Billion Dollar Baby (Revival Cast)

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Music reviews of Billion Dollar Baby (Revival Cast)

Music Review: All lost shows are not lost gems
Rating: 1 Stars

This has always been clear to diehard show buffs from the ARMS AND THE GIRL cast album, and this CD confirms that the drabness of the songs in that one were no fluke. There is not a single song in this one that has that certain Element X, including the two that pop up in sheet music anthologies now and then, "One Track Mind" and "Bad Timing". Every song sounds like a classical composer trying his darnedest to write in an idiom he does not really feel in his bones. Unfortunately, even the characters in the plot are almost oddly unlikeable for the period, which makes it even harder to cotton to the bland, perfunctory tunes. The only thing that MIGHT save them somewhat is rendition by a full orchestra in the original arrangements, which offer us a certain tang in themselves from this distance. But here we only have a little combo, which only emphasizes how little there is to work with.

Meanwhile, Comden & Green, as always, suffered when they didn't have a top-drawer composer. When they were good, they were immortal, capturing a cynical yet hopeful note that stands the test of time. But just as often, they could be paint-by-numbers in a way that strands them in their period, when less was expected of a lyric. It is this "Subways Are For Sleeping" brand of Comden & Green that we get here.

Lots of show fans are listening more for the performer than the score, of course. But even they are unlikely to get much out of this one. Kristin Chenoweth is a gifted performer but has little to do here that lets her strut her stuff as she did in YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN and the TV ANNIE. I love Debbie Gravitte but the songs she has here are so limp that she is wasted (even she can't make anything memorable out of the closest thing she has to a showpiece, "Havin' a Time", and she even sounds like she knows it). And the men here are generally less than stellar.

For archival purposes, hooray, we've got BILLION DOLLAR BABY recorded. But don't buy this one for the car or to cook to; there isn't a thing in it.

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