Bernstein - Wonderful Town / Audra McDonald, Kim Criswell, Thomas Hampson, Wayne Marshall, Simon Rattle, Berlin Philharmonic Review

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(More customer reviews)'Wonderful Town' is not Leonard Bernstein's best score, but you wouldn't know it from this exuberant performance in the unlikeliest of places: New Year's Eve 2002 at the Philharmonie, the home of the Berlin Philharmonic. Led by their new chief conductor, Sir Simon Rattle, and featuring an all-star cast of American singers, this semi-staged BPO concert version of the Bernstein's 1953 Broadway hit is amazingly right in all its particulars. From the jazzy overture to the encore of 'Conga!' in which Rattle entreats (in German) the gala audience to get up and form a conga line, the joy and esprit of this concert has to be seen and heard to be believed. The singers are as good as they get. Kim Criswell, one of the best Broadway singers of recent times, plays the aspiring writer, Ruth Sherwood, with brass, spunk, and shaky cynicism; her 'One Hundred Ways to Lose a Man' had the audience roaring. Ruth's sister Eileen is performed by the delectable Audra McDonald, winner of three Tonys before the age of 28. (Interestingly, it's a homecoming of sorts for McDonald; she was born in Berlin in 1970.) A graduate of Juilliard, McDonald has one of the most gorgeous voices around these days, and personality to spare. Her 'A Little Bit in Love' is scrumptious. One number that brings a lump to the throat is the sisters' duet, 'Ohio' ('Why, Oh Why, Oh Why Oh, Why Did I Ever Leave Ohio?').
Singing multiple roles in his marvelous baritone, the handsome Brent Barrett sings 'Christopher Street' and rocks the house with 'Pass the Football.' I was frankly amazed that the German audience seemed to have no trouble understanding some of the 1950s American slang in that and other songs. They clearly were having the time of the lives. Thomas Hampson, as Baker, sings 'A Quiet Girl' and the duet with Eileen 'It's Love' in his world-class baritone and flawless diction. Secondary roles, including some taken by the chorus, European Voices (in American accents), were ably done.
Simon Rattle, known for his love for classic American light music, is completely in his element in this complex Bernstein score with its rapid changes of meter, tricky accents, and jazzy harmonies. More than that, he was obviously enjoying every moment. But even more amazing was the patent enjoyment of the ordinarily staid Berlin Philharmonic musicians. It is often said that European musicians just don't 'get' American popular music, but that clearly is not the case here. One is unlikely to ever hear a more beautiful instrumental performance of this score. In 'Swing!' the licks by the BPO brass were worthy of any of the famous Big Bands of the thirties and forties. The Raschèr Saxophone Quartet were in the pit to add to the Big Band sound. British keyboardist Wayne Marshall (best known as an organist, but a frequent collaborator with Rattle, including the jazz piano role in Rattle's recording of 'Porgy and Bess') played the dazzling orchestral piano part.
I cannot recommend this DVD highly enough.
1 DVD; Sound: PCM Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1, or DTS 5.1. Subtitles: English, German, French. Running time: 76 minutes
Scott Morrison

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Original Cast Album - Company (1970) Review

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(More customer reviews)What a great idea: record the cast album for Stephen Sondheim's "Company" live, as it were--no overdubs, no artificial mixdown. What a great idea: get a documentary crew to record the record session. The filmmaker caught 15-and-a-half hours of bleary-eyed cast members giving their all for a tough record producer and an even tougher composer/lyricist. (It had to be one marathon session because it would be too expensive to assemble all those singers and musicians for multiple sessions.) This is a great documentary that shows how hard it all is. If you've only seen her on the incipid show "Alice," you'll have no idea how talented Beth Howland is till you see her in "Getting Married Today." Donna McKechnie, Susan Browning, and Pamela Myers spoof Rogers and Hart (and not the Andrew Sisters as everyone seems to think) with verve in "You Could Drive a Person Crazy," which also finds Sondheim at his most clever. Charles Kimbrough would go on to do Murphy Brown and Barbara Barrie would briefly be in Barney Miller, and both shine here as effortless, "natural" actors. Star Dean Jones is perfect as the slightly dopey Bobby, even if some of his singing will make you wince. What's perhaps most remarkable is that the numbers that sound so fresh and improvisational actually took 8, 10, 15 takes. Especially "The Ladies Who Lunch." Elaine Stritch's famous song was the last number they recorded. By the time they were ready, it was after four in the morning and everyone was exhausted. Stritch tries, but after about eight takes it's clear she's not going to make it that night. With everyone getting punchy, they decide to record her music track separately, bringing her back the next day to knock the song out of the park.
The DVD has a commentary track, as Stritch, Hal Prince and the filmmaker reminisce about the session 30 years later. There's also a strange feature where one of the songs not covered in the doc can be listened to over B&W stills from the theatrical production. This didn't do anything for me, but there's no harm in having it there, either.
So this is a very good documentary. But it could have been even better. Two of the most complex and interesting songs, the opening number and "Side By Side/What Would We Do Without You," are barely covered in the film. I really wanted to see how they pulled off these extraordinarily complex numbers with the complete cast "live," but the documentary doesn't show it. Too bad. A 90 minute documentary with this material would hae been so much better than a 60 minute documentary without. It's probably true the 60 minute limit was imposed by ABC, which originally aired the documentary, but I'd be surprised if the filmmaker didn't save material that could have been added back for this DVD.
Still, this is worth owning, if a little pricey for a 53 minute CD (not 58, as advertised on the case). In some ways this musical is a classic, and in others it's incredibly (and amusingly) dated. Both qualities just make it all the more wonderful.

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Called a "monumental achievement" by the Los Angeles Times, Company is the extraordinary documentary capturing the explosive recording session for Stephen Sondheim's landmark musical.On May 3, 1970, just a few days after its triumphant Broadway opening,

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