- THROUGH THE YEARS (PS Classics 103)
-
- Who would ever have imagined we would have a full recording
of one of the
lost scores of Vincent Youmans? - a show that was years ahead
of its time
-
- Book by Brian Hooker. Lyrics by Edward Heyman. Music by Vincent
Youmans
-
- Cast: Heidi Grant Murphy (Moonyeen / Kathleen), Brent Barrett
(John Carteret), Philip Chaffin (Kenneth), Hunter Foster (Willie
Ainley), Jennifer Cody (Betty Fallow / Arabella). Musical director:
Aaron Gandy
-
- Prologue: Through The Years; Kathleen and Kenneth's Call;
Kathleen Mine; Invitation; You're In Love; Kinda Like You; I'll
Come Back To You; How Happy Is The Bride; Through The Years;
It's Every Girl's Ambition; You're Everywhere; Finaletto Act
II; Ghost Music; The Road To Home; My Heart Alone; Drums In My
Heart; Finale Ultimo
-
- Vincent Youmans wrote some of the snappiest Broadway songs
of the 1920s ('Tea For Two' and 'I Want to Be Happy' from No
No Nanette) and some of the loveliest most enduring American
songs ('Time on My Hands' and 'Without a Song'), but the mass
of his work lies dormant and forgotten. It truly is an occasion
for rejoicing that the brilliant restorer of musical theatre,
Tommy Krasker, has produced this fascinating first full recording
of one of Youman's final shows.
-
- It's obvious from the first moments that here was a show
that was light years away from the kicking scores of 'Hit the
Deck' and 'No, No Nannette'. Through The Years has its frisky
moments, but there is a melancholy thread running through the
hugely sentimental story that reveals Youmans' darker side. Here,
the heroine gets killed by the hero half way through; a pretty
daring development in musical theatre of the period. If you think
Show Boat was ahead of its time, Through The Years seems to me
to be generations ahead, and - ironically - we are most unlikely
to see any stage revival. The Broadway production of Through
The Years was critically mauled, and closed after only twenty
performances.
-
- Based on an old theatrical staple, Smilin Through (and John
Hanson even had a miserable go at turning it into a musical many
years later), Through The Years is mainly memorable for its title
song, enchantingly sung here by Heidi Grant Murphy. There may
be those who think the melody is done to death (we get in for
a prologue, as a solo, as a second act finale and as a curtain
fall climax complete with an angelic chorus) but a good thing
is maybe worth doing to excess. Youmans seldom made such an outpouring
of passion as in this wonderful number. This is not to overlook
the rest of the score, which peeps through the decades in an
almost uniquely bewitching way. 'You're in Love' is beguiling,
and in the duet for the second leads (the squeaky-voiced Jennifer
Cody and Hunter Foster) 'Kinda Like You', there is a song in
Youmans' frequently used manner (based on a repetition of just
a few notes, as in 'I Want To Be Happy' and 'Tea For Two'). As
an eleven o'clock number, Philip Chaffin delivers the rousing
'Drums In My Heart', so musically interesting that we don't wonder
at the famed American musicologist Alec Wilder in citing Youmans'
as one of America's most brilliant writers. Brent Barrett, an
exemplary leading man, is very fine, not least in the snatches
of spoken dialogue, but praise goes to the entire team in what
is clearly a labour of love. One can imagine no finer tribute
to the memory of Youmans' failed hopes.
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- The gentle delights to be found in this recording owe much
to the treatment the producers have given it. They have conceived
it as a chamber piece, and the restoration and musical direction
of Aaron Gandy maintain an essential sense of proportion, with
delicate scoring from the small band of orchestral players. Nothing
is overblown. The shooting of the heroine doesn't work particularly
well here - she sounds like the victim of a pop-gun - and at
this crucial moment the score doesn't seem to know how to respond
- but there is much to admire and enjoy here. If you believe
in the beauty of musical theatre, you will want to hear this,
and I don't think you will be unmoved by Murphy's touching rendition
of that spirit-lifting title song. It kills me every time.
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