Little Me: The New Broadway Cast Recording (1999 Revival)
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CD Details
Performer: Cy ColemanEdition: Music CD
Format: Cast Recording
CD Release Date: 1999-03-09
Music Label: Varese Sarabande
Soundtracks:
- Overture
- Little Me
- Chapter One: The Story Begins
- The Other Side Of The Tracks (Slow Version)
- The Other Side Of The Tracks (Fast Version)
- Rich Kids Rag
- I Love You
- Belle Meets Mr. Pinchley
- Deep Down Inside
- 'Girls Guns Geezer'
- Be A Performer
- Dimples
- 'Fame Is A Fickle Thing'
- Boom, Boom
- I've Got Your Number
- Belle Meets Fred
- Real Live Girl
- I Love Sinking You
- Belle Goes To Hollywood
- Poor Little Hollywood Star
- The Prince & I
- Goodbye
- Here's To Us
- Finale - The End
Music reviews of Little Me: The New Broadway Cast Recording (1999 Revival)
Music Review: A PALE REPLICA OF THE "ORIGINAL" - OR - WHAT'S WRONG WITH MANY REVIVALS . . . . .
Rating: 3 Stars
After reading the previous reviews of this 1998 Roundabout Theatre Company revival of LITTLE ME, I can only assume that none of the writers had ever heard the 1962 original Broadway cast recording. It only takes a few bars of Harold Wheeler's Las Vegas-style, synthesized overture (what happened to the strings?) to conclude that this is just a cheap facsimile. Such a disappointment. No wonder it ran for only 99 performances!
What's wrong with this "revival" - and that of KISS ME KATE, 110 IN THE SHADE, PAJAMA GAME, etc. - probably boils down to economics. Imagine the producer on the telephone: "Musicians, singers, dancers. That's big money. We can save a bunch of bucks by trimming their numbers. What do you mean the original orchestrations and choral arrangements won't work anymore? Just hire some hack to write new ones with lots of brass and drums and synthesizers. Who needs strings? Since the public schools ain't teachin' music no more, no one'd recognize a viola if one fell on his head. With the money we save on musicians, we can add some cool special effects. Can we work a helicopter into this scene? Audiences really go for that kind of thing today.
"Another thing, what's this baloney with having TWO temperamental actresses play one character? I don't care if Neil Simon wrote it that way. If that Ceasar guy could play seven different men in 1962, then Faith Prince can play the young Belle AND the older Belle! What happens with the two Belle's 'Little Me' duet? No problem! Just throw in a bunch of cute show boys to back up Ms. Prince. And, by the way, move the song from late in Act II and make it the show's opening number. That's the name of the show, isn't it? LITTLE ME? (Duh!) Another thing. I'm not sure the audience is going to 'get' this Neil Simon guy's humor. Make sure Martin puts in a lot of his Saturday Night Live schtick. The audiences will love it!"
It's a wonder the show ran as long as it did. Well, someone said you can fool some of the people some of the time, but . . . . . . .
John Kendrick, in his recent review of City Center's Encore! production of GYPSY, wrote: "The budget goes into a full-size orchestra, directed by Patrick Vaccariello with a stylish hand. By the time they finish playing the hell out of the greatest overture Broadway can lay claim to, you know you are in for a memorable evening." David Barbour, in "The TheaterMania Guide to Musical Theater Recordings," wrote pretty much the same thing about LITTLE ME's 1962 recording. However, just a few bars into the overture of this recording, and the only word that comes to mind is CHEAP! Some the time the recording sounds like a seedy lounge show; at other times like Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey.
It's not a total waste. Faith Prince is always fun to listen to, and she is quite good here. And everyone seems to be having a good time. But overall, it's a big misfire. Other reviewers have complimented Michael Park for his version of "I've Got Your Number," but just compare it to Swen Swenson's "original." Sexy and seductive, it stopped the show and received standing ovations. How Martin Short won a Tony, I'll never understand. His braying and bleating (at least on the recording) has got to go down in history as one of the most grotesque caricatures every created.
Do yourselves a favor. Pick up a copy of ArkivMusic's faithful transfer of the "original" and see how the pros did it. For one thing, the pros back then respected the intelligence of their audiences. My only reservation about the 1962 recording was its sound quality, but it's no worse than this one.
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