Customer Reviews

A Class Act - A Musical About Musicals (2001 Original Cast)

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"A Class Act" is a small musical with a lot of heart. The story of Edward Kleban, a prolific songwriter who is best known for writing the lyrics of " A Chorus Line", is told through his music. His trunk songs that he always wanted the world to hear. I will be seeing the show on Broadway in May. As one Amazon reviewer noted it is better on CD. This may be, however, I am looking forward to seeing it. Lonny Price is an actor who should be seen with more regularity. As Ed, he embodies the songwriter in spirit and voice. An excellent cast that includes Carolee Carmello, Jonathan Freeman, David Hibbard and Randy Graff are nothing short of marvelous. Ms Graff, as Sophie, Ed's lost love, has some very touching moments that she plays so well. This is one show that lives up to its name. It is truly "A Class Act."

It's remarkable to think that these are all "trunk" songs from unsuccessful Ed Kleban projects (and one excerpted from his "A Chorus Line") -- ordinarily when songs are taken from other sources and interpolated into a show, even extensive reworking can't hide the fact that they don't fit cleanly. These, though, fit very cleanly even though they haven't been revised very much at all. It's a piece of poetic justice; while Kleban couldn't get a break while he was alive, he effectively managed to musicalize his own life. He never saw "A Class Act", and yet it seems as though his spirit has guided and shaped the entire project.

The disc pays powerful tribute to his talent, reaching peak after peak. Among the highest of these peaks: the instantly memorable "Better", the in-jokey "Charm Song", "Under Separate Cover", "Next Best Thing to Love", and the touching "Self Portrait" finale. Kleban wasn't as strong a composer as he was a lyricist (though it must be said that Stephen Sondheim, often accused of the same fault, reached his peak as a composer when he was much older than Kleban was at his death), but these are some delightful tunes.

The cast (half of which abandoned the show before it reached Broadway) is happily the equal of the material, particularly the women: Randy Graff ("Les Miserables") is tough, sweet and funny as Ed's soulmate Sophie, Carolee Carmello ("Parade") is warm as Lucy, and Nancy Kathryn Anderson and Julia Murney ("The Wild Party") provide solid support. The men are given a bit less to work with, but Jonathan Freeman, Ray Wills and David Hibbard each have a couple of big laugh-out-loud moments.

This kind of intimate chamber musical is seldom seen on Broadway, and seldom realized so brilliantly. Between that and the remarkable circumstances of its origin, it's something that even casual theatre fans should look into.

The music in this show consists of a group of unrelated and previously unrecorded songs written by Ed Kleban (the lyricist for Chorus Line, but really a songwriter). The writers have done a masterful job of combining these songs into a show that tells the story of Kleban's life. This is not a musical revue but a fully conceived musical.

One can talk about the individual songs, and many of them are great. The ballad The Next Best Thing To Love is one of the best I've heard in a while. But what really make this work shine is the portrait the show paints of Kleban, a toubled man who had various breakdowns and loves, but for whom songwriting was the real love that made life worth living. You don't always like him, but that only makes him real. By the time you hear the beautiful and heartbreaking last song, Self Portrait, you have come to know and love Kleban through his music, which is exactly what he would have wanted. This album haunts me.

Wow. I bought this musical for one reason: to hear "Better," which Stephen Sondheim said he wished he had written. My faith in Sondheim has not been shaken. That song, as well as all of the ones included on this CD, are wonderful. There is something very Sondheim-like in the music, the lyrics, and even Kleban's story (begrudgingly starting out as just a lyricist, moving on to writing music, too, having trouble getting his shows produced). The performers are wonderful, and the songs range from funny to extremely touching. I wouldn't say that Kleban's work equaled the quality of Sondheim's (I don't think anyone's does, so I may be biased), but anyone with half of Sondheim's talent (and Kleban possesses much more than this) is worth checking out.

If you like Kleban's work, buy "A Chorus Line" (for which Kleban wrote the lyrics to Marvin Hamlisch's score) - the Broadway version, because this contains the entire "Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen" montage, a hilarious and entirely true song about puberty and the teenage years, another very Sondheimesque piece.

A Class Act was a terrific show - I loved how Lonny Price and Linda Klein built a show around Kleban's existing songs. It really worked well onstage. This CD is a super recording, and while it doesn't have "Don't Do It Again", which was added after the move to Broadway, it's still a fine record of Kleban's music and lyrics.

It's about time Ed Kleban got his due for being a damn good songwriter. Thankfully this show sets the record straight with such charmers as "Better" "Broadway Boogie-oogie" "Next Best Thing to Love" and "Under Seperate Covers". Vocally, Lonny Price does not server the music well, but the rest of the cast is A+. Johnathan Freeman proves why he's one of the greatest character baritones working today. Julia Murney makes a strong follow-up to her performance in THE WILD PARTY (my one carp is that she is underused here). Nancy Kathryn Anderson makes an impressive debut as Mona (with one of the best songs in the show, no less). Carolee Carmello is Carolee Carmello and the American Musical is a much better place because of it. The surprise of the album is the return of Randy Graff. Her lush alto has been missed on Broadway and her rendition of "The Next Best Thing to Love" is heartbreaking.

I have to be honest: when I first bought this CD and listened to it, I hated it. I down-right hated it. I complained about every song and thought that it didn't sound at all like a Broadway CD should sound. For some reason or another, I gave the CD another listen to and was blown away. I don't know what made the second "listening session" different than the first but it just grabbed me! The songs are fantastic!

"Under Separate Cover", "Better", and "Friday at Four" are so incredibly upbeat and will automatically put you in a good mood!

There are also moving ballads such as "Say Something Funny" and "Follow Your Star" that are a delight to listen to.

And then, there is the mother of all "pulling at your heartstrings song"- "Self Portrait". (The Finale to the show) Every time I listen to this song, I can't help but get this overwhelming feeling of saddness come over me. For those of you that don't know, this show closed on Broadway after a very short run and played to extremely small audiences. (Attendance sometimes was at 32%) I feel sad, though, because after listening to this CD you really can get a sense of what a beautiful show it was and how painful it must have been for its creators to end it. It's almost as if the show never had a chance.

All in all, it's WELL worth the money to buy this CD. It may not grab you at first, but take my advice and give it time. You won't be dissappointed.

The Manhatan Theater Club's cast recording of A CLASS ACT is delicious. It is heartfelt, funny, lyrical and warm...things that many modern musicals are not! The action begins on stage of the Shubert Theater in 1988, during the run of A CHORUS LINE where the urn holding the remains of lyricist Ed Kleban are placed on stage and the friends still in his favor at the time of his death, begin to gather en memorium. No matter where the show goes, to the mental hospital where Kleban once spent time, to the Toronto theater where he was working with and fired by John Gielgud, to the love of his life's lab, his remains remain lit down stage left. Having seen (and worshipped) the transferred-to-Broadway production, and without meaning to take anything away from this CD, my small complaint is that I find it slightly incomplete, in the way that parts of "The Montage"were omitted from A CHORUS LINE's recording. Most omissions are in the dialogue (there is still plenty) which drives the story along. A major source of joy in ACA was the homage to ACL which centered on Kleban's relationships with Michael Bennett and Marvin Hamlisch. Gone is Kleban's first meeting with Bennett which sets up the song "Broadway Boogie Woogie" and gone is much of the underscoring which was filled with hints of melodies that became ACL. Long ago, I decided I would stop seeing regional productions and tours of ACL because it's become a caricature of itself and I prefer my memories. ACA is like adding a footnote to that milestone show, like visiting an old friend. Consequently, I missed the small cuts that showed bits of the original choreography being created. I missed the gleeful dialogue where Bennett insists the lyric to "One" be changed from "one fabulous sensation" because it was redundant! I missed Kleban's delicious "GOTCHA" and the way it showed his wicked and witty side! Another example of a scene I would have liked to have recorded, just for the memory jolt it would provide, was the scene after "Paris Through the Window" where Kleban's mentor humbly and beautifully recognizes, then acknowledges, his student's talent. This show was full of such fine acting moments and I would have liked to have had a few more of them preserved, since one job of a cast recording is to serve as a memory booster. That said, this recording is superb. "Mona" (Nancy Anderson) sounds as pert, sweet and sexy as her number was, and Sophie (Randy Graff) comes across every bit as warm and genuine as she did on stage. I loved Bobby (David Hubbard) whether he was an goofy hippie, eager best friend, or manic Michael Bennett. and although I ADORED the understudy David Burstein, I would have to be psychotically nit-picky not to love Lonny Price, the co-author of the book, along with Linda Klein. It's corny to say, but your heart truly sings along with "One More Beautiful Song". Its honesty is child-like and amazing and the reverential feeling hits so fast! I also defy anyone not to be charmed by the simple joy of "Paris Through the Window." For those who have not seen the show, this CD accomplishes the second thing a cast album should. It stands alone as a work where everyone can enjoy its lyricism, wit and charm. I ESPECIALLY love the fact that this is a biographical work. There really is a Kleban Foundation, created with royalties from A CHORUS LINE which gives grants to "promising lyricists and librettists" and the final will and testament read at the end of the play (and alluded to throughout) truly is Ed Kleban's. (Or so say the producers on an on-line message board) As one of the people who paid a great deal of money to be in this dark room in a central part of town, and who shelled out $20 for this CD, I can only cheer loudly and I can't help but cry, weeks after the fact!

Although I genuinely liked the show when I saw it at the Manhattan Theter Club last fall (which is the reocrding made of the show), I did not feel that it was Broadway material because it was not designed for a large, mass market. However, the CD is wonderful and captures the best of the musical - I have been playing it over and over, which is something I never expected to do. The songs are wonerfully melodic and would be appreciated by anyone who loves good musical theater.

Overshadowed by "The Producers" and "The Full Monty" during it's season on Broadway, "A Class Act" never really got the chance it deserved. I was driven to buy the CD after reading "A Chorus Line and The Musicals of Michael Bennett". Ed Kleban (along with others) simply popped off the page in this memoir. I found myself curious to listen to music of this man who was hired to write ONLY lyrics for "A Chorus Line". "A Class Act" proves that Kleban's music was not only tuneful and memorable, but timeless and touching as well. There are songs in "A Class Act" that share the root of their greatness with songs from "A Chorus Line". Ed Kleban's lyrics, with sentimental truth at their core, are incredible. He could've (and would've) done much more for musical theater if he'd only lived a little longer. The musical is doubly touching, because this is his true life story, with his own music and lyrics. "Under Separate Cover" is a fantastic artful piece about a separating couple. "The Next Best Thing To Love" is a story of best friends that we can all relate to. "Paris Through the Window" can bring anyone to tears. Lonny Price, Randy Graff, Carolee Carmello... could it get better? A true gem.