Recording Review by Jameson Baker
So one approaches the new Columbia Recording with both apprehension and anticipation. Apprehension that it will unavoidably capture the slipshod feel of the concert, and anticipation because the mixing and mastering of a CD can cover a multitude of sins.
Surprisingly -- though it shouldn't be surprising -- the album falls between the two stools.
There is, alas, very little disguising the near misses and minor train wrecks of the performance; a few cosmetic tweaks here and there, to be sure (Bernadette Peters either re-recorded a blown lyric from Sondheim's anthematic "There Won't Be Trumpets", or a dress rehearsal take was seamlessly spliced into the track), but for the most part, what one heard is what was preserved. Not only are the "clams" painfully obvious, but the miking of the orchestra is frequently disastrous; it has a flat, often emaciated sound, even for a "live" recording. And there isn't much help for the fact that "Anyone Can Whistle" failed on Broadway for a reason. Yes, in many ways it did, as legend has it, flirt with being ahead of its time ... but it did so with a smug disdain for its audience (however unintentional), with a three act story structure that falls irretrievably apart in the middle of act two, and with a very backward misogyny. (We all want our Sondheim libraries to be complete, and that is, of course, justification for the recording of his trunk songs -- but "There's Always a Woman" does leave you wondering ... Though the number is musically compelling and lyrically, as always, razor sharp, what it has to say is genuinely hateful. Here's how it opens:
The joke, perhaps, is that it is sung by two women of each other. But it's a very small perhaps. And an even smaller joke.)
On the other hand, without the visual aspect to distract the ear, some of the concert works much better on CD. For example, on stage Madeline Kahn's languid physical performance as the mayoress gave every indication of having been phoned in -- even though her extraordinary vocal range, and the ease with which she displayed it, were undeniable. Yet, by accident or design, the interpretation seems ideally tailored for the CD, where languidity translates as striking, sly intimacy. (Not incidentally, Ms. Kahn sang the role created by Angela Lansbury, who served as host of the concert. Some of her narrative is preserved on the CD as well.) The other two stars emerge from the shaky enterprise pretty much as they did onstage: Bernadette Peters gives a performance of great and generous heart, despite the odds, replete with her agreeably familiar quirks. And Scott Bakula, though having the least flashy star moments, is a rock. Smooth, secure, reliable, relentlessly charming and damn near flawless.
Inevitably, though, few recordings like this can be judged in a vacuum. Even though all the principal roles are sung with infinitely more musicality than they are on the Original Broadway Cast Album (also Columbia, CK 2480), the original has a theatrical urgency, authenticity -- and cohesiveness -- that the concert can't match. And, as mentioned, the concert orchestra has been reproduced very poorly; Don Walker's orchestrations have a rough time of it ... whereas on the original, they are crisply, fairly and pleasantly represented.
However ... much material is missing from the original (even taking into account that its CD restored "lost" tracks omitted from the original 1964 vinyl release). While the concert album is, for all intents and purposes, unabridged.
My advice: think of the new CD as a necessarily mixed blessing. "Anyone Can Whistle" is too flawed a show to bear a major revival, and the complete score would simply never have been recorded were it not for the AIDS benefit. Put it on your shelf next to the original, regard it as an appendix rather than an alternative, take solace in the fact that it has its moments -- and be philosophical. It may not all be great ... but at least it's all there.