Customer Reviews

Dress Casual

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I can not attempt to begin writting about this album. It is reminds me of what I forgot music could accomplish... "Show Me the World" is breath taking. I simply love this album, it combines standards with rare matterial, and frankly I can't say enough. Mandy and Bernadette Peters together on a few tracks- who could ask for anything more? The orchestations(sp) are mystical and magical, and...and... what can I say? You like Mandy? You love this album. The music can be soft and gentle and emtional, or fast paced and occsionaly silly. If you like muscials, I mean really *good* musicals, and appreciate talent, buy this album. If you do not like it, I will be surprised. Truely.

...dress casual, that is. At his concerts, Mandy lets nothing distract from the music--no fancy stage costume & set--just his comfortable old black t-shirt, slacks, & sneakers, a hands-free microphone, stool, piano, & accompanist on a bare stage. Dress Casual started out as a Broadway show, & I just happened to be in NYC when it was playing. Did I go see it? Nope--I had no idea who Mandy Patinkin was then. If I had, I wouldn't have been on line for 7 hours to get standby tickets for Phantom of the Opera! Mandy's 2d album finds him in top form, & highlights include previously unrecorded songs from Stephen Sondheim's little-known musical, Evening Primrose. Mandy is joined by fellow Broadway baby, Bernadette Peters, in some stirring duets. Peters & Patinkin are well-matched & exciting to listen to in this tale of a poet who takes refuge from the world in a department store & the mannequin come to life that he falls in love with. Other standout numbers include the nostalgic & lushly orchestrated "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," (introduced by Judy Garland in the "The Harvey Girls"). Mandy, ya done Judy proud! Singing on all 3 tracks, Mandy races through "Triplets," the novelty number from "The Bandwagon," at about triple the original tempo--whew! He also pays tribute to the original "Music Man," Robert Preston, in "Trouble in River City." And there's always Sondheim & then, some more Sondheim on Mandy's albums. If ever there was a singer's composer...the wrenching "Sorry/Grateful" segues into a bravura performance of "Being Alive" -- "someone to know me too well/someone to hurt me too deep/someone to sit in my chair/& ruin my sleep/& make me aware of being alive..." There are so many show stoppers on this album that you'll find yourself hitting the repeat button as a matter of course. If you've only heard Mandy sing snatches of songs on Chicago Hope, then you haven't heard Mandy sing. Let 'er rip!!!!!!!!

From the near-lullaby "Doodle-doo-doo" to the rollicking "Trouble in River City" performed with the Harlem Boys Choir, "Dress Casual" is a wonderful blend of music - I've never owned an album I've played more. The songs chase tails around in my head for hours after I've turned off my stereo. Mandy Patinkin has the most soothing voice of any singer alive, and yet has a power and beauty to rival any opera star. "Dress Casual" is like a full-body massage that can, quite literally, go on forever.

Although every Mandy Patinkin CD is a joy, this one has the music I return to most frequently. There are so many cuts that explode in my face - Tschaikowsky is one. (How does he remember...?). I immediately feel the kind of excitement one usually experiences only during a live performance. Then there are the tender and equally passionate numbers such as Mr. Arthur's Place or the Evening Primrose medley which make me feel safe and calm, yet curious, wondering what will happen emotionally the next time I play this fabulous CD.

I love all the songs and i know mandy patinkin . he sing very good and he also is actor . i always see he in concerts when he do them in new york

Mandy is an acquired taste, and I can't always get into his recordings. But this one works for me. And I especially love the suite of songs from Sondheim's "Evening Primrose," which he performs with Bernadette Peters. It was the first time they had all been recorded together since the show had aired in 1966. It is a spectacular piece, and this recording of it is top-notch. Of course, the piece couldn't have been in better hands: the orchestrations are by Michael Starobin, who had just done the wonderful orchestrations for Sondheim/Mandy/Bernadette in "Sunday in the Park with George" and the orchestra was conducted by Paul Gemignani, who had conducted "Sunday" as well as every Sondheim show prior to that going back to "Pacific Overtures." So it was literally like old home week for the group. There have been a couple more recent complete recordings, one of which is pretty good ("The Frogs/Evening Primrose") and one of which is not very good at all ("Sondheim at the Movies"). But this is the one to own. Exciting, funny, poignant and beautiful.

As for the rest of the cd, Mandy is fine form here with a delightful selection of tunes. And Gemignani keeps the orchestra tight and the playing exciting all the way through the disc.

This is a great album. Patinkin may be, as some say, an aquired taste. But this is a strong album from start to finish. It's almost as good as the first album (Many Patinkin) and that's not small praise.

I bought this for the complete "Evening Primrose" sequence, and boy, was that a mistake. The main problem, I think, is that these four songs were recorded here without composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim's supervision, and that makes all the difference in the world. Left to his own devices, Mandy Patimkin greatly distorts "If You Can Find Me"'s melody; Bernadette Peters's voice is under the accompaniment on "I Remember" (although she's faithful to the song at least, unlike Patimkin and his arrangers), and the arrangements on "Dress Casual" are over-elaborate, gooey, and unrestrained. Neither singer effectively plays his character.

I didn't care for the other stuff either, but that's your own lookout. Just don't do as I did; don't buy this for "Evening Primrose". Buy instead the "Evening Primrose" that comes with "Frogs".

By the way, WHY is amazon.com listing this under "classical music"? It's about as far from classical as you can get.

He could sing the phone book to me. He sings joy, sadness and love all in the same CD. I love everything he sings.