Review: 54 LOVES CAST ALBUMS at 54 Below Is a Love-In

Many people hear musical theatre scores and fall in love with them before they ever see a show on stage – on Broadway or elsewhere.  The introduction often comes via a cast recording.  Cast albums, of course, also become a way to bring back the memories of shows we did see and help us imagine shows from past generations.  This enthusiasm got a nod in the program 54 Loves Cast Albums at 54 Below.  This second installment of this love fest was held on March 7th at 54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club. The evening was co-hosted by Michael Portantiere and Charles Kirsch, whose activities include theatre podcasts (Broadway Radio and Backstage Babble, respectively) and writing about the matter at hand on specific releases for the website castalbumreviews.com.   

Unlike some presentations in cabaret rooms, the goal was not to put personal stamps on old songs and re-interpret them; the concept was to honor the way they can be heard on those recordings.  Thus, absent an actual orchestra, it made sense that Matthew Martin Ward’s sole piano accompaniment was dutifully conservative within the historic blueprints.  Original cast member of Nine, Karen Akers, explained the plot situation leading up to her character’s solo “My Husband Makes Movies,” a memorable moment for those who saw the production and/or those who treasure that cast album.  Can it really have been more than 40 years ago?!?  She brought dignity and depth to this number and another gem from the score, “Unusual Way.”  Three numbers were selected from the classic Broadway score of Guys and Dolls, which has had multiple productions getting their casts recorded, starting with the original in 1950 and as recently as last year’s London mounting.  The guys du jour entertainingly in character sampling the Frank Loesser score had been in the cast of a 2022 Staten Island presentation: John Griffin and George Anthony Pappas and Mr. Portantiere himself.  The latter joined his younger co-host for a very funny thing from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: the father/son number called “Impossible.”  (It was impossible not to laugh.)    

Having seen many night club and concert presentations of Broadway material, with and without those who’d played the characters the songs were written for, I was appreciative of the specific references to the theme of this night: the actual cast recordings.  There was the notable mention of the value of exposure through a recording (such as radio airplay) when other media couldn’t be depended upon.  An example of this: musicals that opened during a newspaper strike, so there were no reviews!  Such was the case with Kismet, which managed a healthy 683 performances, and Jay Aubrey Jones delivered a strong piece from that score, “The Olive Tree.”   

It was pointed out that a cast album can play a crucial role in acquainting potential audiences with a musical with a short life and inspire future productions that might be more successful (case in point, although nothing was sung from its Stephen Sondheim score: Merrily We Roll Along).  But another Sondheim show recording brought forth the night’s standout anecdote, related to producing, about what happened behind the scenes and between takes at a recording session when that legendary songwriter heard a wrong word being sung.  Robbie Rozelle hilariously related (and acted out) the feedback he was assigned to give a star (sugar-coated and oh-so-diplomatically).  Sondheim was performed by Ben Jones with an exciting rendition of “Being Alive,” preceded by his performance of “Hey There” from The Pajama Game, recreating the way it’s done in that musical and its cast album, with the character recording a memo to himself on an office dictaphone and then playing it back to listen and singing with his own recorded voice.  54 Below’s technology allowed the theatrical effect — and the only thing audiences could like more than one Ben Jones voice was two Bens together.    

Other classics represented were She Loves Me (Robbie Rozelle nailing the glee of its title song) and, with soprano ballads, The Music Man and My Fair Lady, both sung by Megan Styrna.  Her “Till There Was You,” too prim and with vibrato that wasn’t judicious, was less successful than a joyful and surprisingly spunky and comic “I Could Have Danced All Night,” enhanced by Michael Portantiere chiming in with the counterpoint section sung by the servants in the show.  We don’t normally hear that part when the song is recorded or sung outside the musical, so again we had something especially connected to the world of cast albums.

A special treat in the musical feast: creator of Forbidden Broadway Gerard Alessandrini and alumna Christine Pedi trotted out a couple of LOL parodies: his poking fun at Richard Burton in Camelot and hers grandly imagining a goofy Anna Karenina tragic death scene musicalized to the tune of the peppy “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe.”  On a more serious note, the night ended with a bittersweet rendition of West Side Story’s “Somewhere” with most of the singers on-stage harmonizing with the recorded voices of the earlier installment of 54 Loves Cast Albums that featured the late (and beloved) Chita Rivera, projected on the screen.  

Shows come and go, and we all have to go home, but at least we can go home to our collections of cast recordings.  Cast albums are forever.  

Find more great shows to see, and stay tuned for the next installation of 54 Loves Cast Albums, on the 54 Below website. Follow them everywhere @54Below

Picture of the show's performers courtesy of Charles Kirsch 

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