ON THE RECORD: Wedding in Paris, Can-Can and Billy
By Steven Suskin
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BILLY [Dress Circle]
Billy created quite a stir when it opened at Theatre Royal Drury Lane on May 1, 1974. Produced by American talent agent Peter Witt, it seemed poised as the next big show at a time when Broadway audiences were making do with the likes of
Gigi and
Lorelei . Somehow or other,
Billy never got around to transferring stateside; the material, based on the play (and film)
Billy Liar , was — admittedly — very British. Still, those of us who were unable to get to London felt we just might have missed something. Transatlantic hopes were so high that Goddard Lieberson, the swami of Columbia Records, came out of semi-retirement to produce the cast album. (This was only his second British cast album, the other being the 1958 stereo edition of
My Fair Lady .)
The cast album of Billy is long out of print. It was issued on CD, briefly, in the early nineties. It has now been reissued on a limited basis by Dress Circle, the indispensable musical theatre shop on Monmouth Street in London (and on the internet).
Billy is best remembered today as the show that launched the musical theatre career of the already-successful comic actor Michael Crawford. The score is highly enjoyable, in a sixties manner, although far from imperishable; several of the songs are, upon examination, somewhat weaker than remembered. But the over-all impression is favorable, suitable for replay (except for one horrendous, pseudo-rock-'n'-roll number in the 11 o'clock slot).
Film composer John Barry wrote the music, finding the success that eluded him in his other three stage attempts. (Passion Flower Hotel had an unsuccessful West End run in 1965; Lolita, My Love , written with Alan Jay Lerner, folded during its 1971 pre-Broadway tryout; The Little Prince and the Aviator shuttered in previews at the Alvin in 1982.) Even so, the man could certainly write a tune, as attested to by parts of Lolita and Billy (to say nothing of "Born Free").
Three songs stand out. "Some of Us Belong to the Stars" is a good introductory song for the star, driven by a somewhat contemporary beat. It gets things off to a fine start, despite some questionable lyrics from Don Black. "Lies" soon follows, a cheerfully lilting boy-girl duet. This is a list song of sorts, as the hero is an inveterate liar. The twist in the words — that he isn't lying when he says I love you — doesn't quite pay off, but the tune makes up for it.
Best of all is "Aren't You Billy Fisher?" An unwieldy title, yes, but I suppose you can call it one of the catchiest show tunes of the year. (If you don't believe me, look back at the slim pickings of 1974, why don't you?) This builds into a grand production number of six-minutes plus, carefully assembled in the manner of Mame .
Choreographer Onna White was imported to the UK for Billy , and she had a particular aversion to sending the star off to his or her dressing room while the dancers do all the work. This grew, no doubt, from her stints as a Michael Kidd dancer in Finian's Rainbow and Guys and Dolls . Give her Bob Preston (in The Music Man ) or Angela Lansbury (in Mame ), and she was going to find a way to get them working out there in the big production number. Crawford she has tap dancing, all right, and he was apparently not a natural. In any case, "Aren't You Billy Fisher?" sounds like a true showstopper. It takes up about 15 percent of the disc, and you'll hear no complaint from me.
There are some other winning-if-not-overpowering numbers in "Billy" and "Any Minute Now," sung by the hero's girlfriends (the lesser of whom was played by an up-and-coming Elaine Paige). All of which conspire to make Billy well worth a listen or three. This despite some questionable lyrics scattered throughout, the sort of thing where "stars" rhyme with "Shangri-las" while "Thackeray" is paired with "banana daiquiri." In Billy's liar song, he talks of "the time that Shostakovich said that I could call him Shost." Shostakovich? Pretty posh for a daydreaming, lower-crust undertaker's clerk, eh what?
—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.
