Let’s be clear: There are Hollywood musicals which are worth everyone’s attention. Stephen Sondheim’s musicals/operas are musically and intellectually satisfying and truly moving. There are predecessors of similar standing but no-one so consistently packs Sondheim’s punch.

The present musical is not in the Sondheim league. While pleasant and with the occasional hit (e.g. Real Live Girl) this is a slice of Broadway eclair: fluffy but with little nutrition. The brightly inconsequential Broadway-medley overture says it all: brash and superficial. The notes refer to the clever rhymes and with that I would agree. The dominating central role of Belle Poitrine (with frontage to match!) is superbly sung by Faith Prince but she is wasted on the musical material which is suffocatingly conventional. This does not detract from Faith Prince’s (and, Martin Short’s) performance and I was impressed with tastily turned avoidance of cliché-ed word patterns.

Full notes (English only) with the plot given in all its resplendently convoluted detail. No lyrics. The notes claim that this recording was made in February 1999 and I am reviewing this on 30 March 1999. Did they mean 1998?

Reviewer

Rob Barnett

Reviewer

Rob Barnett