The Frogs/Evening Primrose [2001 Studio Casts] Original Cast Recording

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CD

  • Release Date: 10/16/2001
  • Sales Rank: 65,456
  • Label: NONESUCH
  • UPC: 075597963823

Listener Rating: (4 ratings)

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  • Overview
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  • Editorial Reviews
  • Customer Reviews
  • Details & Credits
Track List
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The Frogs/Evening Primrose [2001 Studio Casts]

1LISTENThe Frogs, musical play~Fanfare / The Orchestra 1:25
2LISTENThe Frogs, musical play~Prologos: Invocation and Instructions to the Audien / Chorus 4:56
3LISTENThe Frogs, musical play~Traveling Music / Brian Stokes Mitchell 1:48
4LISTENThe Frogs, musical play~Parodos: The Frogs / Chorus 5:08
5LISTENThe Frogs, musical play~Hymnos: Evoe! / Chorus 4:34
6LISTENThe Frogs, musical play~Dialogue: "Pluto!" / Brian Stokes Mitchell 0:58
7LISTENThe Frogs, musical play~Parabasis: It's Only a Play / Chorus 3:31
8LISTENThe Frogs, musical play~Dialogue: "That Was Some Banquet!" / Brian Stokes Mitchell 3:02
9LISTENThe Frogs, musical play~Evoe for the Dead / Chorus 0:56
10LISTENThe Frogs, musical play~Invocation for the Muses / Chorus 2:33
11LISTENThe Frogs, musical play~Fear No More / Davis Gaines 2:00
12LISTENThe Frogs, musical play~Exodos: The Sound of Poets / Chorus 1:46
13LISTENEvening Primrose, musical play~If You Can Find Me, I'm Here / Neil Patrick Harris 3:33
14LISTENEvening Primrose, musical play~I Remember 14:45
15LISTENEvening Primrose, musical play~When? / Neil Patrick Harris 15:45
16LISTENEvening Primrose, musical play~Take Me to the World / Neil Patrick Harris 16:45

Editorial Reviews

Producer Tommy Krasker has done a great service to show music lovers by organizing the first legitimate recording of Stephen Sondheim's The Frogs, a musical based on the Aristophanes comedy about Dionysos' journey to Hades to bring a famous playwright back to earth, which was produced originally in a swimming pool at Yale University in 1974. It's hard to imagine how the recording could be bettered, featuring, as it does, Sondheim's favored musical director, Paul Gemignani, his favored orchestrator, Jonathan Tunick, and three of the leading lights of Broadway, Nathan Lane, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Davis Gaines. As usual, Lane is a comic wonder, playing a part that recalls his Pseudolus in the 1996 Broadway revival of Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened on the Forum, a show with a libretto that was co-written by this one's book writer, Burt Shevelove. The Frogs is a slight, if pleasant Sondheim work, this edited version running less than 33 minutes, but it is full of delightfully witty, sophisticated lyrics (some of them revised) and musical touches that contain echoes of other Sondheim shows. Its best song, "Invocation and Instructions to the Audience," has been recorded before, but the choral parts that take up most of it (it's based on a Greek play, after all) will be new to most listeners. The album's running time is expanded by the inclusion of the four songs from the Sondheim television musical Evening Primrose, broadcast in 1966. These songs have been recorded many times, but Neil Patrick Harris and Theresa McCarthy bring fresh interpretations to them. Given the size of the Sondheim cult, it's amazing that no one has thought to put The Frogs on record before, but at least now that it's finally been done, it's been done right. William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

Frogs/Evening Primrose [2001 Studio Casts]by Anonymous

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December 05, 2002: I loved "The Frogs/Evening Primrose". There are some great songs, my favorite being "The Frogs" and "I Remember". But there was only one complaint, some of the songs from THE FROGS were quite boring, beautiful, but boring. EVENING PRIMROSE seems sooo sad. I am rambling. Anyhoo, I had heard the opening to THE FROGS in a musical review, and ever since, i've wanted to find it, and I have.

Frogs/Evening Primrose [2001 Studio Casts]by Anonymous

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November 14, 2002: Having only heard the song and performed the song "Take me to the World" for a college show, i was interested when I saw the collection of EVENING PRIMROSE and FROGS. I was an avid Sondheim fan long before purchasing this CD having practically memorized INTO THE WOODS, SWEENEY TODD, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, ANYONE CAN WHISTLE, ASSASINS, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, and FOLLIES. What this new recording offers is a glimpse of the early Sondheim, when his wit, fiendishly clever lyrics, and frankly perfect musical settings where just beginning to show great promise. From the opening "Invocation and Instructions to the Audience" with it's bouncy rythms and tongue-tying rhymes to the frenetic "Frogs" with it's infamous "Brek-kek-kek-kek" frog call, or the lush,exciting "Hymos: Dionysus", Frogs delivers a ridiculous plot: "Bring Bernard Shaw back from the dead!", the vocal talents of Nathan Lane, and frankly just a plain good time. Evening Primrose, often overlooked is a charming set of four songs telling the story of a poet wishing to escape the outside world by escaping into a shopping mall. From Charles "I'm Here" where he describes the joy of escaping "blood-thirsty landlords" and the rest of his worldy destractions, to Ella's "I Remember Sky" to the romantic orchestrated "Take me to the World" where Ella wishes to she the outside world, despite Charles insistance that the world inside the mall is much better. This idea would further be devoloped in INTO WOODS with Bernadette Peters singing "STAY WITH ME" to Repunzel, the lyrics "stay with me" even occur in "Take Me to World" In short, this CD is enjoyable in itself, and shows some embryonic ideas that Sondheim would later develop. A MUST HAVE for any Sondheim fan!


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