CDs: Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Playing Don Quixote

Although the 1968 London cast recording of Man of La Mancha remains unavailable, there are now CDs of the original Broadway La Mancha; the film soundtrack; the recent Broadway revival with Brian Stokes Mitchell; and two studio sets, one starring Placido Domingo, the other a complete version from JAY with Ron Raines.

Now, as part of its series of CDs devoted to Belgian songwriter-singer Jacques Brel, DRG has reissued the 1968 French cast recording of L'Homme de La Mancha, originally a Barclay LP. This production got started when Brel saw and was impressed by the Broadway La Mancha and yearned to star in the show back home. While American musicals rarely fared well in France, the French La Mancha had the advantage of the original Broadway staging by Albert Marre, who insisted that his wife, Joan Diener, be Brel's co-star in the production, repeating the role she had already played on Broadway and in the West End.

With Brel himself handling the French adaptation of the book and lyrics, L'Homme de La Mancha had its premiere in Brussels, then moved on to Paris, where the recording was made. The production's Sancho, Dario Moreno, was contracted to Phillips, and was denied permission to record for Barclay. So Sancho is sung on the recording by the understudy, Jean-Claude Calon, and most of Sancho's music "I Like Him," "A Little Gossip" is left off the recording. Also missing on the recording: the overture.

Brel's Quixote may not be the loveliest-sounding on disc, but it's guttural, intense, and exciting. In her third recording of the score, following the Broadway and London albums, Diener is in splendid form, and, if anything, more powerful than on her two previous versions. Indeed, the French recording is probably the best of Diener's La Mancha recordings. Those familiar with the Broadway set may note that her music is substantially slowed down here, just as she came to perform it in the theatre. Her "Aldonza" on this set is so intense as to be almost exhausting to listen to.

The other principals are fine, and while there are numerous recordings of the Mitch Leigh-Joe Darion La Mancha score, this one, while considerably less than complete, is one of the most vivid.

CABARET TI

When the Roundabout's blockbuster revival of Cabaret closed after a lengthy New York run, it was unclear whether that production's script and tunestack would become the model for future productions of the Kander and Ebb classic. After all, the Roundabout version, co-directed by Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall, featured a substantial revision of Joe Masteroff's original 1966 book, and it also revised the show's musical program.

A new Mexican Cabaret cast recording indicates that the Roundabout version has been picked up for further production. Recorded live in 2004 at the Teatro de los Insurgentes in Mexico City, this new recording of Cabaret follows the tunestack of the Broadway revival, featuring both "Don't Tell Mama" and the song that replaced it in the film version, "Mein Herr"; including the film's "Maybe This Time"; using the film's "Money Song" rather than the original stage "Money" number; having the Emcee singing "I Don't Care Much," a song cut from the original production and also used in the '87 Broadway revival; and eliminating the original stage numbers "The Telephone Song," "Why Should I Wake Up?," and "Meeskite."

One also notices on the Mexican recording such other aspects of the Mendes Cabaret as the use of the actress playing Fraulein Kost to sing much of "Married" this version adds an additional, soprano voice to the mix and the Emcee's new dialogue during "Wilkommen." The CD photos indicate the presence of the new first-act scene between Cliff and Sally in Sally's dressing room that comes between "Mama" and "Mein Herr."

On this fine recording, Raquel Olmedo is a deep-voiced, vibrant Fraulein Schneider, and Itati Cantoral is a gritty, gutsy, recklessly exciting Sally.

THE BROADWAY MUSICALS CUT-OUTS Bayview

Bayview has released nine live CDs taken from Town Hall's Broadway By the Year concert series. The tenth CD in the series is the first volume of cut-outs, numbers that didn't fit on the separate concert discs already released. Recorded in 2002 and 2003, the songs on the new CD are leftovers from the programs devoted to 1925, 1939, 1940, and 1951.

With numbers from No, No, Nanette, The King and I, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, DuBarry Was a Lady, and Too Many Girls, the material is mostly familiar, but there are several rarities. Geared toward completists, this appendix, which features occasional commentary by series creator and host Scott Siegel, will be of interest chiefly to those who have collected this series' other discs.

Stephanie J. Block The Boy from Oz, Wicked national tour does nicely by Nanette's "Where-Has-My-Hubby-Gone Blues" and "Love for Sale," not the Cole Porter song, but instead an earlier Friml song from The Vagabond King. Justin Bohon Oklahoma!, All Shook Up breezes through "A Cup of Coffee, a Sandwich, and You," then returns for the darker "Gigolette," both from Charlot's Revue of 1926 which opened in '25. John Dossett Gypsy, The Constant Wife veers from a handsome "How High the Moon" the revue Two for the Show to the lighter "What Chance Have I With Love?," an Irving Berlin song from Louisiana Purchase, also featured in the Call Me Madam film.

From The King and I, we have Alison Fraser putting her stamp on "Hello, Young Lovers," and an attractive "Something Wonderful" from Rebecca Eichenberger Dessa Rose. Also from the '51 concert is Chip Zien Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a slightly odd choice for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn's "I'll Buy You a Star."

The vocal standout is Darius DeHaas, in Swinging the Dream's "Darn That Dream" and Yokel Boy's "It's Me Again." Yokel Boy's standard, "Comes Love," gets an effectively jazzy rendition from Annie Golden.