Album Review: Murtagh Memorializes Mario With THE MARIO 101 A CELEBRATION OF THE MARIO LANZA SONGBOOK

Songs Sincerely Sung…

By: Dec. 30, 2022
Album Review: Murtagh Memorializes Mario With THE MARIO 101 A CELEBRATION OF THE MARIO LANZA SONGBOOK
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Album Review: Murtagh Memorializes Mario With THE MARIO 101 A CELEBRATION OF THE MARIO LANZA SONGBOOK Heigh Ho, dear lovely rainbow tribe, Bobby Patrick, your rainbow reviewer is back in CD-Land to offer another broken-down breakdown of a new music release. So, strap in and get ready, as Bobby goes on the record ABOUT the record.

This week's album entry in the BobbyFiles comes from cabaret crooner Sean Patrick Murtagh who, after performing several evenings in tribute to his inspiration, great operatic tenor and movie star Mario Lanza, has released a 12-cut album of songs that Mario sang entitled THE MARIO 101 A CELEBRATION OF THE Mario Lanza SONGBOOK. Each of these tunes, whether popular or operatic, were made just a touch more famous after the vocal superstar recorded them...

ON THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE

NIGHT & DAY

AND THIS IS MY BELOVED

FUNICULI, FUNICULA

O, SLE MIO

I'VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN

DANNY BOY

BESAME MUCHO

TORNA A SURRIENTO

SPEAK LOW

E LUCIAN LE STELLE

BE MY LOVE

Album Review: Murtagh Memorializes Mario With THE MARIO 101 A CELEBRATION OF THE MARIO LANZA SONGBOOK

Now, to those of my beloved readers out there who are not baby boomers (or older), or devoted opera fans, Mario is a voice from the distant past, a historical marker that landed with a great explosion at the fork in the road of the 1950s, where movie musicals slowly became, by and large, passe, and movie tastes began to change. His voice was a remarkable instrument that, combined with his handsome blue-collar worker face, drew opera and movie fans to him in droves for a total of 4 movies - 5 if you count his voice behind Edmond Purdom's face for THE STUDENT PRINCE. In a time when your grandmothers were teens, there were 2 Italian singers that created furors wherever they went: Sinatra and Lanza.

Having presented several tributes to his spiritual mentor in NYC clubs and online since late 2019, the work SPM has done on the Lanza discography has coalesced into his debut album celebrating the great tenor's 101st year - hence the fitting title THE MARIO 101... The good news is, one does not have to be a Mario Lanza fan to enjoy a lot of the songs Murtagh sings. Possessed of a fine voice that alludes to his classical training, SPM has wisely chosen to not present the songs in the full-throated tenor fashion that was Lanza's style, even when singing the American Songbook classics like NIGHT & DAY. SPM's voice is a pleasant croon for the most part, where he uses his training to cover the fact he is a natural baritone singing in the tenor range. Able to bring heft to his head and falsetto voices, as well as smoothly move over the break between head and chest voice with great skill, Murtagh is not daunted in the slightest by the high notes demanded by Mario's keys. In the more operatic O SOLE MIO the classical intonations are lovely and his ability to add weight to his mixed falsetto is impressive. SPM clearly has a lot of vocal training but his sweetened style on this album is more that of a pleasant "Irish Tenor" ... more Dennis Day than Mario Lanza - and that's ok, especially on his OH DANNY BOY track. Where the album falls off a bit is after track 4 (the bouncy FUNICULI, FUNICULA) there is no pep in his step, and his vocal choices, as far as which of his productions he will use even within a single song, sound a little disjointed. When Sean Patrick finally arrives at his finale, BE MY LOVE - a song with a most challenging range - he is back in the lovely mixed-voice Irish tenor, where he should live as a serious singer with an entertaining voice. Throughout, though, his acting choices and emotional commitment to words and notes are not only appropriate, they are spot-on and simple - no pyrotechnics. Where he has also kept it simple is in choosing to sing to the accompaniment of only Yasuhiko Fukuoka's hands at the piano. Yaz is one of the busiest musicians in town and he really is one of the BEST at playing in support of his artists.

Album Review: Murtagh Memorializes Mario With THE MARIO 101 A CELEBRATION OF THE MARIO LANZA SONGBOOK

So, my dears, Sean Patrick Murtagh's THE MARIO 101 A CELEBRATION OF THE Mario Lanza SONGBOOK is lovely music sung in some lovely ways by a singer who wishes to pay homage to an inspiration, and, in so doing, we say: mission accomplished. Do you NEED to be a Mario Lanza fan to enjoy this collection? No, you do not, and that's a good thing. What we would say is take a look at this songlist above and, if you see some faves, then nip over to your Spotifies and check it out, as we give this nice album a nice...

3 Out Of 5 Rainbows - Put this one in your collection today.

You Can See And Hear Everything About Sean Patrick Murtagh On His Webbysite: HERE

You can Put THE MARIO 101 In Your Spotifies: HERE

Follow the ADORBS Yasuhiko Fukuoka On His InstaPictograms: HERE

In Performance Photos By, Dianna Bush

Album Review: Murtagh Memorializes Mario With THE MARIO 101 A CELEBRATION OF THE MARIO LANZA SONGBOOK




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