110 In the Shade (Original Studio Cast)

This grows on you in ways that the Audra and Co. just does not quite deliver for me...it is a wonderful score and a wonderful version

not as good as the original broadway cast recording, but still well worth listening too.

This is a recording derived from a brief New York City Opera revival of this magnificent and very unjustly neglected score. The I Tunes download offers both a studio performance recording of the full score and excerpts from one of the live NYC Opera performances. The excerpts are far better than the performance of the complete score, yet lack the best numbers and there hangs the dilemna in purchasing this version. The good news is in the male stars and in one blow-out cut by the then unknown Kristin Chenowith of "Little Red Hat". In particular Richard Muenz is deeply moving in the profoundly sad "A Man and a Woman" and in a bonus track from the live performance which ends the album--"Why Can They Leave Me Alone". The bad news is the vocal problems of Karen Ziemba who sings the female lead, Lizzie. Ms. Ziemba is out of tune and screechy on virtually every high note on the studio part of the album--although on the live excerpts that end the disk she's in good voice. Her performance of "Raunchy", (Lizzie's lust number), on the main studio portion is virtually unlistenable, while the opera excerpt is a blast. Alas! But 110 in the Shade is Lizzy's show, a coming of age piece that sings or sinks on this role. The competition is overwhelming with Audra McDonald on the new Broadway Revival cast album. Lizzie's role includes real high soprano requirements, which McDonald tosses off in perfect form, and she adds deep feeling to the role as well. Ironically her male partners are somewhat strained, but nothing like Ziemba's at times almost painful singing. I was fortunate to see the true original cast live on Broadway in the 1960s. This show was the successor to the all-time longest running musical by the same composer/lyricist team, Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones, the "Fantastics". Perhaps nothing could have topped that for "staying power", but this is a nearly perfect Broadway show in the mold of "Oklahoma" and deserves the wonderful revival it has just received and deserved a longer run than it got in its first incarnation. I Tunes also offers the 1960s original Broadway Cast album and it too is a winner, with perhaps the best conducting of the three albums. You owe it to yourself to hear this show in the essential new version and if time and money permit in the original as well, but on balance you can skip this performance.

I've been looking for this for a while, so I'm glad iTunes has it! I've not heard another version of this music, but it follows the original play almost to the t. Ron Raines is breathtaking as Starbuck, and if you watch Guiding Light you know he makes a mean Alan Spaulding. I've also heard him sing Billy in Carousel and there aren't enough recordings of him. Also, Karen Ziemba demonstrates every nuance needed for the longing and self resigned nature of Lizzie. The pair of them together is simply wonderful.

Kristin Chenoweth only appears once here, yet she's still amazing as always! She sings other songs in popular movies that aren't on here like RV's Route 66, and Deck the Halls' Silent Night (or O Holy Night).