Album Review: Chilina Kennedy's WILD ABOUT YOU (World Premiere Recording) Debuts A New Show In Development

Heigh Ho, dear lovely rainbow tribe, welcome back to Bobby’s CD sandbox where we offer our broken-down breakdowns of new music releases. So, strap in and get ready, as Bobby goes on the record ABOUT the record.

This week’s album entry in the BobbyFiles comes from Broadway’s longest reigning Carole King in BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL, Chilina Kennedy. Not just a singing actress or an acting singer is our Chilina… oh no, she is also a gifted songwriter. Her latest endeavor WILD ABOUT YOU (World Premiere Recording) is a new original musical (in development), that had an industry-only presentation earlier this year and is set to have its first staged production in the 2024-2025 season. In advance of that presentation, the producers and Ms. Kennedy have released a world premiere recording through Broadway Records. Formerly titled WITH(OUT) HER, WILD ABOUT YOU is a pop/folk musical following Olivia, a woman who has awakened in the hospital with a Swiss cheese memory, who must go on a journey through the holes in the cheese to put together the pieces of her life. As she picks through her muddled past, “she wonders which one of the loves of her life is her emergency contact” - so says the album's press release. The fog eventually lifts and Olivia remembers her greatest love: her son. The show’s themes grapple with love and flawed humanity and the struggles of those who try to make everyone happy, but wind up making no one happy. This is the context that one can find in the album jacket. WILD ABOUT YOU features an all-star cast of Tony, Grammy, and Emmy-winning artists, including Lea Salonga (MISS SAIGON, LES MISERABLES, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, HERE LIES LOVE), Katharine McPhee (WAITRESS & TV’s SCORPION), Alex Newell (SHUCKED, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND), Joaquina Kalukango (PARADISE SQUARE, INTO THE WOODS), Jenn Colella (COME FROM AWAY, SUFFS, IF/THEN), Eric McCormack (WILL & GRACE, THE COTTAGE), Aisha Jackson (ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME, WAITRESS), Noah Ricketts (FROZEN, BEAUTIFUL: THE Carole King MUSICAL), and Jay McKenzie (PARADISE SQUARE, BEAUTIFUL: THE Carole King MUSICAL). All of these amazing performers are given a variety of musical challenges which they rise to beautifully, if we do say so ourselves. For the listener, though, we are not given character names or scene snippets/breakdowns of who is doing what to whom and why they are feeling the emotions that have driven them to song, and so we must simply take the journey that the music offers, song by song, without much contextual understanding.

Opening with FLOATING AND FALLING, we get the sounds of an ER, oxygen pumps and heart monitors all in a dreadful rhythm. Olivia (Katharine McPhee) is being treated after a terrible accident, and now her mind is under the haze of injury, drugs, and confusion. McPhee’s voice is as supreme as ever, and all the pain and confusion are palpable. Cut three on the album is the title song, WILD ABOUT YOU, which gives us BroadwayWorld fave Jen Colella & Creator Kennedy dueting, with their two very different voices working so well together. This song ROCKS OUT and would seem to be a love song between these two women that is imbued with passion. Broadway’s OG Carole King, Jessie Mueller, sings a gentle pop/folk number called GOLD.  Meuller’s voice lends heart and emotion to this lovely tune that feels a touch mournful and a little sad but is a gorgeous ballad. WITHOUT YOU pairs Kennedy Caughell & Rachel Ling Gordon on an upbeat song with some country vibes. The lyrics indicate they might be mother and daughter singing their loneliness, as they are separated during the song’s bridge, juxtaposed (What? Bobby knows words?!) with a traveling, on-the-road beat, in the chorus.

 

 

Chilina Kennedy’s new musical features a book by Eric Holmes and direction by Lorin Latarro and was originally conceived at Eclipse Theatre Company as part of the New York Theater Barn New Works Series. This release, which Bobby would say is more than a proof of concept but less than an original cast recording, is produced by Brian Spector, Daniel Edmonds, and was released through Broadway Records last month with arrangements, orchestrations, and music production by Daniel Edmonds. Overall, the music and lyrics are solid and the performances by bona fide vocal stars lifts solid to marvelous. A little over halfway through, Bobby’s ears felt a bit overtaxed on the ballad/power ballad front and wished there were one or maybe even two more numbers like WILD ABOUT YOU or WITHOUT YOU, but there is likely to be more music to come as the show develops. Finally, we enjoyed what we heard, and you lovely rainbow children most likely will, as well, AND you’ll be getting in on the ground floor of fandom, if this one takes wing and flies to a full production, which we very much hope it does. Until then, we are giving WILD ABOUT YOU (World Premiere Recording) a solid…

3 ¾ Rainbows Out Of 5

You can Put this one in your Amazon stream: HERE

You Can See And Hear Everything About WILD ABOUT YOU (World Premiere Recording) On The Website: HERE

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