Customer Reviews

Her First Roman (1993 Studio Cast)

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

 

 

This is a true oddity. HER FIRST ROMAN with book, music and lyrics by Ervin Drake is a show with some promise. The rhyming in some of the lyrics is clever, the premise of adapting Shaw's CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA to the musical stage a beguiling one. But this is amateurish from beginning to end. Not able to make up its mind whether it is drama, comedy or low comedy, it is none of these. Uggams is woefully miscast but Kiley does a wonderful job as Caesar. There are only two songs of merit - MANY YOUNG MEN FROM NOW (which should be in every gay cabaret singer's repertoire) and the rollicking I FELL IN WITH EVIL COMPANIONS. The rest range from mediocre to downright boring. Amazing that the original cast members and the producers liked it well enough to mount a cast album 25 years after the closing. Valuable to Broadway composers/lyricists in showing how NOT to write a show. This would have been ideal material for Lerner and Loewe, but sadly not for Mr. Drake.

I just finished listening to this CD, and I've seldom heard so many good songs in a virtually unknown score. Having loved Mr. Drake's "What Makes Sammy Run", I wasn't too surprised. There are some really interesting, compelling songs here, and the 2 leads are wonderful. It just goes to show: always take a chance ! True, some songs are so-so, but "Rome" is downright haunting. I was happy to discover another good 60's score. Go ahead ! Enjoy !

I'm glad I did, as it definitely now resides in my top ten favorite Broadway scores. It's an extremely variable score, from wildly comic to powerfully beautiful, and that may have affected the show's run, but it works great on your CD player.
Don't be afraid to change the order of the songs either. I start off with 2,3, then 1, etc. In fact, the only song I didn't end up liking on the entire CD was "Many Young Men From Now".
When I read a review by someone, I'm always curious about other shows they've liked, or didn't like, to see how similar (or dissimilar!) our tastes are. Some scores I've enjoyed include: House of Flowers, Grass Harp, Saratoga, Camelot, Purlie, Dear World, Mata Hari, The Life, Avenue Q and Wicked.
Some I didn't like include Bajour, Subways Are For Sleeping, The Seussical, St. Louie Woman, Applause, Urinetown, Greenwillow, Big River, Sweet Charity and The Golden Apple.