Customer Reviews

Sundown (2004 Studio Cast Recording)

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Somebody put this on a stage! It has everything a great musical has always had: a well-integrated and tuneful score with an involving story that alerts you to the fact that you've just experienced something worthwhile in the American theater.
Add to that, from sheerly the technical standpoint, a beautifully-recorded CD with a cast that conveys so much character that you'll swear you're actually watching a performance instead of just listening to it, and you've got more than enough reasons to acquire it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

I have recently had a chance to see "Beauty and the Beast," a NY Broadway Musical. Indeed, I have watched the same show in London years ago and I was very impressed by the beautiful songs. But, then, the musical experience just got cooled as a memory after many years.

To my surprise, when I saw the musical for the second time, I was amazed by how much I was getting into the character, the Beast. His acting and his stunning confident, and, most of all, talented voice made me wonder who was behind the furry face and thick costumes with a big tail.

I did my research and found out that the role of the beast was played by Steve Blanchard (www.steveblanchard.net)and, to be honest, I remember he surpassed the other talented actors/actresses on the same stage that night having the audience's eyes glued to his performance. That was such an unexpected surprise to me, the second time viewer.

Unfortunately, Amazon.com only offered 1994 Original Cast recording of "Beauty and the Beast" and it does not include Steve Blanchard & Brooke Tansley (performed Belle- almost equally talented but shadowed by Steve Blanchard's performance)'s charming voices.

So, I searched for another recording he participated and "Sundown" Soundtrack (December 2004) came up as his major and only recording work available on the market nowadays.

And I am thanking the previous review by "openskies" for helping to encourage myself to order this CD. You can now listen to Steve Blanchard's voices all throughout this album as he played as Doc Holliday.

We all know OK Corral story of the Earps and the Clanton Gangs. So I would not put the lengthy story there.

Now, I will inform you of the composer & producer of this album, Peter Link, quoting from the CD cover below. He created jewel songs in this musical. The melodies are really catchy to my ears. And, they are not COUNTRY songs. So, don't pass on this album, just because you never heard of it. Steve Blanchard's voice is just amazing and I wish I could get more of his recorded works.


...Sundown was first presented in 2001 as a staged reading at the York Theatre, directed by Richard Sabellico. It was developed in the ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop. Sundown premiered in 2002 at the Lyric Stage, Irving, Texas, where it won a Dallas Drama League Nomination for Best New Play or Musical. It received its East Coast premiere in 2003 at the Barter Theatre, Abingdon, Virginia.

Peter Link has written scores for numerous productions, including the New York Shakespeare Festival's 'Much Ado About Nothing' and Neil Simon's 'The Good Doctor,' both of which earned him Tony Award nominations. Among his other shows are 'King of Hearts'(original Cast Records), 'Salvation,' for which he won a Drama Desk Award, and 'Island,' with book by Joe Bravaco and Larry Rosler.

[...]

I have had bad luck with the current spate of "studio musicals" so I faced this album with some trepidation. But one night,driving home over the Poconos, Link and Rosler's SUNDOWN found its way onto my car's CD player and I returned to the old west via Broadway in the smartest, most tuneful way I could hope for. I've been a lover of theatre music all my adult life and, in the past few years, have discovered the intelligence and power of country music. This score has it all. The score's opener, ARIZONA MORNING catches the beauty of riding along an Arizona highway and the poignancy of saying goodbye to a landscape that no longer works for you. The title song is an elegant expression of what it feels like to accept fate and move into your own oblivion. STAGE FROM PHOENIX, for those of us who remember the joy of production numbers like THE WELLS FARGO WAGON and THERE'S A COACH COMIN' IN, is just the up beat that the second act needs and POISON WATER is one of the most compellingly scarey pieces of musical theatre I've ever heard. For those of you who love the wide open sound of western movie scores, the country anthems of Keith Urban and Kenney Chesney, Broadway "westerns" such as 110 IN THE SHADE, OKLAHOMA!, and DESTRY RIDES AGAIN, the intelligence of new musicals such as PARADE and THE COLOR PURPLE, and don't need a score that sounds like repackaged Sondheim, Link and Rosler's SUNDOWN is IT!

Won't go on. Show FREAK I love this recording. I what to see it

I'm a fan of lesser-known musicals, and while I hate to doom "Sundown" to that category (as I hope its future will be bright), it is the perfect example of why I am endeared by this particular genre. With Sundown, I experienced that rare but thrilling moment of bliss that comes when you take a chance on an unknown work, become entranced by what you hear, and think, "This is really, really good."

In "Sundown," composer Peter Link tells the story of the infamous gunfight at the O.K. Corral through the eyes of Doc Holliday, a prominent player in the Clanton/Earp feud.

(That sound you just heard was half the people reading this review leaving after learning the synopsis. For those of you wise enough to stick around, your ears will be rewarded.)

Link may be the best composer you've never heard of. Although he has written others, the two scores for which he may be most widely known are the rock opera "Salvation" and the good-natured "King of Hearts" (based on the movie of the same name). If you liked "KOH," you'll appreciate some of the similarities in "Sundown." For example, Link uses the harmonica to great effect in both scores. Also, there are moments in "Sundown" where the singers produce what you might call a 'musical swoop,' as they do when they sing, "We ain't never had it so goooo-oooood," like the King of Heart's song, "With my friiiii--eeee-eendds..." and other places.

"Sundown" is a joy; it's one of those rare CDs where every song fulfills the promise made by the one before. There's not a dud in the bunch (though "Stage from Phoenix" took a couple hearings to grow on me). Here are brief descriptions of some of the songs.

It was during "Arizona Morning," the opening song and our first introduction to Doc, that I realized I was in for a treat. To describe it adequately, I have to string together several adjectives, like: gentle pop-rock-folk piece with guitars and a slight country twang. Yeah, like that. Anyone who has experienced the beauty of the sunrise in the Arizona desert will appreciate this piece.

"We Ain't Never Had it So Good" introduces the Clanton boys, and "Back in Business" the Earp clan. Both are fun, tuneful pieces that make it hard to choose sides.

Later, "One More Drink" brings a pop beat to the piece, tastefully. The honkey tonk piano (synthesized, but still...) lends good atmosphere. You're supposed to tap your toes, and you will.

"Sundown," the title song, is almost operatically beautiful. Sung by Doc as he is close to death at the end of the first act (he survives), its melody is so sophisticatedly simple that you wonder why nobody has written it before.

The second act moves to a whole other level, with the work becoming almost Wagnerian -- or at least Wagner Lite (with a beat). There's even a "Woman in Black" in the list of characters here! "You Ain't No Prisoner," "Another Time," and "Poison Water" rely heavily on metaphor, with melodies that are almost ethereal (with voices to match). Still, though, it is all grounded in eminently embraceable pop melodies that stay true to the general aura and feeling of the piece. Link deserves great credit for pulling this off.

As it did in real life, the gunfight itself takes only a minute, appearing on the next to the last piece, "Prelude to the Gunfight."

But I reserve my best praise for the song "Bridges." Normally I don't like songs that play on cliches (this one is 'burning your bridges'), but I'll make an exception here. As Kate Fisher, Judy McLane pulls off this impressive song with a voice of pure honey and a vocal sincerity that should be studied in universities. I nominate McLane to sing every song that will be written from this point forward.

Speaking of singing, it's tops here. The mostly male cast -- a requirement of the story -- is in excellent form. Steve Blanchard, who plays Doc, definies the role vocally. (Get his "Johnny Guitar" too.) In the song "Sundown," he is -- there's no other word for it -- haunting.

I can't vouch for the historical accuracy of the piece. I suspect there have been some liberties taken with the actual timeline in order to create a more compelling plot. But every time I start to worry about that, I just listen to "Bridges" again, and all is forgiven.

I received this CD on the same day I received a diferent CD of a major new work from a prominent and well-known musical theater composer. By random chance, I put "Sundown" in the player first. That was weeks ago; maybe someday I'll listen to the other one.