Customer Reviews

Babes In Arms (1999 City Center Encores! Cast)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Back in the days when musical comedies had both music and comedy and most of the cast was left alive at the end so you could go home feeling good, there was a miracle called Rodgers and Hart. Hart's marvelous lyrics never let Rodgers' music get as soapy as it was going to become with Hammerstein's lyrics (e.g., "Sound of Music") because they were intelligent, witty, biting, and actually better in their way than those of W.S. Gilbert. Compared with the "one song" musicals of today, we have in (say) "Babes in Arms" no less than four songs that became standards and two, which are clever parodies on love and western ballads. There are two excellent recordings of <Babes in Arms> and I find it difficult to choose between them. The earlier release on New World Records boasts Judy Blazer and Judy Kaye and a good supporting cast. The DRG release (94769) is a tad less well sung but contains more material. This set wisely gives us some of the dialogue that leads up to the songs and does include the now politically incorrect number "All Dark People." Nevertheless the producers decided to shear off the offending stanza and call it "Light on Their Feet." But the results are just fine and this is a highly recommended recording, comparisons with the New World version aside. Personally, I will play both of them many many times in the years to come.

This is one of my favorite scores, and as much as I wanted to love it, I came away with very mixed feelings. Like other shows of the 1930s, we are not left with any original cast albums. We have old playbills and souvenir programs, an Al Hirscfield drawing, perhaps a snippet of a silent movie that was taken during performance. Sometimes we are even luckier. With BABES IN ARMS we have an actual radio recording made by original cast member, Wynn Murray, performing two of her songs from the show: Way out West and Johnny One Note. But what did the show mean to the audiences of its day? Probably a great deal if one looks at the people associated with it: Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart and Gorge Balanchine (before he became Mr. B.) But what does this recording say to us today?

Here is the problem. Unlike the previous recording of 1990, this recording lacks any consistent tone. We get of to a rousing start with the overture. But then the singing starts! I am sorry to say that the two leads, Erin Dilly and David Campbell have no sense of style or feel for these songs. They exhibit a 1990s pop feel which distracts from the emotional value of their songs. Thus the haunting and piercing WHERE OR WHEN and MY FUNNY VALENTINE remain vapid and fail to register on a visceral level. On the other hand, Melissa Rain Anderson does give us an exciting JOHNNY ONE NOTE and the Coffee Club Orchestra lets go with a wonderful rendition of ALL LIGHT PEOPLE (a revised title of what we would consider a politically incorrect song.)

Another plus to this recording: all the dance music is recorded so balletomances can have a field day imagining what Balanchine did with it. I would recommend this recording only with reservations. Listeners should also get the 1990 version with Judy Blazer and Judy Kaye.

It might be sacrelige to say so, but this album stands head and shoulders above the one from New World Records that represents the ten-year-old Avery Fisher concert. The Encores! version is zippier, zestier, and altogether more fun.

Part of the fun is in the casting: while it's hard not to love the cast of the other album (most of whom are members of the Varese Sarabande/Fynsworth Alley stable of performers), this cast is made up of young people that someday you'll be proud to have known about before they were big. David Campbell appears likely to become one of the stage's preeminent leading men (assuming he doesn't abandon theatre for TV, movies or pop music) -- his singing is gorgeous, his acting confident. Erin Dilly is every bit as good, and registers more strongly because she has better songs (including "The Lady is a Tramp" and "My Funny Valentine"). Everyone else sounds fine and appears to be having fun; supporting leads Christopher Fitzgerald and Jessica Stone stand out. Everyone sounds *young*, a trait appropriate to the characters but not present on the last album.

An additional treat is the inclusion of scraps of dialogue to set up the tracks. We've all heard many of these standards many times before, but it's much more interesting to have them set up by lines from the book -- the fight that precipitates "I Wish I Were in Love Again", the story that provokes "Johnny One Note", et cetera. It makes the album sound like a show and not a collection of randomly assembled pop standards.

And standards they are. That's the main reason one should want to own either album -- the songs are without exception so delicious that I often finish playing it and want to put it back on immediately. The DRG album gets the edge over the New World album here, too, as it preserves the music and the more innocuous lyrics of the lovely but no-longer-PC "Light On Our Feet".

All that remains to be said -- all that needs to be said -- is that the album is pure magic. If you haven't gotten around to buying it, give it a chance.

This is by far the best recording of this marvelous score. The 1990 recording (with Judy Blazer) was all right, but it cast singers who were too old to play teenagers, and therefore had no sense of theatre, no feeling that these singers were portraying characters. On this recording, everyone is appropriately young and enthusiastic, and for the first time we can appreciate that these are truly *theatre* songs, not isolated pop tunes. (The snippets of dialogue help in this regard, as well.) I don't agree about Campbell and Dilly being stylistically wrong for this music; they may not sound like '30s singers, but then, this isn't the '30s. But they, like all the singers on this recording, know that this music shouldn't be oversung, or screamed, and they do just fine by their songs--in particular, Dilly's "My Funny Valentine," with its gorgeous accompaniment by the Coffee Club Orchestra, is magical. An essential purchase.

I can't say much that hasn't already been said in praise of this recording. This is yet another one of many wonderful scores by Rodgers and Hart, this one especially of interest because of the sheer number of standards it produced. "Where Or When," "I Wish I Were In Love Again," "My Funny Valentine," "Johnny One Note," "The Lady Is a Tramp"... they all came from this show, and in spite of the cliched aspect of the kids-putting-on-a-show plot, the score remains as fresh as ever in this delightful recording of the Encores! concert. As others have said, the inclusion of dialogue to set up several of the famous numbers in the context of a plot and characters is a fun bonus, and the remarkably young-sounding cast is highly enjoyable. While David Campbell and Erin Dilly may not sound like our perception of 1930s teenagers, they still give delightful performances; I stand with another reviewer in singling out Dilly's "My Funny Valentine' as being particularly magical. Supporting pair Christopher Fitzgerald and Jessica Stone are a lot of fun, and Melissa Rain Anderson is delightful in "Johnny One-Note," "Way Out West," and "Imagine." The lesser-known songs in this score are not standards for a reason, but in spite of not being up to the level of their more famous companions, they are all quite pleasent and perfectly agreeable to listen to. The orchestra's spirited playing of the original arrangements only adds to the excitement. I can't compare this to an earlier recording that has been mentioned in other reviews, as I haven't heard it. All I know is that this recording is a joy from start to finish, and definitly worth buying.

A real pleasure to listen to this version. I really like the cast vocals, especially the newcommer Christopher Fitzgerald. Wow, what a voice! This one is great!

Rodgers and Hart's shows have such sparkling scores that they should (mostly) all be recorded. (Why isn't By Jupiter on disc yet?) This recording is admirable in every way. The voices are a bit on the callow side, but then, it's supposed to be about kids -- putting on the proverbial show. Here's the real reason I wanted to put my oar in: the brilliant playing of the Coffee Club Orchestra. Rob Fisher has put together a crack ensemble, crisp as a Red Delicious apple. There's no sweeter sound than a Broadway pit band, and this band is choice. Keep on recording these Encores! productions -- PLEASE!

I confess a (very) slight preference for the New World Cd which has a bit more polish and a bit more pizzazz. Still, this version from Encores is quite enjoyable and offers a truly youthful sounding cast.

It's a shame that the book of BABES IN ARMS is such a mess and it has defied repeated attempts to revise and revive it. The songs are good but they are not exactly glued to the plot which may explain why they work so well out-of-context.

The songs remain evergreen classics, though of limited relevance to today's listeners.

DRG now has three Rodgers & Hart shows in their catalogue, all courtesy of Encores: PAL JOEY, BOYS FROM SYRACUSE and now BABES IN ARMS. It's a shame the concert of CONNECTICUT YANKEE was not preserved as well.


The songs remain evergreen classics, though of limited relevance to today's listeners.

DRG now has three Rodgers & Hart shows in their catalogue, all courtsy of Encores: PAL JOEY, BOYS FROM SYRACUSE and now BABES IN ARMS. It's a shame the concert of CONNECTICUT YANKEE was not preserved as well.

BABES IN ARMS is given the 5-star treatment in this recording of the 1999 City Center's Encores! production. The renowned Coffee Club Orchestra under the baton of wunderkind Rob Fisher gives the sparkling score all the brilliance it deserves.

David Campbell and Erin Dilly star as the teenage sweethearts Val LeMar and Billie Smith. They offer a particularly thrilling rendition of "Where or When", and Dilly makes magic with her haunting version of "My Funny Valentine".

Melissa Rain Anderson, as the vivacious Baby Rose, performs "Johnny One-Note" to perfection, as well as stellar readings of "Way Out West" and "Imagine" with the quartet.

The Coffee Club Orchestra will thrill you with the "Johnny One-Note" and "Peter's Journey" ballet segments. The cast also features Christopher Fitzgerald and Jessica Stone. DRG Theater.

I must admit that as a relatively new (and young) musical theatre enthusiast, I was unfamiliar with the score to "Babes in Arms" with the exception of one or two songs. I was completely blown away. Both the score and the performances are incredible. David Campbell does an awesome job, as does Erin Dilly. Melissa Rain Anderson gives a show-stopping performance of "Johnny One Note", (although the way she says "go to sleep, baby" at the beginning of the song was almost enough for me to take away a star or two). For me, there's nothing better than discovering musical gems like "Babes in Arms". As is typical of the Encores! series, this is a very good recording of a fun show with a lively, melodic score. Highly reccommnded.