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ON THE RECORD: Errico's "Sadie Thompson" and Brent Barrett's "Lerner"
By Steven Suskin
26 Jan 2003
A discussion of Melissa Errico's "Sadie Thompson" and Brent Barrett's "The Alan Jay Lerner Album."
SADIE THOMPSON [Original Cast OC6042]
An innovative new musical drama starring Broadway's biggest star, shepherded by the director of Broadway's newest fresh-minted hit ever. Sadie Thompson sounded like a show to reckon with, at least until rehearsals started.
Ethel Merman and Rouben Mamoulian — the latter just off Oklahoma!, with Porgy and Bess on his resume as well — were joined by a pair of distinguished if not gilt-edged songwriters. Composer Vernon Duke, who came up with the idea in the first place, had "April in Paris" and "I Can't Get Started" and "Taking a Chance on Love" on his piano rack; lyricist Howard Dietz had run "Dancing in the Dark" and "I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan" and "Alone Together" through his typewriter. Sadie Thompson was derived from "Rain," the Somerset Maugham short story that was a major Broadway hit in 1922 (starring Jeanne Eagels) and on screen in 1932 (starring Joan Crawford) and in revival in 1935 (starring Tallulah Bankhead).
But Merman walked out after a week of rehearsals; she didn't see eye-to-eye with Dietz, and she might well have been skittish about the role's acting demands. (She returned to Broadway a season later in her first strong book show, Annie Get Your Gun.) The producer pulled June Havoc out of Mexican Hayride, where she was playing a comedy role with one good song, a Cole Porter hillbilly novelty number. Havoc, a vaudeville child performer, couldn't quite handle the singing. ("I have four notes to my voice," she said, "all of them bad.")
Ethel Merman and "Baby June" Havoc. There's a combination for you.
After Merman's departure, things went from bad to worse. The overproduced Sadie Thompson opened at the Alvin on November 16, 1944, for 60 performances, dropping $180,000 along the way. (Oklahoma!, the year before, was budgeted at $83,000.) Sadie Thompson was quickly relegated to the forgotten flop folder. Composer Duke made fun of it in his 1952 revue Two's Company, with a song called "Roll Along, Sadie," in which Bette Davis — the real Bette Davis, mind you — played the luckless lady with wet feet.
In August 2000, Havoc presided over an abbreviated concert version of the show at the White Barn Theatre. This led arranger/conductor Joshua Pearl to dig out the manuscripts and reconstruct the show, adding back songs lost when Merman departed the project. Pearl had the good sense and good luck to get Melissa Errico to record the show, leading a cast of six. (The original billing sheet for the show boasts "with a chorus of 70.")
Any recording of Sadie Thompson would be understandably interesting. Duke is wearing his serious hat here; while the score is unusual, it does have a few very good numbers. "The Love I Long For" was an unlikely Hit Parade hit for Harry James, and I've always been partial to "When You Live on an Island" and especially the lushly evocative tango "Sailing at Midnight." This is one of those discs where they've decided to counteract their small budget by using a big synthesizer. Not a helpful choice, in my opinion; listen to the recent Sondheim albums from Barbara Cook and Mandy Patinkin, and then tell me what's wrong with using a piano or two.
Ron Raines sings the role of the zealous Reverend Davidson — who tries to "save" Sadie but ends up succumbing to her — in a style somewhat too melodramatic for my tastes. Mamoulian forced Duke to write the role in "opera style a la Chaliapin," according to the composer's invaluable autobiography "Passport to Paris." "As a result, Davidson's arias were synthetic as music and theatrically incongruous." I must say I agree with Duke. Davis Gaines does somewhat better as the compassionate marine O'Hara, who provides the third side of the triangle.
But Errico is absolutely marvelous as Sadie. While I'm glad for any chance to hear this score, Errico makes the CD well worth getting. She has given two especially fine performances recently, in the Kennedy Center's Sunday in the Park and the short-lived Amour. Yes, she had a bad break in her one Broadway starring vehicle, High Society; but she is ready to carry a musical of her own. In the meantime, we can look forward to Errico's recording of Kurt Weill's One Touch of Venus, which Jay Records hopes to release this summer. Continued...
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