Review Copyright (c) 1995 by TheatreNet Enterprises
When Tyne Daly recorded her portrayal of Mama Rose in "Gypsy", she was feeling personal and professional pressure -- according to people involved with the album. One didn't need inside sources, however, to hear that something was terribly amiss. All one had to do was listen to the CD. Ms. Daly was so far from being in her best form -- so many miles away from reproducing the legendary performance she gave in the theatre, from even basic comfort -- that it prompted a journalist colleague of mine to remark, "On the basis of this CD ... our children will never believe us."
Well, she's made another cast album now, and while our children may not have hard evidence that Ms. Daly was the quintessential Rose, it will be much easier to convince them that she is to be considered a musical theatre star of the first magnitude. Whatever went wrong in the "Gypsy" recording session, she makes up for it in spades on the first wholly accurate recording of the Irving Berlin score for "Call Me Madam".
The album is the happy result of an ultra-successful concert from City Center's "Encores!" series, whose mandate is to create star-studded staged readings of neglected musicals. More often than not, the "Encores!" presentations have been smartly conceived, theatrically charged events, and none more so than the one showcasing this 1950 musical about an earthy diplomat (modeled, by librettists Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, on Pearl Mesta). A deceptively laid back affair, in which the performers' personas were ideal matches for their roles, the Encores! "Call Me Madam" let the material speak -- and sing -- for itself in a smooth, unforced manner, under the direction of Charles Repole (whose good taste -- if indeed it was his that put the stamp on the evening -- would utterly abandon him when it came to the subsequent Broadway revival of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"; but that's another recording review ... )
The special magic of this recording is twofold: First it eschews the drawbacks of concert recordings. There is no compromise in sound, mixing, or quality of performance. This is not a "live" recording, but rather a studio recording, featuring the concert cast. Second, it also avoids all the trappings of re-constructionist recordings, which seek, with varying success, to definitively preserve "lost" scores. Many such recordings are informed by an academic stiffness ... at the very least, a sense that while a score is being preserved, its innate theatricality is not. But "Call Me Madam" has the authenticity, energy and dimension of classic cast albums associated with full productions. The performances feel "lived in," and there's no mistaking the communal atmosphere around the cast, which makes the transition beautifully from concert hall to CD.
The songs are among Berlin's best -- "The Hostess With the Mostes' on the Ball", "It's a Lovely Day Today" and "You're Just in Love" to name but three -- and Don Walker's original orchestrations are both nostalgic and fresh, as played by the Coffee Club Orchestra under the gimcrack musical direction of Rob Fisher.
The young lovers are sung with velvet ease by Melissa Errico (demonstrating a savvy that seemed elusive in the recent revival of "My Fair Lady") and especially Lewis Cleale. Even the old warhorse Walter Charles seems a comforting presence, lending his rich baritone to the role of Ms. Daly's love interest.
And then, as I say, there's Ms. Daly herself. Hers is not a great voice, in terms of control, nor a very resonant one. But it's a solid one, and a distinctive one, and, in theatrical terms, a thoroughly musical one. She attacks the role with brio and brash enthusiasm, and the fun she has is infectious.
And the infection won't hurt at all.
Jameson Baker is a free-lance theatre journalist. He has written CD liner notes and articles for several magazines and newspapers, among them Vanity Fair.