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ON THE RECORD: Solo Albums from Victoria Clark, Lauren Kennedy and Andréa Burns
By Steven Suskin
11 Nov 2007
This week, we give a listen to solo albums from three contemporary musical theatre actresses: Victoria Clark's "Fifteen Seconds of Grace," Lauren Kennedy's "Here and Now" and Andréa Burns' "A Deeper Shade of Red."
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PS Classics was established in 2000, specializing in theatre-style singers and songwriters. Through a combination of quality, dedication and luck — the latter having to do with the drastically reduced output of the corporate bigboys — the small independent label has found its way to several major cast albums in its rapidly growing catalogue, notably including Grey Gardens and recent revivals of Nine, 110 in the Shade, Assassins, Frogs and Company. Fifty-seven CDs, of many different stripes, in eight years. Now, as something of a holiday present to listeners, they have simultaneously released solo albums by not one nor two but three top-notch singing actresses.
Victoria Clark: Fifteen Seconds of Grace [PS-755]
Victoria Clark's debut solo album is the most obvious of the three; that is, the most obvious purchase right off the bat. Clark's Tony-winning performance in Light in the Piazza only affirmed what many theatregoers knew; that this unassuming, unlikely-to-find-a-starring-role character actor was among the best dramatic singers in the business. And, thus, relatively underemployed on Broadway. Piazza and her stint as Sally in the Encores Follies put Clark in the spotlight where she belongs; we can only hope that the musically fascinating but problematic Juno turns out half so well when she undertakes it at Encores! in March 2008.
Clark and music director Ted Sperling have assembled a collection of art songs, mostly, from composers including Jane Kelly Williams, Ricky Ian Gordon, Jeff Blumenkrantz and Clark herself. We get a piece of Arlen ("Right as the Rain," from Bloomer Girl) and a songhit each from Mr. Berlin and Mr. Herman. There is also an important piece of Guettel, "Life Is But a Dream" from Saturn Returns. This song was not included when that score was recorded, under the title Myths and Hymns, and is thus a notable addition to the CD shelf. My favorite tracks on the album are the saucily Southern "Someone to Cook For," by Jessica Molaskey & John Pizzarelli, and a whirlwind take on Johnny Mercer's Astaire-song "Something's Gotta Give."
Orchestrations come from Sperling, Blumenkrantz, David Loud, Alex Rybeck, and Jeff Klitz (who is responsible for the Mercer). But the excitement here is the impeccable Ms. Clark. "Fifteen Seconds of Grace," 46 minutes of joy. Continued...
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