Every year, a fellow named Darrel Karl posts his best of year CDs on a group called castrec. While one doesn't always agree with him, he's been very kind to my productions over the years. This year, he named best revival cast album on CD thusly:
BEST NEW REVIVAL CAST ALBUM: After The Ball (Kritzerland). It would be easy to pick Pacific Overtures and DRG’s Wonderful Town recording with Brooke Shields is (surprisingly) more enjoyable than the Donna Murphy version, but this recording runs rings around the original London cast album. Bruce Kimmel did an excellent job in preserving just enough of the dialogue to allow the cast album to tell the story as well as to showcase the too-long neglected gem of a Noel Coward score. And for once, the interpolations aren’t objectionable.
And he named best male vocalist CD thusly:
BEST MALE VOCAL/INSTRUMENTAL: Guy Haines/New Guy In Town (Kritzerland). Another controversial choice, I suspect. Sure, there are other performers below who might technically be better singers. But this album has the Kimmel “sound” and song arrangements reminiscent of the old Varese Sarabande days (which you either love or hate, but I love) that none of the other albums have -- plus a song selection that is fun, quirky, and highly individualistic. And, for better or worse, “Guy’s” taste in songs almost always mirrors my own. It’s a comfort food recording for me.
