By Steven Suskin
04 Dec 2011

	Cover art for The Music Man

REISSUES FROM THE VAULT

Masterworks Broadway has continued to reissue cast albums from the various labels in their archives. This year's titles include Oh! Captain!!, with a score that's only half good but lots of fun, with enjoyable performances from Tony Randall, Jacquelyn McKeever and Susan Johnson; Marc Blitzstein's Juno, a serious music drama (after Juno and the Paycock) which has its highs and lows along with Shirley Booth and Melvyn Douglas; First Impressions, a sub-par musicalization of "Pride and Prejudice" from 1959 which is nevertheless sprightly, with Polly Bergen and Farley Granger; and Harold Rome's The Zulu and the Zayda, a decidedly unusual play with music with Yiddish-Zulu songs — yes, that's the best way to describe them — which nevertheless soar. . . From England comes the 1961 West End cast album of The Music Man [Sepia 1173], starring Van Johnson. Musically, this sounds somewhat more vibrant than the original Broadway cast album; vocally it's a little strange, as Johnson is not as vibrant as Bob Preston and some of these stubborn Iowans sing with decidedly British accents. What makes this CD of greater than expected interest are the bonus tracks, with composer-lyricist Meredith Willson demonstrating eight cut songs. Anyone interested in the making of a classic musical will find these fascinating.

ALSO ON TAP

	Cover art for She Loves Him: Kate Baldwin, Live at Feinstein's

The musical valentine of the year was She Loves Him: Kate Baldwin, Live at Feinstein's [PS Classics PS-1101]. The "him" being Sheldon Harnick, naturally. The 86-year old lyricist was there on stage, joining Baldwin and singing along. Songs from She Loves Me, Fiddler on the Roof, Fiorello! and more. A lovely evening captured live on CD. . . On the unlikely pleasures list is Quiet Please [Bridge 9334]. Pianist Steven Blier (of the New York Festival of Song) and singer Darius de Haas improvise their way around 17 songs. Their tastes run the gamut, from Gershwin to Ellington to Wonder. (Stevie, that is.) What's more, they give us "Hero and Leander" and "Migratory V," two intriguing (and difficult) songs from Adam Guettel's Myths and Hymns. . . To say that the 86-year-old Barbara Carroll is younger than springtime is cliched and inaccurate. Her piano playing, though — on Barbara Carroll: How Long Has This Been Going On? [Harbinger HCD-2701] — is whatever cliche for wonderful you wish to employ. Carroll, with bass, drums, and Ken Peplowski on clarinet, makes beautiful music from the American Songbook.

(Steven Suskin is author of the recently released updated and expanded Fourth Edition of "Show Tunes" as well as "The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators and Orchestrations," "Second Act Trouble" and the "Opening Night on Broadway" books. He also pens Playbill.com's Book Shelf and DVD Shelf columns. He can be reached at Ssuskin@aol.com.)