By Steven Suskin
Bonnie & Clyde [Broadway Records]
Listen to the duet "You Love Who You Love," with Laura Osnes and Melissa van der Schyff, or Ms. Osnes' solo "Dyin' Ain't So Bad." This is a different Wildhorn, and one with more to offer than the fellow who last spring turned out Wonderland. And yes, the Clyde of the occasion was the same Jeremy Jordan mentioned in the review above. He was good in Bonnie & Clyde, but better in Newsies.
Fans of Wildhorn (of which there are many) and fans of Bonnie & Clyde (of which there are some) will be glad to add the posthumously-recorded CD to their collection. It is brought to us by a new label, Broadway Records, who are on a beginner's spree. Soon to arrive are a mini-CD of Nick Jonas — the current J. Pierpont Finch in How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying — singing his songs from that show, followed by the original cast album of last winter's cheerful but underattended Lysistrata Jones.
29 Apr 2012
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Bonnie & Clyde, the sixth Broadway musical from the aforementioned Frank Wildhorn, rolled into town on Dec. 1 and was shuttered by New Year's Eve. The phrase "Frank Wildhorn musical" has a certain connotation in some circles, but here the composer confounded at least some of his critics. The show — about those Depression-era bank robbers familiar to the world courtesy of Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway — didn't work; the music, though, wasn't the problem. This was the best of the scores Wildhorn has given us, which might in itself not sound like much of a recommendation. But Wildhorn, here, actually seemed to be writing for the theatre. Don Black's lyrics, though, were not particularly helpful.
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One Man, Two Guvnors [DRG]
The funniest show on Broadway — and the funniest show I've seen since the original production of Noises Off, or perhaps before — is One Man, Two Guvnors, presently rolling them in the aisles at the Music Box. Ringleader of the affair is a fellow named James Corden. Broadway audiences might remember him from History Boys, where he played the student who looked like a budding Richard Griffiths. In the interim, Corden has become a U.K. sitcom star, courtesy of "Gavin and Stacey" (which he created for himself). "One Man," which originated in June 2011 at the National in London, has launched him into what is fast becoming international prominence. And well deserved.
When I ran into Corden at the live New York screening of the Olivier Awards last month, he said, "Write something good about me!" Simple enough; James Corden is sidesplittingly droll, a delectable wonder. Richard Bean's play itself is howlingly funny, and let me add that it holds up remarkably well after three viewings. Miss One Man — and Corden, along with his hysterical cohorts — at your peril.
As if to enhance the experience of seeing the play — and in order to give me an excuse to discuss it in this column — DRG has now given us a local release of the original cast recording. One Man is not a musical, but it is interlaced with a dozen songs from an on-stage skiffle band. And not merely as scene-change diversions, which is what they initially seem to be. As the play progresses, each actor sits in for a number. (One plays car horns, another kettle drums, and one — Daniel Rigby, as an over-the-top wannabe actor — slaps out a solo on his bared breast.) Thus, the score does not merely cover for set and costume changes; while they initially provide recovery time from the laughter, director Nicholas Hytner starts sneaking his actors into the songs with unexpected and lovely results.
The CD was recorded in London, with the original foursome (which called itself "The Craze"). There is a different, New York-bred Craze playing the show on Broadway. They are not yet up to the frenetic level of the Brit group, perhaps due to the absence of vocalist/guitarist Grant Olding (who wrote the songs). The recording does include the actors currently appearing on Broadway, inasmuch as they — Corden and all — participate in the finale, "Tomorrow Looks Good From Here." We also get the girls' trio, "Lighten Up and Lay Low." Plus plenty of those skiffle songs.
Read about the Broadway production of One Man, Two Guvnors in the Playbill Vault.
Visit PlaybillStore.com to view theatre-related recordings for sale.
(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" (now available in paperback), "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.)
