Strictly For the Record
What becomes a Broadway musical actress the most? Forget the Blackglama mink, the answer appears to be a CD. In the coming weeks, audiophiles will be rewarded by Maureen McGovern’s The Long and Winding Road, a brilliant tribute to the pop classics of the 1960s and 1970s; Kelli O’Hara’s gorgeously eclectic Wonder of the World, in which the South Pacific star traverses everything from standards to country-flecked originals to pop gems like “And So It Goes; Sunday in New York, an enchanting collaboration between two-time Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole and pianist Billy Stritch, recorded live at the Metropolitan Room; Capathia Jenkins’ latest work with composer Louis Rosen, One Ounce of Truth: The Nikki Giovanni Songs; and Karen Akers’ Simply Styne.
They’re not alone. Xanadu‘s Kerry Butler is putting the finishing touches on a CD of Disney tunes; Young Frankenstein‘s Sutton Foster is planning to go into the studio later this year to record her first solo disc Wish (and will preview some of those selections at Joe’s Pub on April 29); and former Company star Teri Ralston will release her first solo CD this summer. Plus there’s Wonderful at Last, the latest recording by the versatile Marilyn Michaels, and Brooke Shields can be heard narrating Glen Roven’s concerto The Runaway Bunny on a new children’s CD.
If that’s not an embarrassment of riches, consider this: Melissa Errico will soon release her new solo disc, Lullabies and Wildflowers, backed up with personal appearances at Joe’s Pub (April 23-24), Bloomingdale’s Soho (April 25), and Barnes & Noble Tribeca (May 13); Sara Gettelfinger can be heard as part of the unusual all-girl trio Three Graces, which recently released their self-titled debut CD (and who will perform for Pope Benedict in Westchester on April 19, opening for pop diva Kelly Clarkson); and Karen Mason — who has just entered Broadway’s Hairspray as the evil Velma Von Tussle — just put out her latest CD, Right Here/Right Now, which she is celebrating with concerts at the Metropolitan Room on April 10, 11 and 13. TheaterMania spoke with these three talented ladies about their latest efforts.
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Melissa Errico’s CD was inspired by the birth of her now almost two-year-old daughter, Victoria. But just because it contains some of the world’s best-known “children’s songs,” such as “Mockingbird,” Errico is quick to point out her aim was not to make a traditional children’s record. “I wanted to capture something of the emotional state a woman is in during the time she sings lullabies to her child,” says Errico. “There are plenty of happy warm thoughts, but there are also feelings of fear and longing and loneliness, and the profound realization that so much has changed in one’s life. Plus this record isn’t just about my experience, it’s for so many women I know, from those who got divorced right after the birth of her child to those who went through amazing obstacles just to become a mother.”
Indeed, choosing the music for the CD was a laborious and often exciting process, resulting in some unusual selections. “One woman I met through this women’s group I run called Bowery Babes gave me a collection of world music. The Cuban CD gave me the melody idea for ‘Gentle Child,’ and the Celtic one gave me ‘Garten’s Lullaby.’ I’ve actually become obsessed with fairies,” she says. “I was inspired to include Judy Collins’ ‘Since You Asked,’ because of this one lyric: ‘as my life spills into yours.’ It speaks to how, as a mother, you’re happily passing your history and future onto another person.”
Not surprisingly, theater songs are not completely overlooked on the CD. “After I gave birth, the first song I sang to Victoria was ‘Someone to Watch Over Me,’ strange as that sounds, so we included it. And I wanted to include a song like ‘Walking Happy’ so that when we perform live, there’s something we can make really swingy. My goal, especially in performing live, is not really to put the audience to sleep,” she says. Unfortunately, the powers-that-be decided that Victoria’s favorite lullaby, “How Are Things in Glocca Morra” – which Errico sang in the Irish Rep’s celebrated production of Finian’s Rainbow — wasn’t the right fit for the CD. “But it will be available on iTunes,” she notes happily.
Still, Errico couldn’t be more pleased with the finished product. “It’s wonderful not to feel obligated to jump around in different styles, and I think I’ve captured all the mystery, joy, and sensuality of being a mother,” she says. “But you don’t need to have a child; the record is really for anyone who wants to have sweeter dreams.”
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In Greek mythology, the three graces represent beauty, wisdom, and charm — which makes Sara Gettelfinger and her cohorts, opera singer Joy Kabanuck and pop singer Kelly Levesque, well-suited to Three Graces, which was created by record executive Dave Novick. The ladies harmonize on a diverse group of ballads, sung in a diverse group of languages, including French, Spanish, Italian, and English. And Gettelfinger is the first one to admit that part of the assignment was a little daunting.
“I can honestly say the extent of my French was what I learned during my ballet training and whatever Spanish I knew came from watching Sesame Street,” she says with a laugh. “But I had to learn some Italian when I did Nine, and during that show I had come to understand that I had a pretty good ear and could learn a song phonetically. But what’s really special about those cuts, like when we do English songs like These Dreams and Against All Odds in other languages, is that we went through three or four translations before settling on one, because it had to match up both emotionally and linguistically.”
Gettelfinger was no stranger to the recording studio, having been part of the cast albums of Nine, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Grey Gardens, but says she was unprepared for this kind of project. “It was a true education for me,” she says. “When you do a cast album, part of your goal is to embody and echo the live theatrical experience, so you sing a song from start to finish, and sometimes the rough edges stay. But here, because the CD is the way this music is meant to be delivered, the time, energy, and detail that goes into every word and every breath is just so extensive. And while in theater, you’re taught not to really depend on the microphone, here it’s all about learning how to love and utilize it.”
Still, Gettelfinger did find one similarity between her two fields. “Sometimes, we would spend three days bleeding over a song only for the producer to come back and say, ‘maybe it would be better if Sara and Joy switched parts'” she notes. “And I thought, it’s just like being in theater previews. You have to remind yourself to be fearless and accept what will be will be, and what will not, will not.”
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“I’m not really good with sticking to a theme, though I know some people like having those kind of parameters,” says Karen Mason about the eclecticism that defines Right Here/Right Now. “I like having the freedom to do what I want. And by covering a lot of different bases, I hope the CD will appeal to a lot of different people.”
Indeed, one song Mason really hopes will appeal to a lot of people is the title track, written by the CD’s producer — and Mason’s husband — Emmy Award-winning songwriter Paul Rolnick. “It’s an absolutely gorgeous song, and it would be great if some platinum-selling artist wanted to record it,” she says.
The CD contains another Rolnick composition, “Like the Heavens Hold the Stars,” but focuses primarily on theater and film music including “Secret Love,” “Get Happy,” “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend,” and “Hurry! It’s Lovely Up Here.” “Paul is really fearless in putting together combinations of songs one one CD that I would never think of,” says Mason. But one song she definitely wanted on the CD was “As If We Never Said Goodbye,” which Mason sang hundreds of times on Broadway during her multi-year stint as standby and star of Sunset Boulevard. “It’s the one song from that show that people really respond to, perhaps because it’s so dramatic.”
Perhaps the most striking cut on the CD is a medley of The Beatles’ “Help” and Stephen Sondheim’s “Being Alive.” “My friend Lina Koutrakos had once told me about hearing Tina Turner sing ‘Help’ in concert with just a piano, and that always stuck with me,” says Mason. “And my musical director Christopher Denny had always wanted me to do ‘Being Alive.’ And one day in the shower, it just hit me how these songs could come together. And when we finally got to do it, it was so much fun.”
