carter proud. On top of that, she also looked like she was having the time of her life singing and dancing and giving one hell of a star turn.

As for the men, well there haven’t been such thankless roles for men in a musical since the divas of Mame mopped the floor with them in 1966. Marc Kudisch has the most to do as Franklin Hart, Jr., the boss from hell, a role he performed with gusto. However it seemed redundant to give him not one but two songs expressing his vulgar misogny. Andy Karl is the younger accountant with a romantic interest in Violet. Karl, who was part of Legally Blonde, has little to do aside wear period glasses and duet with Janney on a real dud, “Let Love Grow.”

Then there was Kathy Fitzgerald, bless her heart. I first became aware of her in The Producers where she played several bit parts, most notable Shirley Markowitz, the lesbian lighting designer with the basso profundo voice in “Keep it Gay.” In 9 to 5, Fitzgerald played Roz, the busybody executive secretary whose unrequited love for the boss has her doing his bidding without question or pause. Ms. Fitzgerald got some of the biggest laughs of the evening, though her first number was too long.

One of the main problems is that there was too much of what was bad and too little of what was good. The main thing about adapting a property to the musical stage is that you want to be able to say something that hasn’t been explored in any previous incarnation, whether it’s a novel, play or film. One of the major problems with 9 to 5 was a slavish adherence to the film’s screenplay, and certain things just didn’t adapt well. When The Producers and Hairspray were adapted for Broadway, their great success was in finding a new way to tell the story (and it didn’t hurt that both had Thomas Meehan on hand to assist). First-timer Resnick could have used a pro like him to help her with the structure and pinpointing the reason why these characters were bursting out into song. Oh – and not to mention two groan inducing moments: quoting “No good deed goes unpunished” and “I will always love you.”

From the opening number onward, and well past midnight after getting home, I couldn’t help but play show doctor. I made mental notes and ran the show over and over in my head thinking of ways to fix it and make improvements. The mental results I came up with would make for a sturdier show, but the more I think about it, did 9 to 5 really need to be a musical? However, I hope Dolly doesn’t desert Broadway altogether – I think the combination of the two was a nice touch (then again, how can you not like Dolly?!) but I hope if she ever comes to town with a show I only hope she’s got a creative team that won’t let her down.