Judy Does Jule
Mar. 3rd, 2011 07:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
howeirdJudy Kuhn is one of my favorite musicals divas. She was the voice of Pocahontas in the Disney film, was superb as Cosette in the 10th anniversary CD of Les Miz, and is my favorite Florence from all the various versions of Chess. I was only able to find one CD of her on her own, and just finished listening to it.
Just in Time: Judy Kuhn Sings Jule Styne sounded to me like a great idea, a Broadway diva singing tunes by the great Broadway composer. It could have, should have been. But isn't.
Most of the numbers are "the musical stylings of" rather than being true to the original. "Just In Time", for example, is so overwhelmed by an intricate piano accompaniment it is hardly recognizable. "Everything's Coming Up Roses" takes forever to get out of low gear, and never comes close to the rousing belt song which Ethel Merman made famous. "The Music That Makes Me Dance" made me doze off. And so on. Most of the arrangements are over-produced, most of the tempos are plodding. The beautiful simplicity of Styne's music is lost.
I suspect this flop of an album is a major reason I can't find anything else by Ms. Kuhn, outside of the official cast recordings. A shame, that.
Just in Time: Judy Kuhn Sings Jule Styne sounded to me like a great idea, a Broadway diva singing tunes by the great Broadway composer. It could have, should have been. But isn't.
Most of the numbers are "the musical stylings of" rather than being true to the original. "Just In Time", for example, is so overwhelmed by an intricate piano accompaniment it is hardly recognizable. "Everything's Coming Up Roses" takes forever to get out of low gear, and never comes close to the rousing belt song which Ethel Merman made famous. "The Music That Makes Me Dance" made me doze off. And so on. Most of the arrangements are over-produced, most of the tempos are plodding. The beautiful simplicity of Styne's music is lost.
I suspect this flop of an album is a major reason I can't find anything else by Ms. Kuhn, outside of the official cast recordings. A shame, that.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}