Reflections From Broadway - John Barrowman

You may know John Barrowman for his exquisite rendition of 'Night and Day' in the film De-Lovely. Or maybe for revealing almost all in the newest version of Doctor Who. Or perhaps you have childhood memories of him as a presenter of Live and Kicking and the Movie Game on Children's BBC. But he is most at home on the musical stage, whether in cabaret or treading the boards on Broadway or the West End. This CD includes numerous songs which he has sung ...
...number of others that he just happens to like. Accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra, the songs are given a grand treatment, just as they would do live on stage. The majority of the songs are from 'modern' musicals (from the 1980s and 1990s), but there are a few golden oldies thrown in as well.

The CD design is simple and clear. The front cover of the booklet is simply a head shot of Barrowman and the interior includes a couple ... more

You may know John Barrowman for his exquisite rendition of 'Night and Day' in the film De-Lovely. Or maybe for revealing almost all in the newest version of Doctor Who. Or perhaps you have childhood memories of him as a presenter of Live and Kicking and the Movie Game on Children's BBC. But he is most at home on the musical stage, whether in cabaret or treading the boards on Broadway or the West End. This CD includes numerous songs which he has sung on stage but not previously recorded, as well as a number of others that he just happens to like. Accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra, the songs are given a grand treatment, just as they would do live on stage. The majority of the songs are from 'modern' musicals (from the 1980s and 1990s), but there are a few golden oldies thrown in as well.

The CD design is simple and clear. The front cover of the booklet is simply a head shot of Barrowman and the interior includes a couple of other pics of the singer (one is a tad odd as it features that perennial fashion problem, the 'visible panty line'). The text includes the usual thanks and credits, plus plugs for a couple of other CDs which feature John Barrowman on the JAY label and an introduction from John himself which explains his reasons for including each of the seventeen tracks, which is a most welcome personal touch.

Anyway, on to the music, which is more important than the packaging, after all! As the album's title suggests, most of the songs are on the tender side, but there are moments where John can show off his belting voice and demonstrate anger, frustration or confusion. The opening track combines both tenderness and stridency, being 'If I Can't Love Her' from the stage version of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. This starts gently, as the lyric considers a life of loneliness, then builds in tempo and intensity as it explores stunted emotional growth and a seemingly hopeless situation. John has played the Beast on stage and thus gives this a stunning rendition, with great emotional involvement. As the tune modulates upwards through a series of changes of key and focus, it becomes breathtaking and ends with a powerful held note which is impressive, to say the least! A great opener to the album, which gives a great sense of what is to follow.

None of the tracks are bad as such, though there are a couple of song choices which I don't particularly like and thus enjoy less than the other tracks, although I couldn't possibly fault the performance on those tracks. I'm sure that people who appreciate the songs 'A Boy From Nowhere' from Matador (also recorded by Tom Jones) and 'Why, God, Why?' from Miss Saigon will enjoy those tracks a great deal more than I do. And of course, that's only two out of seventeen tracks, or eight minutes out of an hour, which leaves a very agreeable ratio of good to bad, more than you tend to get on more mainstream albums, certainly.

For the most part, the songs on this album will only be familiar to die-hard musical theatre devotees, but there are a few relatively well-known tracks. Barrowman offers a subdued, beautiful rendition of Stephen Sondheim's 'Anyone Can Whistle' and a moving, seductive and emotionally honest version of Cole Porter's classic 'Easy To Love', plus a refreshingly un-histrionic version of 'Can You Feel the Love Tonight', easily the most widely recognised song on the album. This is helped immensely by the solo piano introduction and generally simple orchestration, relying largely on the strings section for most of the song, though there is a slightly awkward key change mid way through the track. Best of the familiar songs is the title song from 'Sunset Boulevard', one of John's breakout roles on stage, given a stirring, dynamic airing that closes the track listing. I am not one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's biggest fans at all, but this is one of his better songs, and John Barrowman gives it all he's worth, making it a track I often play again as soon as the song is over. You can definitely see why he made such as splash as Joe in this show!

But it is the less familiar songs which really make this album memorable, including a trio of songs which I'd never heard before I bought this album, and which rapidly became favourites, prompting me to seek out other renditions of them and in one case, the sheet music, as I simply had to add one of them to my own repertoire.

The first of these is 'I'd Rather Be Sailing', a beautifully wistful song about a favourite occupation. The lyrics are simple yet eloquent ('Sex is good, but I'd rather be sailing/Food is nice, but I'd rather be sailing') and they are easily understood - simply substitute your own favourite thing in the line 'I want to go sailing and then come home to you'. It's beautiful, with a simple melody, which keeps the intimacy of the song even when John cuts loose a bit towards the end of the track. It also has a beautiful arrangement, with a flute particularly prominent, evoking the joy of being at sea. It's the sort of song that makes you sigh with contentment and understanding as it concludes.

Another previously unknown gem, at least to me, is the title song from a celebration of poet Robert Burns, 'Red Red Rose'. In this song, John is celebrating his Scottish heritage, with a gorgeous setting of what is probably Burns' most recognisable poem. You know the one - 'Oh, my love's like a red, red, rose, that's newly sprung in June'. I don't tend to like poems set to music, as it so often doesn't work well at all, but this one does. It is slow, thoughtful and evocative, often soaring to great heights. Barrowman wisely sings this absolutely 'straight', with no flourishes or embellishments. I can imagine this track in a cinematic setting, perhaps played over a montage or the closing credits.

And thirdly, 'Proud of Your Boy', a song which was cut from Disney's Aladdin, but which is simply heartbreakingly beautiful, expressing a desire to make good and to earn a parent's pride. I'm honestly surprised that this song isn't more widely recorded, as it is, I think, among the very best of the songs which Alan Menken wrote for Disney, and it's the last lyric written by Howard Ashman, who died during the creation of Aladdin. This is a song that I am looking for an opportunity to sing, although I know that I can't match John's pitch-perfect rendition. This track is accompanied by Beverly Holt on solo piano (as is another song, 'Dreamers') and benefits from this simplicity, which allows a complete focus on the voice.

Other songs were familiar to me before I encountered this album, but are nonetheless wonderful. 'I Chose Right' is a song from the relatively obscure 1983 musical Baby. This is a song about the moment when you realise that your lover really is Mr or Mrs Right, that the choices you've made are the right choices, and it speaks of a quiet happiness and security. This is a gorgeous song made even more wonderful by the performance on this album, where John seems to inhabit the lyric fully, floating the tune along perfectly in what amounts to a dramatic monologue in song. Less upbeat is Stephen Sondheim's 'Good Thing Going' from Merrily We Roll Along, a song which looks back on a love that was beautiful but is no more. Another song where the lyrics are of supreme importance, John takes hold of each memory and rhetorical question and makes it his own. Slightly less successful are versions of the oft-recorded 'Try to Remember' and 'Being Alive'. Both good, but they fail to match up to previous versions - in the case of 'Being Alive', this is largely due to an annoying instrumental arrangement which really doesn't help in conveying the feel of the song, and is the only really disappointing arrangement on the CD.

Despite a couple of tracks that do nothing for me, my feeling for this album is overwhelmingly positive, as all of the tracks are well performed and often beautifully orchestrated by a variety of different people. The NSO gives excellent support, setting the right mood for each song before John Barrowman even opens his mouth to begin singing - so many albums can be let down by disappointing electronic instruments or uninspiring arrangements, so this is very welcome. There are six tracks on the album which I think are absolutely stunning ('I'd Rather Be Sailing', 'Red Red Rose', 'Easy To Love', 'I Chose Right', 'Proud Of Your Boy' and 'Sunset Boulevard') and probably worth the price of the album on their own, and as indicated, there are many other tracks on the CD which although not stunning, are extremely good. Love, passion, sadness, regret, anger, confusion and joy are all evoked in the songs and all are conveyed in John Barrowman's performances, which are direct,engaging and real. There are occasional small vocal flaws, such as a couple of times when John is reaching for a particularly high note, but these are very small and actually add to the directness of the album. No polished, plastic, boring, studio-tweaked voice here! Certainly worth an hour of anyone's listening time.

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The catalogue number of this CD is CDJAY1333 (if looking for it second-hand, you may also come across it on the TER/That's Entertainment label with catalogue number CDVIR8336). It may be difficult to find the CD in traditional bricks and mortar stores (with honourable exceptions like Dress Circle and very large branches of the big chains), but it is available from many on-line music retailers, with prices starting at £12.99 plus postage from Amazon, or cheaper through the Marketplace if you're prepared to wait a bit for it to ship from the States.

Ciao's product information tab for this product does not include the track listing, which is as follows:

1 - If I Can't Love Her (Beauty and the Beast)
2 - Anyone Can Whistle (Anyone Can Whistle)
3 - Why, God, Why? (Miss Saigon)
4 - I'd Rather Be Sailing (A New Brain)
5 - Whistle Down the Wind (Whistle Down the Wind)
6 - Dreamers (Jean Seberg)
7 - Can You Feel the Love Tonight (The Lion King)
8 - Red Red Rose (Red Red Rose)
9 - Good Thing Going (Merrily We Roll Along)
10 - Easy to Love (Anything Goes) [originally from the movie Born to Dance]
11 - A Boy From Nowhere (Matador)
12 - Tell My Father (The Civil War)
13 - Being Alive (Company)
14 - I Chose Right (Baby)
15 - Try To Remember (The Fantasticks)
16 - Proud of Your Boy (cut from Aladdin)
17 - Sunset Boulevard (Sunset Boulevard)

If you leave the CD playing, you'll encounter another song, a duet sung with (I'm told) Johns mother. I don't listen to this 'hidden' track very often, but it is a nice touch. I'll let you discover what the song is, though! 

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