By Steven Suskin
03 Apr 2005

Listening to the score for the first time since the show opened and closed, I find it both better than remembered (in that there are some tunes, hidden among all that talk) and worse (in that the music for this tale of seventeenth century Paris sounds somewhere between Man of La Mancha and — so help me — The Goodbye Girl). Plummer won his first Tony Award in the role, albeit against weak competition (headed by Alfred Drake in Gigi). Yes, he was impressive and refreshing; but I found the panache of his performance, so perfect when he was speaking, worked against the singing sections. Leigh Beery, as Roxana (as Rostand's Roxane was renamed), gave a lovely performance, while Mark Lamos made an interesting, young Christian. Beery and Lamos were very much in a musical drama, while the character people and — to some extent Plummer — were musical comedy. Very odd.

That same summer there was yet another musical Cyrano trying out in stock. A Song for Cyrano came from the pens of Robert Wright and George Forrest, with Jose Ferrer re-creating his Tony-and-Oscar-winning role. Ferrer also wrote the book, under an assumed name. A Song for Cyrano wasn't very good, and Ferrer didn't pull the singing off so well as Plummer; but this operetta was at least lively. And Wright and Forrest, at least, provided songs. Think of Alfred Drake delivering "Fate" and "Gesticulate" in Kismet, and you'll get an idea of where Wright and Forrest were heading with Cyrano.

The Plummer Cyrano has somehow or other assembled a coterie of fans over the years, making the LP something of a collector's item; so I imagine that at least some listeners to this new CD will find Cyrano illuminating, which is fine by me. Others can either take it or leave it.

Only please, let's not hear any grumbling. Musical theatre enthusiasts have been known to complain about which cast albums are reissued, and I can just hear an approaching cloud of discontent. ("Why don't they give us Baker Street already?" or "they should have transferred something really important, like the imperishable Donnybrook.") Let it be said that Decca Broadway has done us all a service by continuing to release these long lost titles; that they appear to be dedicated to the catalogues under their control; and it is my understanding that the Titles We Want will come along as quickly as clearances can be arranged. And yes, it can and often does take years.

SALLY MAYES — VALENTINE [Bayview RNBW029]
The distinctive songstress Sally Mayes might best be described as an A-One Ado Annie type in a day when nobody knows how to write characters like Ado Annie. Ms. Mayes has appeared in but two original Broadway musicals, Welcome to the Club and Urban Cowboy. Some combination! In both cases, Mayes rose above the material, and how; she seemed equipped with her own personal director and her own personal follow spot. In her other Broadway appearance she was favored with exceptional material, which is to say She Loves Me, and she made just as good an Ilona as one might expect.

That such a talented performer — prime Broadway material — should have a Broadway career consisting of three shows in seventeen years, with a combined run of eleven months, seems a supreme waste of talent. But there you have it.

Mayes has had a slightly more active time of it Off-Broadway, with Closer Than Ever among her credits. In the meantime, she has developed a cabaret career, and along the way brought us a handful of solo albums. These include three that might (or should) be known to readers of this column, "The Dorothy Fields Songbook," "Our Private World" and "Boys and Girls Like You and Me."

"Valentine," her sixth solo album, is Mayes's "own personal valentine to the American standards I have known and loved since I learned them at my father's knee." This being Sally Mayes, though, this is a pretty sophisticated selection. Two of the twelve songs come from the piano rack of Rodgers and Hart, "My Funny Valentine" (with a fine assist from Billy Stritch) and "My Romance." I especially like Ms. Mayes' way with "Here's That Rainy Day"; her take on two Harry Warren tunes from Hollywood; and her medley combining "The Best Is Yet to Come" and "You Fascinate Me So," which makes a fine tribute to the late Cy Coleman. Jeffrey Klitz provided the arrangements and heads a three-man combo.

Ms. Mayes gives us another enjoyable and listenable album. Now, if only someone would write her a decent role for Broadway.

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

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