Review Copyright (c) 1995 by TheatreNet Enterprises
Probably even under optimum conditions, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" should not be revived on Broadway, but what the recent Goodspeed Opera House version was doing at the Lyceum was anybody's guess. (Even some of the cast members were bewildered...which is not to say that they were anything but happy about the work.) The story about Goldigger Lorelei Lee is a light, forgettable confection, nothing more, and under the direction of Charles Repole, it had been given what is oft-considered the standard Goodspeed Opera House treatment: a kind of cardboard cutout ambiance that affects all elements of the production equally and makes the thing, at best, an evening of proficient professional stock.
But this one wasn't even proficient. The casting was lackluster, and in regard to its Lorelei, KT Sullivan, genuinely mind-boggling. (I attended the second night performance with my best friend in tow. We had heard the rumors of Ms. Sullivan -- that her performance was weak. But we figured she was mostly suffering by comparisons to Carol Channing, who had created the role several decades before; figured that, in all likelihood, she would come off as a sympathetic utility player, a little out of her depth. Well, Ms. Sullivan was so out of her depth she was drowning. Come intermission, I just looked at my friend, wide eyed, and said, slowly, "Wo-ow." To which he replied: "More 'wow' than we ever expected.") It was simply beyond excuses, and you couldn't blame her. The culprit was the director. Ms. Sullivan was a reflection of his taste, and only the most extreme example of a cavalcade of bad decisions.
And yet...the idea of a cast album of this production was oddly attractive... if only because it would preserve the full score. And, of course, up close and personal, hearing the actors singing into the mike for posterity, rather than belting it out for the balcony, there was every reason to suspect that the album might be a somewhat different, and better, experience than the show.
Weirdly, it is both the curse and the blessing of the new album on the DRG label that it captures the awfulness of the recent production with devastating accuracy. KT Sullivan remains unconnected and oblivious, while the rest of the cast voice-mugs their collective way through the rest.
The Jule Styne-Leo Robin score for "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" is a secondary piece of work at best, so even academically, this album is a disheatening affair. Crackerjack orchestrator Douglas Besterman (assisted by equally crackerjack orchestrator Joe Gianono) tastefully does what he can to perk up the proceedings. But he's limited to a small, no-budget ensemble that, for aesthetic reasons, can't be conspicuously enhanced by electronic samples; so, given the expansive Jule Styne Tin Pan Alley imprimatur, even the cleverest orchestrations -- and there are quite a few -- feel like "road" reductions of something that was much better when it was larger.
This album is mostly for completists and scholars. Those of you who buy your theatre CDs for the unbridled joy of the listening ... be warned.
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.