SOUND OFF 2010 ROUND-UP: 3 Divas, 2 Dynamos & Steve

Today we are taking a look and a listen to the biggest and brightest Broadway beacons of the year that was, all amidst the dismal landscape of the Street as we now know it, though I won't name names or titles (hyphenated or otherwise). Between the ultimate diva triptych of Barbra, Liza and Cher each releasing not only new albums in 2010, but also DVDs of their work - and, in Cher's case, a new big-screen original movie musical, BURLESQUE - to the stars-on-the-rise, climbing ever higher, possessed by two leading men from far-off shores: Stuart Matthew Price and David Campbell. In a year with far too few new cast albums, these solo albums and DVDs certainly glow with lots of glorious luster. On Broadway it might have been the year of epic disaster, but on record we may be able to find the Broadway we once knew and loved in any and all of these highly-recommended releases. Oh, yeah - and some Sondheim, too!

The Year of The Diva

2010 was a notable year in entertainment - particularly theatre-related ventures - in that it reestablished the simple fact that the greatest stage performers we have today are also three of the biggest names in entertainment history, and all three are strong, accomplished women who carved their own path out over the course of their, each, unprecedented forty-year-plus careers, which was certainly no easy feat given when they came into the Biz. Few performers can safely say the are recognizable and known worldwide by one name only - and only one of the three legendary ladies on our list is always only known by one name - and, yet, all three have that power and presence, and a hell of a lot more. They are (are you genuflecting yet?): Barbra, Liza and Cher.

BURLESQUE - The Motion Picture (in theaters)

BURLESQUE - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Queen of the comeback - even more so than the other two leading ladies on our list - Cher made 2010 memorable in many marvelous ways. First of all, her return to the silver screen in BURLESQUE not only introduced her persuasive charms to a whole new generation of movie-goers, but the soundtrack album also gave her the chance to add two more unforgettable performances to her list of audible accomplishments. Diane Warren really came through for her with "You Haven't Seen The Last Of Me", and "Welcome To Burlesque" is a smoky, sexy, Kander & Ebb-esque cabaret bump-and-grind quite unlike anything we have ever heard Cher sing or perform before. If for only the reason that it gave Cher the opportunity to do things we have never seen her do before - and look so damn fabulous while doing them, halfway through her sixties - and it was simply a fun night out at the movies, BURLESQUE is one of the only essential-viewing items - and its soundtrack required listening - for Broadway babies of any age this year. An original movie musical starring talents like Cher and Christina Aguilera only comes along once in a lifetime - or, more to the point, once in a lifetime of comebacks. No, not a comeback - a return. We're glad to have her back where she belongs: on a stage. Even if that stage happens to be on a screen. Whatever works.

CHER: The Film Collection

Containing Cher's two best screen performances to date - in Mike Nichols' SILKWOOD and Norman Jewison's MOONSTRUCK, for which she won the Oscar for Best Actress - plus the fun frivolity of MERMAIDS and the enjoyable cast and period detail of TEA WITH MOSSOLINI, the recently released CHER: THE FILM COLLECTION has all four of these films, plus two lesser-known entities - CHASTITY & GOOD TIMES, the latter co-starring Sonny Bono. While this collection would have been a definite must-own had it included the as-yet-unreleased home video version of Robert Altman's stage-to-screen transfer COME BACK TO THE FIVE AND DIME, JIMMY DEAN JIMMY DEAN, what exists here is good enough to warrant consideration if you do not yet own either of Cher's great two film roles on disc, both of which are contained in this attractively packaged (in purple) DVD boxset. The films all look good to OK, with the 60s entries suffering most, and none of the films have been remastered for this release. Isn't there a SILKWOOD commentary by Mike Nichols floating around somewhere from the laserdisc days? I wish it had been included, because as this set stands it is far more convenient than illuminating; but, again, SILKWOOD and MOONSTRUCK make it worth it - drama and comedy truly at their best due to great directors at the top of their game. It acts as a wonderful warming-up to BURLESQUE, as well, if you have not had the pleasure of seeing Cher's performances in these films prior to her newest global film.

LIZA'S AT THE PALACE DVD/Blu-Ray

While Cher lacks the Tony Award necessary for her to own the EGOT crown (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony), I'm sure that Liza Minnelli would be more than willing to share her shelf-full with her for a little while. Liza has done it all, but she is a Broadway baby through and through - and never has that been made more apparent than recently. Broadway is her soul. You are left with no question why Liza is in a league of her own and the true, singular triple-threat diva unlike any other in viewing the spectacular DVD and, even moreso, the Blu Ray of LIZA'S AT THE PALACE. She not only owns the stage, it's as if she came up with the whole concept of performance itself and is showing us now, for the first time, how to do a show right. While she rightfully won a 2009 Tony Award for the Broadway engagement of the Kay Thompson-central show, it was at a midnight performance in Las Vegas that this lovingly produced show finally became a permanent reality on video - and, thank Judy it did! It is everything we have come to love about Liza over the years, and with her recollections of working on CHICAGO, as well as the Thompson segment, she shows she can tackle new material and new takes on old material and always - always - make it real.

Liza Minnelli - CONFESSIONS

As if the LIZA'S AT THE PALACE DVD/Blu-Ray wasn't enough Liza love for one year, we also were treated to perhaps her finest solo album recording to date, as well: CONFESSIONS. A subdued, sinewy album - of course Liza punches up a few moments on a few numbers, giving them a bit of muscle, but never to Schwarzenegger proportions - CONFESSIONS is what many fans had been clamoring for for oh-so-many years. We know Liza can sell a song. We know Liza can sing to the rafters. We know she can kill it. But, can she take it down to the bare essentials and strip away everything but the story, the melody, the lyrics, and, most importantly, the heart. Of all the legendary divas discussed in this column today and all this year, none other is the true Broadway baby that Liza Minnelli is and for that - and all she has given us over the years, on Broadway and beyond - she has cemented herself as a fixture as essential to the theatre as each of the millions of lights on all of the marquees. Liza gives Broadway its spark. That's the real big bang theory of Broadway - Liza Minnelli.

Barbra Streisand - ONE NIGHT ONLY: LIVE AT THE VILLAGE VANGAURD

The voice of a generation. The greatest musical interpreter in recorded music history. An Academy-Award-winning songwriter. What can't Barbra Streisand do? The answer - which, surely, comes as no surprise whatsoever to anyone on Planet Earth - is nothing. And, bringing it all back to the basics - instrumentally, to almost nothing - is what has made Barbra Streisand's newest album, LOVE IS THE ANSWER, as well as the accompanying DVD/Blu-Ray of her Village Vanguard appearance, two of the ultimate entertainment must-owns of this year or any year. While LOVE IS THE ANSWER can't quite make our list since it was technically released in 2009, the Village Vanguard DVD/Blu-Ray certainly can and perhaps this, more than many others, is the best way to experience the voice, the interpretation and the artistry positively overflowing from every nuance in this sumptuous, spellbinding and endlessly enjoyably affair. While there have been countless concerts filmed over her impossible-to-match career, this is the crown jewel atop them all. Intimate, with only a hundred members in the audience of the tiny cabaret where she made her debut forty years ago on this, her anniversary - Barbra Streisand LIVE AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD brings us back to Barbra at her very, very best. Back to the 60s television specials that we know and love so well, but also with a glance forward to a new era of song performance by Barbra. Watching these women - whether it be Cher, Liza or Barbra - adapt their instruments (vocal and otherwise) to the new sounds, style and aura they produce as they grow and change as the years wear on is an unexpected delight. Barbra could not have sung "Ne Me Quitte Pas" with this passion, fire and fervor - and sadness - when she was twenty-six. Reverse the numbers, and she makes the song sound like it was written in a smoky after-hours-bar the night before the filming of the concert. With Barbra, she can make anything old sound so fresh and new again. With Barbra, you forget you ever heard the song before because, well, you haven't really heard a song sung before you have heard it sung by Barbra Streisand. That fact is even more pronounced here, now, as she is today, on this essential entry in her unparalleled recording and concert career.

Momentous Men

After that thorough consideration of All Good Divas of 2010, now we are going to take a quick glimpse back at the strongest releases of the leading men on Broadway and beyond this year.

Stuart Matthew Price - ALL THINGS IN TIME

My favorite album of the year besides Kanye West's MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANTASY - and, yes, it is as much a musical as anything on Broadway and ten times more brilliant in its style, execution, story and message - is Stuart Matthew Price's ALL THINGS IN TIME on SimG Records. I cannot get enough of it. It's an addiction. After the first play, you will not be able to stop. Producer Simon Greiff has captured lighting in a bottle with this release and I can't help but be struck by the notion that this must be sort of what it was like to hear Barbra Streisand's first album when she was just starting out, or Audra McDonald at her beginning. Everything is just so. Everything is just right. Everything is just perfect. From the stirring opening chords of Jason Robert Brown's "The Old Red Hills of Home" from his Tony-winning score for PARADE, to the contemporary sounds of Tom Kitt & Brian Yorkey's next to normal with the energized medley of "There's A World/I'm Alive", straight through to the newly-penNed Brown anthem that closes out the album - the powerful, moving and delicate  title song, "All Things In Time" - ALL THINGS IN TIME is what we have been thirsting for so desperately for so, so long in a desert of dire solo discs. Furthermore, Broadway today is a theme park and the West End is a wasteland - but somehow, some way, right here, right now: we have an oasis. New composers, new material and a bright shining star on top - as far as I am concerned, quickly becoming the West End's answer to Raul Esparza, which is the highest praise I could ever possibly offer since Esparza is unquestionably our very best musical theatre interpreter, and both are far more than merely ROCKY HORROR Riff-Raff - Stuart Matthew Price scores big time with ALL THINGS IN TIME and I hope the time is exceptionally brief between now and the next we see, hear and - undoubtedly - love from Simon Greiff and Stuart Matthew Price. Stu-pendously stellar. Stu's a star.

Note: Be sure to stay tuned to BroadwayWorld because in January we will be featuring an extensive, exclusive interview with Stu discussing this album and his upcoming stage roles!

David Campbell - ON BROADWAY

Another leading man who has made a grand return to New York after a nearly ten-year lapse is Australian superstar stage and concert performer David Campbell. Following his series of highly-lauded cabaret gigs benefit concerts, plus his performance in Sondheim's SATURDAY NIGHT - preserved on a wonderful cast album - he headed back to his homeland and the only way to get his albums or concerts were YouTube or Amazon Aus.. Thank goodness he has returned - and, just in time - with this stupendous collection of Broadway anthems, old and new. While I am partial to his clarion instrument and the passion, ferocity, joy and energy he imbues each and every moment on every single song with, it is in Campbell's simply commitment to putting on a good show that makes this album so utterly enjoyable to experience again and again. The standards and punched-up and popping with pizzazz. The love songs are, well, lovely. But, to me, it is in the lesser-known gems such as Stephen Schwartz's proto-punk virtuoso composition "Proud Lady" from the troubled THE BAKER'S WIFE and the scintillating "Goodbye" from the forthcoming Marc Shaiman/Scott Wittman musical CATCH ME IF YOU CAN that Campbell firmly establishes all his many multitides of good gifts on not only the songs, but on us in the audience. He casts a spell and holds our hearts in his hands when he sings and, if only for that, Campbell is a true interNational Treasure. Now, I just can't wait to see the DVD of the concerts this CD commemorates! Sophisticated, cool - and, at the same time, sizzling.

SONDHEIM! The Birthday Concert

SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM - Original Broadway Cast Recording

FINISHING THE HAT by Stephen Sondheim

Lastly, I would be remiss not to at least mention in our year-end round-up that this was certainly the year of Sondheim and if you haven't already picked up his self-penned book on his pre-1981 work, FINISHING THE HAT, I must urge you to do so at your soonest possibly convenience. You will not regret it. It is rare to have the master of a form - any form, entertainment or otherwise - share his thoughts so candidly as Sondheim does here. Also, be sure to check out the SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM cast recording featuring Barbara Cook, Tom Wopat, Vanessa Williams, Euan Morton, Norm Lewis and others for some lesser-known sides of Sondheim - and some super-obscure songs you may never hear again. Most of all, be sure to pick up the DVD or (better yet) the Blu-Ray of SONDHEIM! The Birthday Celebration because it is, without question, the greatest celebration of Broadway I have ever seen preserved on video. It is that good. It's Sondheim, how could it not be? Also, we will be featuring an illusory conversation next month with Barbra Cook in which we highlight her work with Sondheim from FOLLIES to now. Speaking of FOLLIES, let's hope by this time next year we will be discussing the cast recording of the Kennedy Center production starring Bernadette Peters and Elaine Paige. Until then, stay tuned to Sound Off!

Have a harmonically harmonious - and happy - New Year!