I’m reading a book I just picked up at Half Price Books called Second Act Trouble, by Steven Suskin. Its subtitle is Behind the Scenes at Broadway’s Big Musical Bombs. It’s actually a compilation of mostly contemporaneous accounts by people associated with the shows, with commentary by Suskin. I have three other books about musicals that were written by Steven Suskin, including Opening Night on Broadway and More Opening Nights on Broadway, which collect excerpts from four or five top reviews for each musical, written for New York papers on opening night. Suskin starts with Oklahoma and ends in the mid-nineties when the second of these volumes was published. He adds anecdotes, stats, and opinions. All three of these books are great reading. Yes, I am proud to admit it: I am a straight, married, middle-aged white guy and I really love musicals–some musicals.
I tend to always enjoy seeing live productions, even community theatre, unless it’s really bad, just like I enjoy seeing other kinds of live music. Because it’s live, unique. I don’t enjoy listening to musicals on albums much, though. There are usually a few great songs that make good listening without the visuals, but they’re surrounded by not-so-great expository songs, often sung in stagy voices.
There’s a handful of musicals covered in Second Act Trouble that I’d like to hear, though. I’m not likely to ever see them live, because they won’t be produced. But among these bombs are shows that failed for reasons other than the music; maybe the show was stuck with an SOB star, maybe the book was weak, maybe it just didn’t come together. One I especially want to hear, and its original cast album is on CD, is Kwamina, by Richard Adler. His first two shows were The Pajama Game (great) and Damn Yankees (pretty gosh darn good, too). His partner Jerry Ross died young, but then Adler had a wild idea for a third theatre piece–a love story between a white woman and a black ruler. Didn’t go over so great on The Great White Way in 1961. But apparently the music is beautiful and inventive.
Another one I’d like to hear, also available on CD is Dude, the second show from Gerome Ragni and Galt MacDermot, who had a huge success with hair. The failure of Dude is evidently Ragni’s fault, and his lyrics are, I guess, a bit strange, but the music is supposed to be pretty nice. And Nell Carter sings on the album, made several years after the show opened and closed in 1972.
And now, a list of the ten original cast albums I actually occasionally listen to (along with the number of stars The Theatre Mania Guide to Musical Theatre Recordings gives each of them):
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Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1978), Fats Waller A whole show of fantastic Fats Waller songs, well-sung. I listen to this one more than any other. (3 stars)
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Company (1970) , Sondheim. Great stuff, very much of its time, but I guess that’s one thing I like about it. (4 stars)
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Guys and Dolls (1950) , Frank Loesser I’m not crazy about some of the vocal performances, but the songs are all great, and Stubby Kaye and Vivian Blaine are perfect. (4 stars)
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Candide (1956), Bernstein Dense and beautiful. (5 stars)
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Johnny Johnson (1955 studio cast album), Kurt Weill/Paul Green Beautiful stuff from Mr. Weill, an early anti-war show with some really haunting melodies. (5 stars)
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The Pajama Game (1954), Adler/Ross The movie soundtrack is actually better, but, again, a great collection of songs, beginning to end. (3 stars)
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The Robber Bridegroom (1976), Uhry/Waldman A country-ish musical based on Eudora Welty’s eccentric Deep South novel. I’m not sure why I like this one so much… (4 stars)
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Urinetown (2001), Hollman/Kotis With a name like “Urinetown,” it’s got to be good! It is great stuff: the music is Weill-ish and the lyrics are madcap. (4 stars)
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Rent (1996), Jonathan Larson A sentimental favorite: I saw one roadshow production with my wife and another with my daughter. Great live, and the songs hold up on disc. (5 stars)
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Pacific Overtures (1976), Sondheim I went through a period of listening to this quite a bit, and though I don’t listen to it alot now, its music always is somewhere around me. (5 stars)
Honorable mention: all of the great showtunes from the Brothers Gershwin and Cole Porter, Hair, Promenade, The Fantasticks
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