SOUND OFF: West End Witches

This week, we are taking a listen to two wonderful West End-related winners featuring the stars of two witch-related West End musicals - THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK and WICKED - courtesy of SimG Records: Caroline Sheen's RAISE THE CURTAIN and Annalene Beechey's CLOSE YOUR EYES. These two delicious divas-in-training have proven that they have the talent, skill and technique to entertain us for many years to come onstage, but just how well do their first solo album efforts showcase their considerable abilities? Singing everything from Sondheim, William Finn and Stephen Schwartz to Adam Guettel, Jason Robert Brown, David Yazbeck and Stiles & Drewe, as well as some Joni Mitchell and Tracy Chapman thrown in for good measure, there's surely enough to satisfy all with much more than mere morsels to enjoy. All of this appreciable merriment (and even a small sampling of "Away In A Manger" courtesy of Mitchell) and formidable entertainment comes with mostly unadorned accompaniment, as well, giving these ladies a true chance to shine their clearest and brightest in a solo spotlight all their own!

Two Wonderful To Be True

It is a credit to performer-come-producer Simon Greiff that these two albums are as marvelously enchanting and astoundingly accomplished as they are for he reveals such depth of character and brings out truly the very, very best from each of these admittedly amazingly talented singing-stage stars. Both Caroline Sheen and Annalene Beechey have made their mark on the West End, having appearing in everything from WITCHES OF EASTWICK to WICKED, as well as many other, less witch-y musicals from PHANTOM OF THE OPERA to LES MISERABLES and beyond. While Beechey's CLOSE YOUR EYES fulfills the promise of its title with a more ruminative, reserved and refined course of sonic study, Sheen's showbiz sheen reveals itself just enough to afford the opportunity to ascribe the term "razzmatazz" or - dare I say it - showboatary to appeal with no apparent resultant aversion from this listener; she doesn‘t push, she presents. Perhaps the foremost fantastic feature of these debut showcases is that both are largely piano-heavy (or, in Sheen's case, piano-only) affairs affording the more-than-willing performers ample opportunity to give us everything they have possibly got to give. And, boy oh boy, do they give it! Before any other, let's first give it up to Simon Grieff, for surely these albums would not have been made - and certainly never would have been made remotely as well - if not for him and both are among the best solo albums of the last few years, whether from Broadway or the West End. Shall we count the ways - and reasons - why that is so clear to see, taste, touch, experience and, foremost, to hear? Sure, but that will undoubtedly lead to so many more questions and it seems everything is pointing to "Yes!"

Isn't This What Everybody Wants?

Caroline Sheen - RAISE THE CURTAIN

Score: 9/10

How to explain the indescribable appeal of Caroline Sheen? In short, and in some ways, Sheen is sort of like the West End's answer to Sutton Foster in her effervescent personality and likeability onstage whatever the weather of her character; whether sunny skies or tropical thunderstorms. Whatever the weather, if the warhorse wearer is Sheen or Sutton we are acutely well aware that they will wear it well, whatever the ditty or dirge. After all, songs requiring this sort of character commitment require you wear the words like a costume, and the music the very voice and instrument of tragedy - and, sporadically, comedy - itself. Simply put, Sheen can put across a song with palpable panache. Always. That sterling, stalwart ability to simply live it as she performs it shines through quite effortlessly on her surefire hit first solo album RAISE THE CURTAIN. In addition to featuring a stunning and eccentric selection of songs by some lesser-known but magnificently talented songwriters like Dempsey & Rowe, Frankel & Korie and Stiles & Drewe in addition to more higher-profile Broadway names (and both Tony winners for Best Score) such as Jason Robert Brown and Adam Guettel, the album also boasts the recording premieres of four simply divine and unmissable songs from shows by Olding (THREE SIDES), Dempsey & Rowe (THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK), Goodall & Hart (THE KISSING-DANCE), and an original song by Conor Mitchell, "What Did You Want From Love?". The latter is a particularly delectable treat and I hope to hear it on many more cast albums in the future, as is the Olding opener which is a surefire sign of a bright new talent with a true gift for musical theatre songwriting.

RAISE THE CURTAIN begins at its peak with the stirring and uniquely moving "Carrie Makes A Decision" by Grant Olding and that song contains the sure slogan - surely much more than a mere microcosm - of the entire album we are about to absorb and enjoy: "Force me to choose between Spielberg and Fellini / And I'll tell you who I'd pick." And so the album unquestionably goes. This is the cream, not the milk; the wheat, not the chaff; rarified refinement amidst voluminous vulgarity all of this an explanation of not only this song in particular but also the album when considered as a whole. Maltby & Shire's "A Part of Me" from their airplane-themed musical TAKE FLIGHT is airy and heavenly, as is "Higher" by Richard Taylor. As mentioned before, the quite excellent and complex second act song for Sheen's character in THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK finally gets its inaugural recording here and it is yet another jewel to that score's many dazzling and glistening gems, surely one of the strongest scores of the last few decades - especially when looking back at the anemic scores of latter-day Broadway and beyond. Any score that could afford to lose a song as good as this is a true treasure trove if there ever were any in the last twenty years. The GREY GARDENS ballad "Will You?" is given a sensitive and knowing rendering here but Sheen faces some mighty stiff competition given the original version of that song on the Original Broadway Cast Recording (either one), but she does well with it, those comparisons notwithstanding. "I Lay My Armor Down" is provocative and powerfully moving, achieving a bluesy haze in some sections. "Wait A Bit" is a perfect example of the sort of strange song subject that Stiles & Drewe excel so exceptionally well at compositionally creating and imbuing into the very nature of how the song must be sung. After all: content dictates form, no? Or maybe Sheen is just that good (like Paige is). She is several steps better than merely good on the infectiously fun and jaunty "Mister Hopalong Heartbreak" by Jason Robert Brown from URBAN COWBOY.

Heartbreaking is perhaps the only term that clearly illustrates the ache, naïve and naked ambition, and overflowing ebbing and flowing amorousness of the title song of Adam Guettel's always-astonishing-in-its-sheer-beauty score for THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. It's quite shocking this song works so well out of context here and on other solo albums - albeit some, such as this one, much more than others (which will remain nameless, eye on the positive) - but it positively scorches the heart and soul, particularly in Sheen's portrayal of the character of Clara herself here. She sounds distinctly different, truly sinking into the role and a perfect choice for the part if there ever were any on the West End stage. One of Stiles & Drewe's additional songs for MARY POPPINS, "Anything Can Happen", closes out the album proper with a wink, a kiss, a hug and a smile - the album is so warm and inviting, so intimate and seemingly emotionally revealing as to warrant such claims of affection - but we are treated to a delightful bonus track: on a duet, no less! It is a romantic and idiosyncratic frippery from David Yazbeck's quite strong DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS score, "Nothing Is Too Wonderful To Be True" (Sheen's close friend Michael Jibson is a bonus treat, too) and such is the case for this entire album (and, for that matter, the next one on the docket). Yes, it is clear to hear here that Sheen is a quite astonishingly versatile actress and her voice is blessed with so much character and style as to always singularly, well, shine with a certain sheen all her own. Without question, it is all-too-rare indeed to see a sheen (capital S or otherwise) shine with such brilliantine gloss and polish as Caroline Sheen‘s does here. Nothing is too wonderful to be true, as is evidently the case with these two ladies of the stage.

You may purchase the album at www.CarolineSheen.com or www.SimGProductions.com.

Carrying A Torch & A Promise

Annalene Beechey - CLOSE YOUR EYES

SCORE: 8.5/10

With most theatre fans on either side of the Atlantic having heard and seen her by way of appearing in the chorus of the Joel Schumacher film version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA - as well as making an appearance on that film's quite solid soundtrack - we may be more aware of the many talents of Annalene Beechey on these American shores than it may first seem to some that we are. Beechey has appeared on stage in the West End in everything from the Michael Legrand/Boublil & Shonberg MARGUERITE starring Alexander Hanson and Ruthie Henshall - by the way, keep your eyes peeled for a revealing InDepth InterView with that accomplished West End star later this week, as well as the complete InDepth InterView: Elaine Paige later this month - to WICKED, INTO THE WOODS and the SWEENEY TODD 20th Anniversary Concert in 2000 starring Len Cariou and Judy Kaye. Her work in WICKED alongside Idina Menzel was sensational and it is suggested to that show's fans to check out her work here on this lush and lovely solo album for it reveals much more of her abilities as an interpreter of music and lyrics than perhaps any role she has played onstage thus far in her career - plus, she sings another Stephen Schwartz song better than anything in WICKED. Beechey's personality is enchanting and infectious - in some ways reminiscent Sheen's actorly commitment to character and cheery veneer - and that informs nearly every song on this rich seven-piece-course of an entrée. This is a much more dramatic and delicate affair than Sheen's, but Beechey gets just as much a change to flex her dramatic and musical muscles with the all-around exquisite content of the songs chosen here, each and every one an appropriate and carefully crafted confection with elegant and subdued minimalist orchestrations, the tip-top production quality never wavering for even a mere instant giving us the feeling of a perfectly captured aural performance. The content and result is precise, measured and sporadically quite entrancingly ethereal, all the while remaining exceptionally entertaining and fast-flowing, propulsive in its force as it paints a pleasing dramatic arc for the listener. It flows; it dives; it soars.

CLOSE YOUR EYES begins with a stunning pairing of two standout ballads from Stephen Sondheim & James Lapine's seminal fairy tale musical INTO THE WOODS, "No One Is Alone" and "Children Will Listen". This being a mere taste of her performance as Cinderella in a fringe production of that show, the mind nearly boggles at the prospect of her taking on roles in other Sondheim shows (Dot, Clara, Mary) given her deep understanding of subtext and seemingly indomitable commitment to character. It is in the intimacy and elegance of Grieff's production that the most detailed of accents is sonically addressed and available, an admirable feat in and of itself given an average album's abrasive and thick sound quality today. It is as if we are really in the room with her - as is also the case on Sheen's more showy and stylized album, which fits her character as much as the stripped-down, mostly bare-bones milieu benefits Beechey's best songs, such as the three fantastic duets and first three tracks. Indeed, from Stephen Schwartz's THE MAGIC SHOW, "Lion Tamer" gives Kristen Chenoweth's rendition a run for its money as that is the definitive recording to date for my buck up until now. Teaming again with her MARGUERITE co-star Julian Ovendon on Joni Mitchell's classic - and searing - "River", the results are anything but muddy or murky like the title image could suggest and the pure and clear quality of the production abets the entire enterprise - here and elsewhere - allowing it a refined and eruditely sophisticated edge where it could have easily been too air-tight and claustrophobic, or worse yet, compressed-sounding. This superlative accomplishment of a song and production is followed up by another absolutely flabbergasting masterpiece by Grant Olding, coming after his song on RAISE THE CURTAIN. Who is this guy and why haven't I heard of him before? Just "Hannah's Dream" here and "Carrie Makes A Decision" on Sheen's album make a solid argument for his apparent genius. I simply cannot wait to hear more from him. Other, better-known top of the heap British songwriters Stiles & Drewe - favorites of fellow West End leading lady Elaine Paige - are represented with an affecting iteration of "Carrying A Torch", certainly the type of tortured torch song which Beechey excels at enacting and acting - as well as Sherman & Sherman providing an absolutely killer, tangibly aching, bleeding and screaming (I mean it) "Doll On A Music Box". She paints a perfect picture of a siren - at least sonically - on these songs. These three tracks taken together create a conflagration that is singularly scorching and affecting leaving the listener near-breathless in the wake of the drama, pathos and tears of this lusty lady with a torch in her grasp and a song within the heart on her sleeve.

Finishing the first half of the disc, Tracy Chapman's "The Promise" is given an understated, guitar-inflected reading and William Finn's eloquent and evocative "Sailing" from A NEW BRAIN is given a similarly successfully sensitive singing. Beechey - like Sheen - embodies, thus lives her lyrics, and the results inform each and every one of her performance choices here, all well-chosen and endearing. She is always equally the actress and the singer of the song. Following the precedent set by the ravishing first duet with Julian Ovendon, Beechey's duet with Rebecca Lock on the Maltby & Shire showcase "It's Never That Easy / I've Been Here Before" is a standout, as is the duet with album producer Simon Grieff himself on "If I Told You" by Sklar & Beguelin. "Perfect Day" evokes elements of Adam Guettel's MYTHS & HYMNS and fits the ruminative mood and mode of the album ever-so-well though it's stylistic intent and choral syncopation is a bit jarring to the ear on first listen - I suppose expectedly so. Scott Alan provides affable and hilarious liner notes - as does Beechey herself, and Sheen on her album, which is nice to see on all accounts - and Beechey's affection for Alan's material as an actress reveals itself on his quite excellent "Always / Goodnight". Like the last song of Sheen's album quite expertly sums up the experience of her first solo sonic showcase, so does Beechey with hers: she is always excellent, always affecting, always spot-on sincere and, above all, superlative in each chosen endeavor. Brava, ladies!

You may purchase this album at www.AnnaleneBeechey.com or www.SimGProductions.com.

Everything & More

Neither Sheen nor Beechey have chosen the expected, well-worn path of their predecessors in the West End, on Broadway or beyond, and instead have chosen to give credence to lesser-known and subsequently all-the-more championable material by singing the songs of these terrifically talented songwriters such as those we have on parade here, these albums certainly are not the umpteenth Sondheim collection or Gershwin tribute, though I suppose those have their place with the right performers and material and time and place. Like Audra McDonald has done in her solo album career in America (along with the wise and rightly respected producers at Nonesuch saw to fruition alongside her, like Grieff has done for the women here), so do Caroline Sheen and Annalene Beechey reveal themselves to be the show-people spokespeople for this generation of British musical and lyrical geniuses. Higher praise this reviewer could not lavish upon them for the mere attempt at accomplishing that feat of bringing new musical theatre voices to a wider audience. This is especially true - and painfully evident - now, especially today, especially in the wake of a season like we have had on Broadway this season (and the one before, and the one before, and the one before... at least as far as new, remotely innovative scores and songwriting teams are concerned and their representation on Broadway at all, let alone on the Tony Awards broadcast - and one good new score a year is simply not enough to satisfy or satiate any hopeful desires for the future). I cannot wait to hear the next new song from Grant Olding, and the next fresh score from the pens of Dempsey/Rowe, Stiles & Drewe and Sklar & Beguelin and any number of other individuals or teams represented on the stupendous songstacks of the two albums critiqued here.

Undoubtedly, both of these albums are excellent examples of how to choose the perfect material and showcase the right performer at the height of their abilities with as little adornment and affectation as possible - after all, we have to remember that not every stage star sounds best on a solo album: orchestras and auto-tune can cover up any number of performative deficiencies. To be perfectly frank: few performers or producers do solo albums very well at all anymore, actually, and it is no coincidence that very few solo albums make it into this column simply because anything worthy of less than a 5 or 6 on the scale is really not worthy of discussion given the time and consideration given to the subjects discussed here each week. Who has that kind of time to waste of middle-of-the-road-ery? Not you, not me. This double-dose, these two triumphant solo albums are each, on their own, nearly twice as good as what passes for original and interesting and good these days. It is a joy to find a new label with such strong introductory releases as these from Sheen and Beechey on SimG. CLOSE YOUR EYES, take a deep breath, and RAISE THE CURTAIN, Caroline Sheen and Annalene Beechey put on quite a spectacular, sophisticated and moving show that we won't soon forget and you will want to revisit these exceptional entertainment events time and time again. Take a chance and dive in, the water's just fine - crystalline, really, as it is clear to see the talent these two possess. In spades... or diamonds. Or Queens.

 Both albums are availible for purchase at www.SimGProductions.com. Do not miss either one!