Stage Door Canteen: Broadway Responds To World War II, a new studio cast recording inspired by Ted Chapin's highly-lauded Lyrics & Lyricists program at New York's 92nd Street Y, has just been released by DRG Records. Featuring a stellar line-up of New York talent -- including Anderson Davis, Jeffry Denman, Brandon Victor Dixon, Debra Monk and Betsy Wolfe -- Stage Door Canteen presents a wide selection of musical responses to World War II, including both rarities and standards by some of the biggest songwriters of the day: Rodgers & Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, Lorenz Hart, Irving Berlin, Frank Loesser, Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Kurt Weill, Leonard Bernstein, Comden & Green and more. The recording is produced for DRG Records by Hugh Fordin.
Chapin's Lyrics & Lyricists program in Spring 2011 examined the work of giants of the musical stage and screen during the period of World War II, including their contributions both to Broadway and to the war effort through songs and musicals that were variously profound, soaring, satiric, patriotic and uniquely American.
For that program, Chapin was inspired by the American Theatre Wing’s Stage Door Canteen, one of the Wing’s many activities during World War II. (At the height of the war the Wing sponsored 54 different programs around the world!) The Stage Door Canteen was a gathering place in the Broadway theater district, in the basement of a theater on 44th Street (there is still a plaque signaling the spot) where servicemen could mingle with theater folk for food, drink, and entertainment.
"World War II was a rich time in American culture," writes Chapin in his liner notes to Stage Door Canteen. "Many of the period's composers and lyricists are names we associate with classic Broadway...It is interesting to see both how they were influenced by the war, and where they were as artists during this period." Working with a collaborator -- musical director and arranger Andy Einhorn ("a young man but an old soul," writes Chapin) -- a song list emerged. "Together we chose songs for the program," recalls Chapin, "starting with those we liked, that had something to say. The gamut ranged from what was on Broadway prior to the war, through the war years, to post-war reflections."
Stage Door Canteen contains a wide array of musical material. It features several interesting pairings (such as "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'," and "Oh, How I Hate To Get Up in the Morning," and a Christmastime medley of "White Christmas," "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"); well-known standards from well-known names (Irving Berlin's "God Bless America," Bernstein & Comden & Green's "Some Other Time"); plus a few not-so-well known numbers from the greats: Berlin's "Ve Don't Like It," Cole Porter's "Farming," Rodgers & Hammerstein's "We're On Our Way," and a Kurt Weill & Oscar Hammerstein II number called "Buddy on the Nightshift."
What is heard on this recording, reflects Chapin, "is an impression of a time in history, as seen through some extraordinary songs in extraordinary performances."
STAGE DOOR CANTEEN
DRG Records – Now Available
Produced by Hugh Fordin
Executive Producer: Ted Chapin
Orchestrations, Arrangements and Album Associate Producer: Andy Einhorn
Featuring: Anderson Davis, Jeffry Denman, Brandon Victor Dixon, Debra Monk and Betsy Wolfe
For more: http://www.drgrecords.com
Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos
