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PROMISES, PROMISES [Masterworks Broadway 88697 73495]
Let us acknowledge, to begin with, that the current revival of the Burt Bacharach-Hal David-Neil Simon musical Promises, Promises opened in April to a downbeat critical reception which has been countermanded — by far — by continuingly impressive strength at the box office. A fair share of the adverse criticism has to do with changes made in the show, seemingly to support the casting of the Kristin Chenoweth, a Tony winner and TV star.

Promises, Promises was originally written with the male lead, Chuck Baxter, dominating the action. The female lead, Fran Kubelik — a role that has always received star billing, but was nevertheless clearly intended to be secondary — has now been given extra songs, taken from the Bacharach-David pop charts ("A House Is Not a Home," "I Say a Little Prayer") and shoehorned into the action.

As critics have already pointed out, Chenoweth, while apparently box office catnip, is not an exact fit for the show. Fierce and feisty and tough — and perhaps even cute and warm — are adjectives you might apply to the actress known for Broadway's Wicked, The Apple Tree and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (as well as TV's "The West Wing" and "Pushing Daisies"), but innocent and vulnerable are perhaps not her hallmarks. Fran is a heroine who will get psychosomatic hiccups if a man looks at her askance, and resort to the most desperate measures if her married lover breaks her heart because, in her own words, "like a fool I don't know when to leave."

Which brings us to the new cast recording of the show, just released by Masterworks Broadway. Changes in characterization? Interpolated songs? Those discussions apply to the stage, yes, but are irrelevant on the recording. We are listening to what is there, on the new CD; not what isn't there, or wasn't there, or maybe shouldn't be there, or how old the characters are, or any such nonsense. How does the thing sound?

It sounds fine. Sean Hayes, who stars at the Broadway, does a sweet job as Chuck. I wouldn't say he compares with Jerry Orbach in 1968 (or, for that matter, Jack Lemmon in "The Apartment"); but he gives a charmingly winning performance on stage which easily carries over to the CD. Ms. Chenoweth, for her part, certainly knows how to sing and act; her CD performance, without carrying the baggage of the above-mentioned issues, is understandably more satisfying. And Jonathan Tunick's orchestrations, revised and slightly reduced by the master orchestrator himself, sounds just right under the direction of Phil Reno. Yes, this CD gives us Burt Bacharach's Promises, Promises, and passes with flying colors.

But what is it that is missing? The technical term, I believe, is "oomph." This new CD just doesn't have the oomph that Promises had at the Shubert in 1968, or on the original Broadway cast album. Which comes along, right on cue. Continued...