Go Ape!
Listening to the Broadway cast album of Disney’s Tarzan is a far more enjoyable experience than actually seeing the show. This opinion may sound ridiculous, given that Tarzan has been touted as a stage spectacular. But though the production now on view at the Richard Rodgers Theatre does have some thrilling visual moments, it is sabotaged by the wholly unsatisfactory work of first-time director Bob Crowley and book writer David Henry Hwang. Rather than buy a ticket, you might opt to spend about one tenth the money and purchase the CD, which will allow you to experience Phil Collins’ score without having to suffer all that inept staging and inane dialogue.
The score features a handful of songs that Collins wrote for Disney’s animated film version of Tarzan, augmented by several more that he composed expressly for the Broadway production. His lyrics contain some sloppy grammar and false rhymes (e.g., “hand/man,” “seen/dreams”), but there are also some rather poetic sections. And the music — much of it founded on driving, percussive rhythms — is well suited to this tale of a man raised in the jungle by apes. Among the standout numbers are “Two Worlds,” “Son of Man,” and the beautiful ballad “You’ll Be In My Heart.” Only when Collins uses pop sounds for the songs of Jane Porter (Jenn Gambatese) and her father (Tim Jerome) does his score descend into unintentional camp humor. Otherwise, there’s much enjoyment to be had from the recording, which is sparked by the strong vocals of Josh Strickland as Tarzan, Merle Dandridge as his ape mother Kala, and Chester Gregory II as the lovable Terk.
Note: If you attempt to play Tarzan through your computer rather than on a conventional CD player, you may be in for some frustration. I tried it on two separate, near-state-of the art computers and it didn’t work — not even after I had followed two sets of instructions on what to do “if you are experiencing difficulty listening to your CD.” With the help of a tech-wiz colleague, I finally got it to play, but it took some doing. The problem is that Disney has encoded the CD so that it will avoid whatever default media player you have specified for your computer and, instead, will try to do its own thing. (I’ve encountered similar problems with some of the company’s DVDs.) Caveat emptor!
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From Phil Collins to Stephen Sondheim: Let it not be said that this column isn’t reporting on an an eclectic variety of musical theater recordings. Sunday in the Park With George is arguably Sondheim’s last great work to date, so many a disciple will be pleased to have PS Classics’ new London cast recording, with Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell in the leads, to place in his library alongside the Broadway album, which stars Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters.
As is often the case with recordings of London productions of American musicals, you may initially find yourself disconcerted by the cast’s broad British accents — e.g., “On the green purple yellow red GRAAHHSS, let us PAAHHSS.” But remember that most of the action of Sunday is set in France, so the characters wouldn’t be singing or speaking in English anyway. Listen beyond the accents to enjoy the committed performances of Evans as George, Russell as Dot/Marie, and a supporting cast that includes Simon Green as Jules/Bob Greenberg, Lisa Sadovy as Yvonne/Naomi Essen, and Gay Soper as the Old Lady/Blair Daniels.
However, the recording will be a disappointment to fans of Michael Starobin, who fully orchestrated Sondheim’s shimmering score for Broadway. Here we have a reduction for no more than five instruments — piano, keyboard, woodwind, violin, and cello — by Jason Carr. It’s skillful enough but, of course, the resultant sound isn’t a patch on the original. So consider this CD as an adjunct to its predecessor, not by any means as a substitute for it.
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Produced by the Vineyard Theatre as a lab production in June 1998 and then for an extended run in the spring of 1999, the Ricky Ian Gordon-Tina Landau musical Dream True has something in common with the more recent Vineyard show Miracle Brothers, by Kirsten Childs: Both ultimately fail as musical theater pieces due to muddled storytelling, yet both feature scores that are just too good to be dismissed. Miracle Brothers has not yet been recorded, but we can thank PS Classics (again!) for giving us a new CD that preserves Dream True as performed in concert at Cooper Union on March 8, 2004 with — if you’ll pardon the pun — a dream cast.
Inspired by George du Maurier’s 1891 novel Peter Ibbetson, and by a wrenching loss in composer Gordon’s personal life, the musical is about two childhood best friends who are able to communicate with each other by “dreaming true.” As the notes in the CD booklet explain: “By falling asleep in a particular position and thinking of the same spot, they can have the same dream on the same night — and meet each other there.” This they continue to do throughout the decades, until death brings about a final separation. (Or does it?)
As alluded to above, the narrative of the piece is bogged down by odd plot details and contrivances that touch on everything from grand architectural dreams to the early gay rights movement to mental illness. (Landau wrote the book and most of the lyrics; additional lyrics were contributed by Gordon.) But the music is lyrical, gripping, joyous, and haunting by turns. If you don’t shed a few tears when listening to the closing duet “We Will Always Walk Together,” you should probably consider sensitivity training. Other highlights include “Finding Home,” “God Is There,” and the title song.
Brian d’Arcy James and Jason Danieley are superb as the grown-up Peter and Vernon, respectively, while Harrison Chad and William Ullrich are delightful as their boyhood counterparts. Other roles are sung by no lesser personages than Jessica Molaskey, Victoria Clark, Kelli O’Hara, and Jeff McCarthy. The orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick are so expert that they make the nine-piece orchestra, beautifully conducted by Ted Sperling, sound lush. Whether or not you caught Dream True at the Vineyard or at Cooper Union, you must get your hands on this recording. It and the two albums reviewed above will give musical theater buffs much to enjoy over the summer while waiting for PS Classics to release the Grey Gardens cast album in August.
