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If you want a break from serious drama and tear-filled torch songs often covered in this column, here are some light-hearted and more lightweight diversions, definitely not restricted to "adults only" listening. The first is a souvenir of last year's Broadway revival of a musical based on an 1835 fairy tale for kids, and the second is a studio cast album musicalizing an Australian children's book from 1899. The third item's target audience is most specifically the very young, culling recordings made over the last 27 years by a popular entertainer in that musical market. Each of these releases has a lullaby as well as lots of liveliness and laughs.
In listening to the recently issued recording of the 2024 Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress, the many amusing moments and lilting melodies pleasingly pile up, like the one-upon-another mattresses the protagonist princess is asked to sleep on. The merry musical, with a plot based on the classic Hans Christian Andersen story "The Princess and the Pea," offers plenty of energy and some sweetness in its 19 tracks. Beginning brightly with the time-and-place-setting "Many Moons Ago" (charmingly crooned by major asset Daniel Breaker), the score first made its way to the Great White Way many moons ago, in 1959, with a star-making turn by Carol Burnett, who repeated her role of Princess Winnifred in two television versions. She was brash and bellowing, whereas Sutton Foster in the role, while by no means demure or dainty, is more about being cheerful and plucky, game and goofy. Her vigor is pretty constant, whether bubbling up with bonhomie or unleashing frustration. The more outsized comic zeal is provided in the madcap depiction of the peevish Queen by Ana Gasteyer, with cackles and hammy and haughty touches applied to notes and words, all adding to the devilish delight. The aforementioned 2024 ladies' broad interpretations, quite royally entertaining, are balanced by the more life-sized, calmer characterizations of other cast members which bring out the charms of the ingratiating music composed by Mary Rodgers and the deft lyrics of Marshall Barer that alternately present wide-eyed wonder or wink at the tried-and-true tropes of fairy tales. Michael Urie as the prince presents a properly guileless guy who is instantly likeable and full of enthusiasm. Smooth and sunny in their vocals, Nikki Renée Daniels and Will Chase play the young lovers eager to marry, professing their mutual affection in "In a Little While" and "Yesterday I Loved You," although the latter could be more touching if it had been taken more gently and more slowly. With the Barer lyrics snugly fitting the moods of the sturdy and straightforward (and often bouncy) Rodgers melodies, extra appreciation for the tunes themselves comes via the rich overture (more than four minutes long) and the brief but zesty "Spanish Panic" dance music. The potential loveliness in the melody line for the wordless minute-long "Nightingale Lullaby" (voice of Wendi Bergamini as the bird) is kind of lost by having its initial pretty cooing segue into squawking. Those who know other versions of this score will note some changes in song assignments as well as the absence of numbers added for the 1996 revival, one added to the 1964 TV airing and one written by Ken and Mitzie Welch for the 2005 TV version. Included in the CD's packaging are remarks by Amy Sherman-Palladino, who revised the original book, commenting on her intentions to punch up some lines, to rid the script of vestiges of fairy-tale female stereotypes as damsels in distress, and her vetoed desire to add risqué jokes. (Not much dialogue is included in the recording.) And there are 10 large color photos of the production. But the most compelling feature of the booklet is a detailed discussion of how orchestrations and arrangements dressed the score in its various incarnations. With particular attention to the current handling of the tour de force "Happily Ever After," the essay is full of specifics about how the numbers were shaped, what instruments were used for impact and color on individual lines; the report could serve as an ear-opening class in Music Appreciation. It explains that what we're hearing on this recording, played by the terrific 16-member orchestra, is a mix of what was created for the 1996 revival, that production's recording with an expanded instrumentation, and new ideas for this version, all the while taking into account that the several cast members who were in the mounting months earlier as part of the of the Encores! program at Manhattan's City Center, had learned and performed the songs with the original 1959 arrangements and orchestrations. These notes were written by the orchestrator of this version and that 1996 revival, Bruce Coughlin, who knows his way around orchestrating not just this music composed by Mary Rodgers, but scores by her father, Richard Rodgers (contributing orchestrations for the Broadway revivals of The Sound of Music and The King and I, both also in the late 1990s), and Mary's son, Adam Guettel, for A Light in the Piazza and Floyd Collins. Keeping it all in the family, Mr. Guettel is among the producers of this new cast album of Once Upon a Mattress, a musical for the fairy tale-loving child in us all, a show that–despite changing times, changes in interpretations, a few changes in the included songs and what characters sing them, and the songs' orchestrations–seems like it will live happily ever after in the repertoire.
Come get lost in a story about a young child named Dot, lost in the Australian bush, who is befriended by Mrs. Kangaroo, a marsupial mama who is searching for her own lost child. The tale of Dot and the Kangaroo began as a book at the tail end of the 19th century, was adapted for the stage in 1924, and spawned a film with songs in 1977, using animation set against photographs of nature for the backgrounds; eight screen sequels followed. The stage version has been performed in the United States, in New Zealand, and in Australia where young performers there (almost all younger than 18) participated in this vibrant new studio cast recording consisting of a dozen tracks with a short playing time of 28 minutes. It's the work of composer Daniel Mertzlufft and lyricist Kate Leonard, with some brief lines of Daniel Stoddart's dialogue included on this digital release. Dot eats a special berry which, conveniently, gives her the ability to understand what animals say and sing. The various verbose creatures include several that are native to Australia: a koala, a kookaburra bird, a platypus, a magpie goose, and, of course, the kangaroo in whose pouch Dot hitches a ride. The adaptation takes some liberties with the source material, adding and subtracting characters; the authors have killed off the girl's mother, making Mrs. Kangaroo all the more a kind of mother substitute figure to bond with. Layla Schillert warmly voices the caring character, leading off "The Lullabye" and other moments of comfort. Dot gets aged up three years from the book wherein she's five years old, allowing her to be more articulate and self-assured. Employing a variety of musical styles, including some jazzy scat-singing for some of the birds, the family-friendly score uses some traditional musical theatre devices, such as an early "I want" song for Dot expressing her wanderlust: a desire to "See the Country" ("I want to find the world beyond my door/ I want to feel free until I see what Australia has in store"). Anaiya Mahony invests it with appropriate yearning, along the lines of Dorothy wishing to see that land over the rainbow or a certain little mermaid wondering about a non-waterbound life. Conflict and action are packed into a set of musical scenes set in a courtroom with accusations and protestations flying, with Dot on the defensive, wrongly accused of the bad behavior of other humans. A kinetic, contemporary-sounding rollicking number for the strutting platypus (on-target Cooper James, backed up by an admiring chorus). It has the animal proclaim himself as "King of the Burrow," while confessing some struggles with rejection for being different, but now claiming he's "thoroughly proud," happy to be "one of a kind, not one of a crowd." It's a splendid message of self-acceptance and individuality for children to take in, but it doesn't come across as transparently preachy. There's a shorter "Junior" version of this musical as well as a full-length option licensed by MTI. While the studio cast recording provides an entertaining taste, with no digital booklet to give background or lyrics, those curious about the full property can see a perusal script online with sheet music, a plot synopsis, all the sung and spoken words, as well as pages of user-friendly information for groups who want to produce Dot and the Kangaroo, with guides to putting on a show, vocabulary words relevant to theatre and Australia at: issuu.com
With a whopping 28 tracks, there's a whole lot of happiness and sunshine being spread as Laurie Berkner presents a rosy retrospective of her Greatest Hits. Even without the visual exposure to her videos where she cheerfully sings original material concerning subject matter that matters to kids and plays guitar in the company of mostly peppy preschoolers, you can almost see the smiles and swaying and taste the sugar. With a long and still flourishing songwriting/performing career including live concerts, TV appearances, videos, and a discography sampled here that goes back to 1997 (the tracks are remastered), there's plenty to pick from. She also has written songs for stage musicals produced by the New York City Children's Theater; included in this set is one sample: "Monster Boogie," which was heard in the show Wanda's Monster. In addition to the old favorites plucked from her albums, Laurie Berkner adds four new items, vintage 2024. They are the casually educational geometric-centric "Let's Make a Shape" and three rather adorable things about animals: the saga of Onyx the Octopus"; one about the pleasures of "Walking with Penguins"; and "My Bunny Goes Hop." But there's no shortage of representatives of a musical menagerie of non-human characters, as other tracks put the spotlight on another rabbit and a turtle, dinosaurs, goldfish, a chicken, a pig, ferrets, a bumblebee, and the "Chipmunk at the Gas Pump." Celebrated are the small pleasures of life (such as dancing and singing, with cleaning and "Waiting for the Elevator" also presented as oh-so enjoyable) in the cute and catchy, unpretentious, audience-appropriate simple songs. There is an enormous amount of repetition in the lyrics (a frequently reiterated key word, phrase, or full chorus heard verbatim three or more times). It's an element of pop songs for general audiences that generally is my pet peeve, but it comes with the territory (and comes again) in this genre. So, of course, this Berkner batch rarely suggests the more sophisticated, more emotional, or wordier kind of kid-accessible material that has a mission to be crossover story-rich songs to fully engage adult sensibilities. However, they may grow on a grown-up's inner child if they're encountered, and her authentic joy and pleasing tone are infectious. The fun never feels forced as the seemingly ageless Miss Berkner and her musical colleagues (musicians and the singers who chime in) present their parade of perkiness. The CD has a QR code to scan "to sing along with the lyrics!" The final two tracks of the 28 will be the most rewarding for those who listen in track order and have overdosed on spunk and sparkle. "Mahala" (a Hawaiian word for gratitude) is easygoing, and the mega-mellow "Moon Moon Moon" is the delectable after-dinner mint to follow the musical banquet. |
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ONCE UPON A MATTRESS
DOT AND THE KANGAROO
LAURIE BERKNER