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EMI
have ingenuosly colour-coded their Red Line super-budget series
into ten various categories, like Symphony, Concerto, Opera, Chamber
etc. Perhaps it isn't as surprising to find that they have included
one for "Film & Musical", earmarked mostly for re-releases of music
recorded by John McGlinn and the London Sinfonietta. This present
disc, featuring chanteuse Kim Crisswell, is one such reissue,
featuring songs - some well-known and others less so - from the
nascent years of the American musical.
 As
a form of theatre art and entertainment, the genre of the American
musical (invariably synonymous with Broadway) was largely due to
the creativity of Jerome Kern in the pre-war years, which over the
succeeding decades expanded to include the Gershwin siblings, Rodgers
and Hammerstein, Lorenz Hart, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and Leonard
Bernstein. These were also the halcyon days of celebrity performers
- Ethel Merman, Astaire and Rogers.
LEFT:
Detail of "Sea Melodies" by Herbert James Draper
(1863-1920)
Simultaneously
a vehicle for social criticism, political commentary as well as
mass entertainment, American musical theatre encapsulated the melting-pot
culture of an immigrant nation in way that differed from, say, the
satirical potboiling Viennese operettas of the post-Napoleonic era,
or the stratified Savoyard musicals of Gilbert and Sullivan in Victorian
England.
Modern
theatre audiences, regrettably, have little or no interest and knowledge
of these early efforts - usually in preference to lavishly staged
mega-productions, sometimes involving falling props and stage fireworks
of one kind or another. (Not that flying houses or collapsible barricades
are bad, of course, but between good props and good music, give
me good music anytime.)
This
album brings back some of the old-time nostalgia, while showcasing
Kim Criswell's stupendous vocal abilities. It's hard to classify
Ms Criswell in the usual classical terms - I suppose "singing actress"
comes as close an appellation as any. More recently, she successfully
assumed the prominent role of Ruth in Wonderful Town (with
Rattle, on EMI 556753-2); here, she sings a string of hit melodies
from nostalgic Broadway.
These
are delightful objets d'art, dangerously fraught with rich,
lyrical invention and definitely worth more than just mere curiousity
value. For the most part, they are delivered with showstopping -
dare we say definitive - aplomb by Criswell: her range goes from
dusky soubrette in In the Heart of the Dark to minxy mezzo
in You and the Night and the Music. Her tangy voice is provocative
as it is delectable in its quicksilver quality, not to mention the
razor sharpness of her diction. John McGlinn and the London Sinfonietta
are also in their natural habitat here, puttin' on the big show
with Criswell.
The
opening number Give Him the Oo-la-la and the closing number
I Got Rhythm simply overflow with vivacious fun to start
and close the album with maximum delight. Criswell brings the most
out of the syncopation in "oo-la-la", as well as in the title work
The Lorelei: her coyishly affected quasi-Teutonic accent
and hard-crunched consonants simply add to the sardonic humour in
the lines: "I'm lecherous, ja, ja."
Her
sense of the comic extends even into the party pieces like Johnny
One Note, Jenny and The Leader of a Big-Time Band.
At its extreme, Katie Went to Haiti contains far too many
aliterations and rhymes than is mentally healthy for anyone, and
even with Criswell's seemingly endless verve, it does get wearisome
by the time you reach the third stanza.
Thankfully,
not all the music here is high-octane: He's a Right Guy will
conjure shades of Begin the Beguine - both, of course, Porter's
compositions. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye is voiced with Criswell's
huskiest demeanour, with the tolling bell at the end wrenching out
the ennui of separation; Dream with Me has a quiet, heartfelt
quality to it. More ardent yearning at the end of Let's Go West
Again and the narrative melancholy of Ten Cents a Dance
balance out the contents quite nicely.
All
in all, this is a sublime performance of some really nice
songs from a bygone era: at this price, it is more than a worthwhile
acquisition. Kim Criswell, if you have not heard her sing before,
is simply a revelation; I suspect, too, that most listeners unfamiliar
with early Broadway repertoire will find this a most welcome introduction
to this music.
On
the minus side, if any, the sleeve notes are minimal, even if this
is a super-budget label. (After all, we have seen other super-budget
labels which produce superlative documentation.) A pity there, as
everything else on this album gives much to savour.
BENJAMIN
CHEE once walked down Broadway at 2 a.m. - and survived
the experience.
886:
4.3.2001 © Benjamin Chee
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