High Fidelity - Original Broadway Cast Recording

Can a musical that was a flop on Broadway be redeemed by its original cast recording? That is the question the new cast album of High Fidelity proposes to answer—in the affirmative, if possible.

The first thing to bear in mind is that Tom Kitt's music, though not exactly bad, is too generic. It tries to go places but, save in a few instances, is merely marking time. The novel and movie on which the show is based reveled in the characters' eccentric love for the best in esoteric, off-the-beaten-path pop music. The musical's book by David Lindsay-Abaire is also at fault. It triumphantly brings in Bruce Springsteen, the very enemy of what Nick Hornby's novel and its film version stood for—and that here got royally betrayed.

The stage show had other things wrong with it that, happily, do not show up on CD. Although both leads, Jenn Colella (Laura) and especially Will Chase (Rob), were talented, they did not generate sparks together, for which some blame must also go to the direction of Walter Bobbie. There was, further, a certain earthboundness about Christopher Gattelli's choreography, however much it consisted of hopping about. And nothing could live up to Anna Louizos's scenery, whose authenticity, opulence and ingenious fluidity the CD cannot provide, even though its box, when folded out into a triptych, makes a gallant stab at it.

But enough carping: The CD has virtues all its own. First and foremost, it enables you not to lose in the shuffle Amanda Green's lyrics, as good as or better than most of what Broadway has had to offer in a long time, but unfortunately not backed up with condign tunes. These lyrics are clever, charming, witty, diverse, knowledgeable, beautifully fitted to character and most resourcefully rhymed. Could anyone ask for more? Take, for example, sensible friend Liz's reproach to Rob for losing Laura:

"I've stood by with all the others
Smiled away like Sally Struthers
Patient and supportive.
Now you finally got a winner,
Did you ever cook her dinner?
The answer's 'No' I'm guessin'!
And I'm full of PMSin!"

And how about the bluesy "Ready to Settle," in which Rob and Marie try to console themselves for a second-best bedding?

"You're just like me
Alone and sad
And in the dark
You don't look so bad."

Note also the subtle rhyming in "Nine Percent Chance," about the slight possibility of recovering a lost lover:

"Sometimes all you need is
A sliver of hope and
You may just succeed
Or, at least, the door is open."

[IMG:R]There are times when even the music comes through and lives up to the lyrics. Laura has left the too-self-absorbed Rob and is now shacked up with the dubious New Age guru Ian, while Rob seeks consolation with Marie. Ian's ace in the hole is that he handled Kurt Cobain's intervention; Marie's allure for Rob is that, with her, he slept with someone who slept with Lyle Lovett. Out of this, Green and Kitt have fashioned a tripartite number that is inventive, hilarious, touching and, yes, memorable.

Stephen Sondheim has reminded us that a song lyric is not the same as a poem. It needs a melody. Well, at their best, thanks largely but not solely to Amanda Green there are songs on this CD that really make it. Not least the bonus track, "Too Tired," Laura's lament wishing to be back with Rob, which was cut from the show, perhaps because it was too delicate:

"I'm too tired not to be with you
I'm too fried and cold inside
And I need to feel a little less blue
And I'm too wired
To stop and think this through."

For it alone—and here lyric, tune and delivery meld niftily—you might want to get the record. I say "might," not "must."