Customer Reviews

Tintypes: The Original Broadway Cast (1981)

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A friend of mine lent me a boxful of old Broadway LPs that I wanted to transfer to cassettes and one of them was an absolute stunner. I had somehow let the original production of <Tintypes> pass me by about three decades ago and I am delighted to tell one and sundry it is now available on a CD released by DRG (5196). It is basically a review that tells the story of the immigrant experience through the songs of the time: "The Yankee Doodle Boy," "I Don't Care," "In My Merry Oldsmobile," "I Want What I Want When I Want It," and others, some very familiar and some not so. They are arranged in sequences such as "Arrivals," "Ingenuity and Inventions," "The Factory," "Rich and Poor." Always light-hearted, "Tintypes" merely mentions the good times and especially the rough ones without commenting upon them with a sledgehammer. The lyrics tell it all. A game cast--Carolyn Mignini, Lynne Thigpen, Trey Wilson, Mary Catherine Wright, and Jerry Zaks--speaks some lines and sings the songs as arranged by Mel Marvin with spirit and occasionally a European accent:. This is exactly the kind of material I always claim should be in the hands of imaginative teachers who want to bring to life the essence of the times they are teaching to classes out of sterile textbooks. But this DRG set is highly recommended to you all. And just think: if it were not for the people depicted in this wonderful little show, which of us would be here to read this review urging your to get a copy for yourself and several as perfect gifts for any occasion?

Tintypes is a revue. It's a celebration of turn-of-the-last- century-America, Americana. Americana is celebrated by all the many aspects of immigration, integration and inspiration. The linking strand is America.
The poor, the rich and the political classes are all given their say.
This is a musical that , like so many Broadway successes, benefits from interpretation. TINTYPES is wrapped firmly in the American flag but can be shown as a struggle.
Just as LES MIS., WEST SIDE.., etc. tell the tale of the under-class - so does Tintypes.
Musically it holds some of the best Broadway numbers. Ironically it holds these numbers in context, which is better than leaving them hanging in a void of nonsense.

When "Tintypes" first came to Broadway thirty years ago, I reviewed it for a small Manhattan cable tv show. I was very impressed and thoroughly entertained by a show that brought so many old songs back to life, from the last 19th century into, but mostly before, the 1920s. Without any known stars in the cast, the show was professional in every sense of the word--exuberant might be the best word to describe it. The DRG 2-LP gatefold album, handsomely produced, has been in my collection for all these years.

I just purchased the DRG CD reissue on Amazon.com and enjoyed the music all over again. However, let me point out a mystifying error. The tracks listed in the booklet and the CD itself do not match for the last three tracks, 13-15. Track 13 has just one number, "Then I'd Be Satisfied With Life" (George M. Cohan), not a four-song medley as listed in the booklet. Track 14 has just "Jonah Man," which was listed as part of track 13. Track 15 was listed as the finale, with two concluding songs, "Toyland" and "Smiles," but you don't get to them until 9:48 of that concluding track, after "When It's All Goin' Out and Nothin' Comin' In" (Williams & Walker), and seven more songs, for a total of 15:33. It would be interesting to know what happened in the engineering of the CD and how no one picked up the mistake. I doubt it was just my copy.

I have seen this show twice and loved it both times. The CD brings it all back. I am old enough to enjoy the old-timey tunes they sing & can remember my Dad singing some of them. Some of the music is so lively I can hardly sit still when I hear it.