- Vanity Fair (Bayview RNBW013)
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- Julian Slade's most ambitious score gets its first
recording from the Theatre Museum production cast of 2001
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- Book and lyrics by Robin Miller. Music by Julian Slade
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- Cast: Suzy Bloom (Becky Sharp), Rosie Jenkins (Amelia Sedley),
Nicholas Charters (Dobbin), Andrew Halliday (Rawdon Crawley),
Josephine Gordon (Miss Crawley), Daniel Fine (George Osborne),
James Spilling (The Showman), Rosemary Williams (Mrs Sedley),
Jonathan Burn (Lord Steyne), Rex Doyle (Sir Pitt Crawley), Tim
Freeman (Jos Sedley), John Lyons (Mr Sedley), John Paton (Moss),
Shirley Barr (Briggs). Musical director: Rowland Lee
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- Vanity Fair; I'm No Angel; There He Is; Alone The Orphan;
Dear Miss Crawley; The Wickedest Man In The World; Mama; The
Chatham Farewell; Advice To Women; The Waterloo Waltz; Billy
Boy Comes Marching Home Again; How To Live Well On Nothing A
Year; Someone To Believe In; Rebecca!; Forgive Me; La Vie Boheme
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- Those interested in this fascinating musicalisation of Thackeray's
epic novel will want to see the review of the London revival
of 2001 (see Reviews)
and the interesting feature by Stewart Nicholls (see Just
the Ticket pages). Thanks to Nicholls' obsession for British
musicals, we now have this fine recording of the revival, the
first opportunity we have to hear the full score, even if it
is much adapted from that heard at its first London showing.
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- I yield to nobody in my love of Slade's music, but Vanity
Fair (with book and lyrics credited to Robin Miller; its third
original adaptor has now vanished from the credits) seems to
me never quite to take fire as a piece. There could be no performance
as persuasive as this one, with some very good performances (there
is a spirited Becky from Suzy Bloom), and the vocal ensembles
are excellently done. The score often works admirably, but gets
pulled up by some of the weaker numbers and some ineffectual
comedy. I'm not convinced by the addition of a high-stepping
new number, 'La Vie Boheme', that strikes me as most unSladian,
but on stage it proved an effective lollipop.
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- The parts of the score that work best are the unashamedly
romantic songs, although even forty years ago they must have
sounded a little old-fashioned (and, indeed, it is this somehow
mistaken sense of what passes as 'period' that sometimes unhinges
the score). The best of the songs are given to Dobbin, played
here with heartfelt feeling by Nicholas Charters, notably the
soaring 'Someone to Believe In'. His duet with the delightfully
voiced Rosie Jenkins, 'There He Is' is another highlight. Daniel
Fine as George Osborne begins 'Advice To Women' with nicely underplayed
emotion that gradually has to cope with screwing up the tension
of the song. At the piano, Rowland Lee throws off an exciting
account of the captivating Waterloo Waltz, its crazy splendour
at last suggesting the proper breadth that should have infused
all of Miller and Slade's work on the show.
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- The whole production is a credit to Nicholls and Rexton Bunnett
in their passion for the British musical, and I think there is
much here that will gnaw its way into your affections.
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