CDs: Beth, Amy, Jo, and Meg

Economically conceived for a cast of ten, the Broadway musical Little Women opened in January to mixed reviews. As a mother-daughter attraction, it played through four months of declining business and was forced to fold on May 22. A national tour is set to begin this summer, unusual for such a short-lived Broadway show.

With music by Jason Howland and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein, the Little Women score has its attractions. The duet for aspiring writer Jo Sutton Foster and her Professor Bhaer John Hickok, "Small Umbrella in the Rain," is inventive. As Marmee, Maureen McGovern does wonders with "Here Alone" and "Days of Plenty." "Five Forever," for the four sisters and Laurie, is catchy. And Bhaer's solo "How I Am" is a charmer. Another plus: Kim Scharnberg's orchestrations are happily free of the sound of synthesizers and electronic keyboards.

But the eight-minute "Weekly Volcanic Press" sequence, in which one of Jo's blood-and-guts short stories is acted out, is dull, just as it was in the theatre. And then there's Jo's first-act finale, "Astonishing." While it offers the opportunity for a rousing vocal display by Foster, the song is too generic and contemporary in both words and music. Foster's powerful belting here and elsewhere is both exciting and problematic, as it can take one out of the character she's portraying and put one in mind of contemporary vocal stylings.

Even if it's sometimes less than period appropriate, the music here tends to be superior to the lyrics. Much of the score sounds like it could have been composed decades ago; indeed, the chief attraction of the score is its comfortingly traditional style. But it lacks a voice of its own, with too much that's standard and unsurprising, pleasant but mediocre. Several numbers "More Than I Am," "Some Things Are Meant to Be" are attractive enough yet don't quite soar.

But if it rarely breaks through to distinction, the score is more enjoyable than it seemed when I saw the show back in January. If one can't fully endorse this Little Women, there's something reasurringly old-fashioned about the CD that gives it a degree of appeal.

HAIR Ghostlight

The score for Hair is well represented on CD. There are RCA's off-Broadway and Broadway cast recordings; the original London and '93 London revival discs; and the 1992 Australian cast recording.

Hair was also the subject of the fourth annual Actors' Fund benefit concert, and, after Dreamgirls, the second one to get recorded. Commercially unrecorded were the second and third Actors' Fund concert events, Funny Girl and Chess. Unlike Dreamgirls, however, Ghostlight's cast recording of the Actors' Fund Hair is not a live recording. The Hair concert was held at the New Amsterdam Theatre on September 20, 2004, and the CD was recorded in a studio on October 1, 2004.

Hair is a fine choice for a gala concert. The songs are only lightly connected to character and plot, so the Galt MacDermot-Gerome Ragni-James Rado score works well with each song performed by a different artist, and without the book that would surround the songs in the theatre.

One might not have thought that Hair cried out for a new recording. But it's good to hear material so identified with an earlier era performed by the current crop of Broadway musical-theatre talent. There are no weak tracks on the seventy-one-minute CD, and there's much to enjoy.

Particularly noteworthy are a consecutive trio of male voices: Adam Pascal "I Got Life", Gavin Creel "Going Down", and Raul Esparza title song. Julia Murney is superb in the first-act-finale "Where Do I Go?" There's England's Euan Morton, appropriately given "Manchester, England." And there's Ana Gasteyer's belty "Dead End."

Also outstanding: Lillias White's strong opener, "Aquarius"; Laura Benanti's coloratura in "Initials"; Harvey Fierstein's distinctive "Air"; Lea DeLaria's boisterous "Donna"; Liz Callaway's clarion "Good Morning Starshine"; and Annie Golden's sweet "Frank Mills." The recording includes one new song, "Hippie Life," led by Eden Espinosa, as well as some new lyrics in other numbers. As with previous Actors' Fund concerts, the cast was assembled and conducted by Seth Rudetsky, who gives the still-enjoyable score its due.

Those who attended the concert will note several differences on the CD. At the concert, "My Conviction" was performed by Ru Paul; perhaps because he forgot most of the words, it's performed on disc by Charles Busch. "Hippie Life" was not heard in the concert. And "Walking in Space," performed at the concert by the ensemble "tribe," is led on the recording by Sherie Rene Scott.

Not heard on the CD are several concert participants who took speaking roles, including Michael McKean and Nancy Opel as Claude's parents; Jackie Hoffman as a school principal; and Jim J. Bullock, who did the Mick Jagger speech. Most of Claude Harris Doran's role is also unheard on disc.