Original Broadway Cast, 2005 (Rhino) 
(3 / 5) Jersey Boys tells the true story of the rise of the phenomenally successful 1960s pop singing group The Four Seasons — or, at least, true to whoever is in charge of the story at whatever point in the show. Rather than presenting a straightforward narrative, book writers Rick Elice and Marshall Brickman have each member of the group — here played by John Lloyd Young (Frankie Valli), Christian Hoff (Tommy DeVito), Daniel Reichard (Bob Gaudio), and J. Robert Spencer (Nick Massi) — take turns in telling the audience their version of the group’s rise and fall. The idea works because all four men make insightful, humorous, and (due to frequent contradictions with each other) unreliable narrators, giving the show an extra edge. This recording includes much of that well-crafted narration without interrupting the musical flow of the album. All four leading men have an easy charm and a singing style that lends the recording a sense of authenticity — as does the fact that it was produced by the real-life Bob Gaudio. In particular, Young does an excellent job of adapting his voice to resemble Frankie Valli and his famous falsetto without sounding like an imitation. Ron Melrose’s vocal arrangements and Steve Orich’s orchestrations are essentially period-appropriate. Unlike other jukebox musicals, Jersey Boys doesn’t aim to do anything new with the preexisting songs but, instead, offers a fun, fresh representation with smart, dramatically compelling commentary. — Matt Koplik
Film Soundtrack, 2014 (Rhino) No stars, not recommended. In bringing this hit jukebox/bio-musical to the screen, director Clint Eastwood remained mostly faithful to the stage material but chose to capture it through a more somber filter. This might have made for an emotionally compelling film, but in fact, it robs Jersey Boys of most of its charm and energy. The soundtrack album reflects this, despite the efforts of the talented quartet representing the Four Seasons: John Lloyd Young is back as Valli, with Vincent Piazza as Tommy DeVito, Erich Bergen as Bob Gaudio, and Michael Lomenda as Nick Massi. Oddly, the album’s producers opted to insert the real-life Frankie Valli’s renditions of certain songs in various places, giving the listener whiplash as we go from Valli to Young to Valli and back. There are also some excerpts from the Broadway cast album, which makes things even more confusing. Young is still in strong voice, and Bergen, Lomenda, and Piazza do a fine job of filling out the quartet — although, without any of the characters’ dialogue included here, Bergen is the only one of the remaining three to get a chance to shine (in “Cry For Me”). Because of the lack of dialogue and any sense of narrative, this soundtrack pales in comparison to the Broadway cast recording of Jersey Boys or any “Best of The Four Seasons” compilation album. — M.K.
(4 / 5) Even with the success of such shows as Hair and Rent, the original pop/rock musical theater score has had a spotty history on Broadway, but it saw a major comeback in 2006 with the raw and highly charged Spring Awakening. Based on Frank Wedekind’s expressionist play, the musical tells of young teenagers in 19th century Germany on the verge of sexuality, and the adults who refuse to explain to them what their newfound urges mean. On stage, Spring Awakening crackled and even exploded with energy, but while the cast album offers a pristine presentation of the score, it lacks some of the energy and spirit that made the show itself so moving. The cast — including future stars Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele, and John Gallagher, Jr. — still provides impressive vocals, but they are less expressive than they were on stage. “My Junk,” “Totally F****d,” and a few other high-powered songs lose some of their edge, although the quieter, more intimate numbers (“Whispering, ” “The Guilty Ones”) remain haunting. In truth, if any show called for a live cast recording, it was this one. Still, the Duncan Sheik-Steven Sater score is exceptionally strong. Sheik has provided many gorgeous, infectious melodies and orchestrated them well to season the score’s alternative rock sensibility with small nods to the show’s 19th German setting. Sater’s lyrics have a flair for the poetic, even if there are some frustrating false rhymes (e.g. “sweet and unknown/longing for a home” “all this/my lips”). To date, this is the only cast album of Spring Awakening, and it’s a good one. But let’s hope that future recordings capture a bit more of the show’s spark. — Matt Koplik
(1 / 5) Howard Ashman sadly died at the height of his career, and he never saw any of his work with Alan Menken make it to Broadway. The legacy he left behind may be relatively small, but it is substantial in quality and much beloved. When Disney brought Beauty and the Beast to the stage with financially successful results, it was only a matter of time before The Little Mermaid, the movie that started it all, would make the transition as well. Unfortunately, in this case, Disney should have left well enough alone. With Ashman gone, Glenn Slater was brought in to contribute lyrics for new songs to expand the score for a full-length stage musical, and while he managed to come up with a few good fish puns, none of his work here matches the heart and inventiveness of Ashman’s work. Menken wrote some lovely melodies for the additional songs, though some of them are recycled from incidental music heard in the movie. The cast — Sierra Boggess, Sean Palmer, Sherie Rene Scott, Tituss Burgess, Norm Lewis, et al. — is talented and, in a few cases, vocally superior to their film counterparts, but most tend to go for vocal tricks, making the majority of the score sound over-sung. While Danny Troob’s orchestrations add the necessary flashes of Broadway brass to the Menken-Ashman material without going overboard, they don’t bring as much flair to the Broadway additions. Even though this recording has more songs and offers vocal flair from some Broadway favorites, you’re better off sticking to the movie soundtrack. — M.K.
(2 / 5) Based on the film written by Lee Hall, who did double duty for the stage musical as librettist and lyricist, Billy Elliot tells of a Northern English boy who discovers a love for ballet but has to hide it from his family — including his father and brother, who are on strike with the miner’s union at the height of Thatcherism. A smash hit in London (this cast album represents that production) and on Broadway, Billy Elliot was a moving, theatrically exciting piece due in large part to its thrilling staging by director Stephen Daldry, who also directed the film, and choreographer Peter Darling. What becomes clear on the cast album, however, is the obstacle that Hall and Elton John faced with this project: How does one write a compelling musical theater score when your leading character only feels comfortable expressing himself through dance? Their answer was to create a score that more or less provided a platform for Daldry and Darling to leap from. This is not to say that the songs are bad; they do exactly what they need to do. Without the umbrella of Disney, Elton John produced some inventive melodies (e.g., “Solidarity”) that are given extra character by Martin Koch’s orchestrations, even if John occasionally tends to lean back into his specialty of pop power ballads that don’t quite fit the piece. Hall, a first time lyricist, does an admirable job of keeping the songs in the language of the working class characters. Due to the physical demands of the title role, three young actors rotated as Billy in the original London production (and on Broadway), though only one, Liam Mower, is heard on this recording. Mower does a fine job, as does the rest of the cast, most notably a crackling Hayden Gwynne as the dance teacher who guides Billy out of his shell. Listeners who haven’t seen the show may wonder why Billy Elliot was such a phenomenon; the answer is that this musical, even more than most others, truly needs to be seen to be experienced. — Matt Koplik
(5 / 5) If Spring Awakening marked the successful comeback of the original pop/rock musical theater score, then Next to Normal helped insure its future. Part of the reason for the show’s success is that, despite its vibrant energy, it’s a very intimate piece that wears its large heart earnestly on its sleeve. The musical tells of the inner turmoil of a suburban family due to the mental instability of the mother, Diana, who has struggled with bipolar disorder ever since a traumatizing event years earlier: Her son, Gabe, whom she still imagines to be present, died when he was a baby. Although the plot at times borders on being that of a Lifetime Movie, the smart, pulsating score, given a crisp representation on this recording, keeps Next to Normal fresh and inventive. Brian Yorkey’s lyrics are strong and well defined, often bringing a touch of humor to cut the tension in the plot (for example, “My Psychopharmacologist and I”). Tom Kitt composed a score with both fire (“You Don’t Know,” “Didn’t I See This Movie”) and sweet sadness (“I Miss the Mountains”) that he orchestrated excellently with Michael Starobin, making the work electric yet still inherently theatrical. The cast, on the whole, is excellent. Alice Ripley tears into the role of Diana with an abandon that’s fearless, thrilling and at times unnerving. Occasionally, the performer seems so at one with the part that you might fear she won’t even make it to the end of the number — but she always does. J. Robert Spencer is very moving as the silently suffering husband, Dan, and so is Jennifer Damiano as daughter Natalie. Because of the surprises in the plot, listeners who haven’t seen the show will find it especially important to read the synopsis included in the CD booklet in order to make full sense of the story and songs such as “I’m Alive” and “There’s a World,” both sung by Gabe (Aaron Tveit). But they’ll have no problem understanding the emotional potency of each song. — Matt Koplik
(4.5 / 5) Almost 15 years after its Broadway bow, Next to Normal finally came to the West End, in a new production directed with searing intensity by Michael Longhurst. It first played at the Donmar Warehouse, transferred to Wyndham’s Theatre, then received a pro-shot video that aired a year later on PBS. Fans will quickly notice that this “cast recording” is simply the lifted audio of that video, with the audience response muted and, thankfully, Yorkey’s uncensored lyrics retained. As such, the balance of the music and vocals heard here is not as polished as one has come to expect from modern cast recordings, and since we have a primarily British cast, there are one or two faux-American accents that can be jarring. But even with those caveats, this is a thrilling recording. Thanks to singing actors who are vocally exceptional as well as emotionally raw, this Next to Normal pulsates with energy and feeling that practically seeps into your bloodstream. Leading the way is Caissie Levy as Diana. Levy starts out at a more subdued emotional and vocal level than Alice Ripley on the OBC recording, but she quickly builds herself into a manic frenzy, crashing into devastating brokenness, all while maintaining a soaring belt that gives the score a fresh exuberance. She’s equally matched by Jamie Parker’s gregarious Dan (though his American affect is perhaps the most egregious), as evidenced by their explosively combative rendition of “You Don’t Know/I Am the One.” Jack Ofrecio is sweet as the supportive Henry, and Trevor Dion Nicholas brings gravitas to the dual doctor roles. But the ultimate standouts of this recording are Eleanor Worthington Cox as Natalie and Jack Wolfe as Gabe. Cox feels like a weeping, open wound with a pristine singing voice, while Wolfe is more menacing as Gabe than Tveit had been in the original production, and he flies through his songs with a light pop sound that never feels mannered or put on. More balanced audio and some slight accent tweaking would have made this a perfect recording. But, in a way, being “almost perfect” makes Next to Normal even more stirring. — Matt Koplik
