By Steven Suskin
22 Aug 2004

SOMETHING TO DANCE ABOUT [Jay CDJAY 1381]
With three American cast recordings of Irving Berlin's Call Me Madam on the shelf, Something to Dance About, a British showcase of the singer Kim Criswell which incorporates seven Madam selections, seems unlikely to add anything to the mix. But appearances are deceiving. No sooner do they launch into "The Hostess with the Mostes'" than we realize that Ms. Criswell — and her producer, John Yap — are now, for the first time, demonstrating what this show must have sounded like in the theatre.

This statement calls for some explaining. Berlin wrote this score for Merman, and Merman recorded it during the Broadway run, didn't she? Well, yes. But RCA Victor, the principal backer of the stage show, was unable to borrow Merman from Decca (with whom she had an exclusive contract). Decca gladly brought out its own collection, Ethel Merman: 12 Songs from "Call Me Madam" [Decca Broadway 0881 10521], and did very well with it. But this is not the Broadway Call Me Madam; it features decidedly non-theatrical arrangements by Gordon Jenkins. We get the Merman voice, yes, which you'd think would be more than enough; but a cast album it isn't.

RCA plugged singing star Dinah Shore into the role, surrounding her with the rest of the original cast, supported by musical director Jay Blackton conducting the original orchestrations (almost). This album — now available, if you can find it, from the British label Flame [ROYCD 222] — sounds far more theatrical than the Decca. It also brings us leading man Paul Lukas (who is not much of a singer), ingenue Galina Talva (with her ocarina), and the personable performance of Russell Nype, who all but stole the show from Ethel and took home his own Tony Award. But there is a problem with this recording; there is an extra orchestrator billed, one Hugo Winterhalter, who is known for his "easy listening" style. He quite obviously provided special charts for Ms. Shore, although which and what was impossible for the listener to tell until 1995.

Until 1995, that is, thanks to the concert version of the show given by City Center Encores! and recorded by DRG [DRG 24761]. Finally, we had the entire show with the authentic orchestrations, giving us a good idea of what the show sounded like when Berlin was standing at the back rail of the Imperial. At least, we got an idea of how the ensemble numbers sounded. Rob Fisher and his merry band played everything as it must have been, but we weren't hearing the Merman role. Tyne Daly played the part, and she did quite well within the context of the concert version; but she wasn't singing, not in the manner that Berlin intended. So in 1995, we got to hear everything meticulously performed, except the star vocals.

Jay Records, now, finishes the task. They take the original orchestrations (apparently using the reconstruction prepared for Encores!) and add a singer who can sing these songs like they are supposed to be sung. Kim Criswell can sing, certainly; I might not be her biggest fan, as I usually find her overly mannered, but she knows what to do with a song (and the mannerisms are in this case very much in control). Criswell does extremely well by Call Me Madam, with just a little touch of the inevitable Merman here and there. Call Me Madam is not my favorite Berlin score, either; but the Merman songs are robust, and it's a pleasure to hear them on this recording.

The selections omit one of the Merman songs, "Can You Use Any Money Today?" while including "Mr. Monotony." This is one of the most interesting of the songs; one of Berlin's most interesting, to me, and quite unlike anything else he wrote. It was neither written for nor (in the end) heard in Call Me Madam. An unused song intended for the 1948 film "Easter Parade," Berlin incorporated it into his 1949 musical Miss Liberty. The sinuously jazzy number — about a gal who leaves her monotonous trombonist for a snappy clarinetter, because, in Berlin's words, "trombone players don't last long" — must have seemed out-of-place in a show taking place in 1885. But no matter; choreographer Jerome Robbins and dance arranger Genevieve Pitot worked it into what must have been quite a number. Out it went on the road, for obvious reasons, but Berlin and Robbins reinstated it a year later in Madam. Cut once more, it finally reached Broadway in the 1989 anthology revue Jerome Robbins' Broadway.

"Washington Square Dance" and "Something to Dance About," two of Robbins' three big showpieces in the affair, come off especially well, giving us an audio snapshot of what the production numbers in Abbott-Robbins musicals sounded like. No, Merman didn't lead the "Square Dance"; but she launched the song, sat back while the girls and boys did their stuff to musical variations, and returned for the finish.

The orchestrations are suitably flavorful throughout, if not particularly distinguished. (Pretty much the same can be said for the Berlin's score.) The orchs are herein credited to Don Walker, which is not especially accurate. Walker, for reasons unknown and to his surprise, was replaced during the tryout; sitting at home in New Hope, he got a phone call telling him that Joe Glover was doing new charts. "You're Just in Love" (here done in duet with Matt Bogart) and "Something to Dance About" are definitely by Glover, as they were written after Walker's departure.

Glover wound up with "additional orchestration" credit, and apparently with no hard feelings; Walker, who had used Glover as early as Carousel in 1945, invited him into several of his next shows. Glover did quite a bit of ghosting over the years, as well as being credited on a few shows (the most important being Arthur Schwartz's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn). His work was typically adequate and sometimes even better. The best charts of his that I've positively identified are "Wrong Note Rag" and "The Man I Used to Be"; he also did "Chop Suey," so help us.

Something to Dance About, the CD, is filled in with Criswell singing assorted numbers from the Berlin song bag, but the value here — at least for musical comedy fans — is Call Me Madam.

—Steven Suskin, author of the forthcoming "A Must See! Brilliant Broadway Artwork," the "Broadway Yearbook" series, "Show Tunes" and the "Opening Night on Broadway" books. He can be reached by e-mail at Ssuskin@aol.com.