Babes In Arms (1999 City Center Encores! Cast)
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Free Music Notes for Babes In Arms (1999 City Center Encores! Cast)
Free Music Review: Great songs, great cast, great orchestra... great recording.
Hit: 5 Stars
I can't say much that hasn't already been said in praise of this recording. This is yet another one of many wonderful scores by Rodgers and Hart, this one especially of interest because of the sheer number of standards it produced. "Where Or When," "I Wish I Were In Love Again," "My Funny Valentine," "Johnny One Note," "The Lady Is a Tramp"... they all came from this show, and in spite of the cliched aspect of the kids-putting-on-a-show plot, the score remains as fresh as ever in this delightful recording of the Encores! concert. As others have said, the inclusion of dialogue to set up several of the famous numbers in the context of a plot and characters is a fun bonus, and the remarkably young-sounding cast is highly enjoyable. While David Campbell and Erin Dilly may not sound like our perception of 1930s teenagers, they still give delightful performances; I stand with another reviewer in singling out Dilly's "My Funny Valentine' as being particularly magical. Supporting pair Christopher Fitzgerald and Jessica Stone are a lot of fun, and Melissa Rain Anderson is delightful in "Johnny One-Note," "Way Out West," and "Imagine." The lesser-known songs in this score are not standards for a reason, but in spite of not being up to the level of their more famous companions, they are all quite pleasent and perfectly agreeable to listen to. The orchestra's spirited playing of the original arrangements only adds to the excitement. I can't compare this to an earlier recording that has been mentioned in other reviews, as I haven't heard it. All I know is that this recording is a joy from start to finish, and definitly worth buying.Free Music Review: A fabulous music comedy with real music and comedy
Hit: 5 Stars
Back in the days when musical comedies had both music and comedy and most of the cast was left alive at the end so you could go home feeling good, there was a miracle called Rodgers and Hart. Hart's marvelous lyrics never let Rodgers' music get as soapy as it was going to become with Hammerstein's lyrics (e.g., "Sound of Music") because they were intelligent, witty, biting, and actually better in their way than those of W.S. Gilbert. Compared with the "one song" musicals of today, we have in (say) "Babes in Arms" no less than four songs that became standards and two, which are clever parodies on love and western ballads. There are two excellent recordings of <Babes in Arms> and I find it difficult to choose between them. The earlier release on New World Records boasts Judy Blazer and Judy Kaye and a good supporting cast. The DRG release (94769) is a tad less well sung but contains more material. This set wisely gives us some of the dialogue that leads up to the songs and does include the now politically incorrect number "All Dark People." Nevertheless the producers decided to shear off the offending stanza and call it "Light on Their Feet." But the results are just fine and this is a highly recommended recording, comparisons with the New World version aside. Personally, I will play both of them many many times in the years to come.Free Music Review: Better Than The 1990 Recording
Hit: 5 Stars
This is by far the best recording of this marvelous score. The 1990 recording (with Judy Blazer) was all right, but it cast singers who were too old to play teenagers, and therefore had no sense of theatre, no feeling that these singers were portraying characters. On this recording, everyone is appropriately young and enthusiastic, and for the first time we can appreciate that these are truly *theatre* songs, not isolated pop tunes. (The snippets of dialogue help in this regard, as well.) I don't agree about Campbell and Dilly being stylistically wrong for this music; they may not sound like '30s singers, but then, this isn't the '30s. But they, like all the singers on this recording, know that this music shouldn't be oversung, or screamed, and they do just fine by their songs--in particular, Dilly's "My Funny Valentine," with its gorgeous accompaniment by the Coffee Club Orchestra, is magical. An essential purchase.Free Music Review: Rodgers and Hart's sparkling masterpiece
Hit: 5 Stars
BABES IN ARMS is given the 5-star treatment in this recording of the 1999 City Center's Encores! production. The renowned Coffee Club Orchestra under the baton of wunderkind Rob Fisher gives the sparkling score all the brilliance it deserves.David Campbell and Erin Dilly star as the teenage sweethearts Val LeMar and Billie Smith. They offer a particularly thrilling rendition of "Where or When", and Dilly makes magic with her haunting version of "My Funny Valentine".
Melissa Rain Anderson, as the vivacious Baby Rose, performs "Johnny One-Note" to perfection, as well as stellar readings of "Way Out West" and "Imagine" with the quartet.
The Coffee Club Orchestra will thrill you with the "Johnny One-Note" and "Peter's Journey" ballet segments. The cast also features Christopher Fitzgerald and Jessica Stone. DRG Theater.
Free Music Review: Highly Reccommended
Hit: 5 Stars
I must admit that as a relatively new (and young) musical theatre enthusiast, I was unfamiliar with the score to "Babes in Arms" with the exception of one or two songs. I was completely blown away. Both the score and the performances are incredible. David Campbell does an awesome job, as does Erin Dilly. Melissa Rain Anderson gives a show-stopping performance of "Johnny One Note", (although the way she says "go to sleep, baby" at the beginning of the song was almost enough for me to take away a star or two). For me, there's nothing better than discovering musical gems like "Babes in Arms". As is typical of the Encores! series, this is a very good recording of a fun show with a lively, melodic score. Highly reccommnded.