SOUND OFF: Everyday Rapture

Half Mennonite To Full Mermanite

Today, we are taking a look at multi-Tony-nominated Broadway leading lady Sherie Rene Scott and the original cast recording of her (mostly) one-woman show EVERYDAY RAPTURE, currently on Broadway. In addition to being nominated this season for Best Actress, Ms. Scott is also nominated in the Best Book of A Musical category (along with collaborator Dick Scanlan) for this autobiographical musical tracing her conversion from the Mennonite Church to Mermanism (as in Ethel) and detailing her time spent on Broadway from TOMMY until now. From Sally Simpson to the stage version of herself, Sherie Rene Scott can hold an audience‘s attention like few other performers, evident everywhere on this album. But is that enough?

From Jesus To Judy

Sherie Rene Scott: EVERYDAY RAPTURE - Original Cast Recording

SCORE: 7/10

Sherie Rene Scott has been paying her dues for many, many years. She is known to cast album collectors primarily because of her portrayal of Sally Simpson on the Original Broadway Cast Recording of The Who's TOMMY in which she sang not only the classic rock song of her namesake but also a newly composed song written especially for her by that show's composer/lyricist, rock royalty Pete Townshend of The Who (the show also tied Kander & Ebb‘s KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN for that year‘s Best Score Tony Award). Scott also had the esteemed privilege earlier in her career of having songs written specifically for her by two other members of the rock n roll pantheon, Randy Newman and Elton John. While her performance in Randy Newman's troubled FAUST (which happened to have a book by David Mamet and starred Scott's soon-to-be husband Kurt Deutsch, who now co-owns Ghostlight/Sh-K-Boom Records with her) was widely praised, the show did not make it past it's tryout at the La Jolla Playhouse in the mid-90s. Scott created the role of Amneris in Elton John and Tim Rice's 2000 Tony-winner for Best Score, AIDA, and also performed on that show's quite fascinating concept album as well as the original Broadway cast recording. Of course, Scott also participated in a workshop of Jonathan Larson's SUPERBIA and went on to replace Idina Menzel in the role of Maureen in the original Broadway cast of RENT amid much controversy among the shows' vocal fans. Since then, Scott has given memorable performances on two superb cast albums on the Sh-K-Boom label: Jason Robert Brown's THE LAST FIVE YEARS - one of the most popular and successful cast albums of the last ten years, and rightfully so thanks to the pitch-perfect performances by Ms. Scott and Norbert Leo Butz - and Paul Scott Goodman's criminally underrated masterpiece BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY. She has also appeared in David Yazbeck's DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS - another wonderful collaboration with Butz and Ghostlight/Sh-K-Boom - and, most recently, on stage in Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID. While these performances are all treasures to various extents, whether on stage or on disc in the cast album version, it is in the recording studio that Scott shines most brightly, as she proved on her first solo album more than ten years ago.

Sherie Rene Scott's MEN I'VE HAD (the title refers to the composers' work that comprises the album, namely: Pete Townshend, Elton John, Randy Newman, Jonathan Larson and Kander & Ebb) is probably my favorite solo album of any theatre performer in the last decade so it was with much trepidation and anticipation I partook in devouring this cast album for Scott's solo show EVERYDAY RAPTURE. While it would be near-impossible to top MEN I'VE HAD given the nature of this cast album versus that solo showcase, I am happy to report that Scott displays a maturity and vocal assurance which was not yet evident on her earlier recordings. She also imbues the material with a particularly personally-revealing emotionality - which is amply apparent in her at-times verging-on-overwrought delivery - and a generous dose of due diligent pathos. While this album lacks the highs and lows of the across-the-board excellence of MEN I'VE HAD, this is a strong sophomore effort when taken on its own terms as a solo album unrelated to a Broadway show, and slightly less so as a follow-up to MEN I‘VE HAD. While the show onstage holds its own particular sway over an audience, achieving that ambience on an album is a much more dicey proposition and, all in all, Scott comes out smelling like roses; Or, Scot-free, if you will. For the most part.

"The Other Side of This Life" starts the album off on a punchy Burt Bacharach-esque beat with a vocal overture similar to that used in the currently-running revival of Bacharach/David's 1968 musical PROMISES, PROMISES with the support of backup vocalists Betsey Wolfe and Lindsay Mendez. After that short curiosity comes a more bluesy side of Scott in the form of "Got A Thing On My Mind", showcasing her exceptional ease with r&b riffs honed no-doubt singing gospel songs in church as a girl. More on that soon, or actually sooner rather than later as "Elevation" unexpectedly continues on where the previous track trails off. The lyrics for this song are particularly apropos, with Scott hilariously proclaiming herself as a "semi-semi-star" in her formative years. Scott then grabs the goat by the horns and takes on one of the most classic songs of the inimitable Judy Garland's vast repertoire: the exquisite Kay-Thompson-arranged song from THE HARVEY GIRLS, "On The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe". The down-home sound of the blues guitar and the laid-back feel of this track - as well as it's slow-burning-build style - is dramatically and thematically propulsive and emotionally effective, particularly when it melds with another Garland tune, "Get Happy". The juxtaposition of the Church of Judy versus the Church of J.C. Superstar was not lost on this listener, even without the witty and withering dialogue describing her repressive youth as it is done in the show. "You Made Me Love You" brings to mind the intentionally cornball "When You Come Home To Me" from THE LAST FIVE YEARS at the start, but soon gives way to a more plaintive and passionate performance of the song despite who it is being addressed to (clue: initials not "J.G." but, "J.C."). Given the controversial nature of this interpretation of the song, further compounded by the edgy monologue included in the middle, I can imagine some listeners turning cold to this track. In general, this recording is a bit more difficult to warm to than it perhaps should be, but that is par for the course given the tricky translation of solo show to solo album, I suppose. The whole show realizes its emotional purpose - and left me with chills - in the seemingly most bare naked moment thus far with Scott's delivery of the very ending of this track which is truly touching and heartbreaking.

The whole affair reaches its idiosyncratic apotheosis with the "Mr. Rodger's Medley". To detail its contents too much would do a disservice to Scott and Scanlan's bawdy - and, at times, bitchy - book, but be advised that rarely has such parochial material sounded so prurient! Scott's vocals are impassioned and alluring. "It's You I Like" is the mournful morning-dove we have come to love in Scott‘s sounds, evoking her exquisite take on Randy Newman's flawless ballad "Real Emotional Girl" from MEN I'VE HAD. The piano work and jazz combo on this track in particular are pristine and attractive. Leonard Cohen is known for being a very thoughtful and oftentimes theatrical storyteller in his compositions, and while I would adore hearing Scott's take on perhaps his most famous song, the ethereal "Hallelujah", I am more than happy to settle for this sensitive and wistful rendering of "I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City". True, Scott has covered similar territory to perfection in her duet with Adam Pascal on Elton John and Bernie Taupin's moody masterpiece "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters", but this is a nice reprise of similar themes. "Life Line" begins with an almost Babyface-like intro and blossoms into a sonically aromatic flower of beauty, grace and gentle yearning such as Scott does better than any other actress on Broadway or off. I wish it were longer, which is also how I feel about the rest of the album which clocks in at less than forty minutes even with two bonus tracks.

The final section of EVERYDAY RAPTURE begins with "Rainbow Sleeves", at first eluding to the famous E.Y. Harburg accompaniment for that other famous "Rainbow" song, but Scott manages to surprise and delight us with her choice in performing an even more melancholy and ruminative moment than even that song would have afforded her. Appropriately so, given the time in the story of Scott's life that this song occupies. While her near-caterwauling is spine-tingling to me, others may find it a bit overdone - but, one this is for certain: no one can deny her unflagging commitment to character (even if she is playing herself, or a version of herself) as revealed in the quiver, crack and spoken sibilance near the song's conclusion. In three minutes' time Scott manages to perform a three-act play through the words and music of "Rainbow Sleeves". Whether that song is worthy of that emotional and dramatic weight is another matter entirely. Speaking of which: "The Weight" is a more upbeat entry than many of the songs chosen here, but it covers much of the same territory as previous tracks on the album making it seem inconsequential. That being said, it is nice to hear Scott let loose a bit given the oft-solemn tone of much of the material on this album. "Why" is a bit of a discordant, ineffective novelty. Perhaps it has more impact onstage, but it's not really the showpiece for Scott it should be - which unfortunately happens to be the case for a lot of this material which is simply sub-par given Scott‘s many talents. Yet, this is what she has chosen to sing so wish-lists are rendered useless to us now. The Mr. Rodgers' theme of the show continues with Scott's cover of the actual theme song. She sings the song wonderfully, but, again - why is she singing this over the countless songs better suited to her magnificent talent? The show proper ends with "Up The Ladder To The Roof" which helps the show go out on a high-note and stands as one of the strongest tracks on the album. The bonus tracks included on my copy of the album ("Remember" and "Give Me Love") are very strong and, as is the case with the whole album, leave us wanting even more to experience and enjoy. What is here is not nearly enough.

Sherie Rene Scott is one of the strongest stage performers and invaluable cast album recording artists we have today. So, why am I not overcome with tears and hyperbolically praising EVERYDAY RAPTURE like I would love to be doing right now? The answer to that is quite simple: it's all a bit innocuous. To be perfectly honest, there are only three or four songs on this album that I envision myself listening to over-and-over again the way I could with Scott's entire MEN I'VE HAD album, or her tracks on the cast albums of THE LAST FIVE YEARS and BRIGHT LIGHTS BIG CITY. Perhaps I am holding EVERYDAY RAPTURE to too high of a standard, but at only a little over a half-hour's worth of content and much of what exists reiteration of the same themes, what else can I say? I wish we had another Sherie Rene Scott solo album to go along with this and MEN I'VE HAD because one Sherie Rene Scott solo album a decade is not nearly enough. A great star with only so-so-to-decent material. Scott is surely stupendous, and, to crib a phrase form the first title for this solo-show, YOU MAY NOW WOSHIP ME: we may now worship her. EVERYDAY RAPTURE gets an "Amen," but no "Hallelujah!"