Almost as long as the modern musical has existed, there have been movie adaptations, or film adaptations, that have always been popular. Of late, they seem to come in pairs - a great musical will spawn a film version, and a great movie will end up on the great White Way. It's very rare however, that they are both successful. I can think of only a handful where I've enjoyed both just as much - Chicago being perhaps the most obvious. Usually, one doesn't quite have the appeal of the other, so I was interested to see what the latest musical-from-a-movie to hit Broadway sounded like.

The world premiere production of the brand new musical comedy Bullets Over Broadway, written by Woody Allen is based on the screenplay by Allen and Douglas McGrath for the 1994 film. Directed and choreographed by five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman, Bullets Over Broadway opened on Broadway on Thursday, April 10, 2014 at The St. James Theatre.

Bullets Over Broadway tells the story of an aspiring young playwright newly arrived on Broadway in 1920’s New York who is forced to cast a mobster's talentless girlfriend in his latest drama in order to get it produced.

The cast features Brooks Ashmanskas (The Producers) as “Warner Purcell,” Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee Zach Braff (Scrubs, Garden State) as “David Shayne,” Tony Award nominee Nick Cordero (Rock of Ages) as “Cheech,” Tony Award nominee Marin Mazzie (Passion; Ragtime; Kiss Me, Kate) as “Helen Sinclair,” Vincent Pastore (The Sopranos) as “Nick Valenti,” Betsy Wolfe (The Mystery of Edwin Drood) as “Ellen,” Lenny Wolpe (The Drowsy Chaperone) as “Julian Marx,” Heléne Yorke (Grease) as “Olive Neal” and Tony Award winner Karen Ziemba (Contact) as “Eden Brent.”

You will notice I don't credit a composer or lyricist. Bullets Over Broadway has a score featuring existing music of the period, with not an original song in sight. The songs have been lovingly re-created for the musical by Glen Kelly, and orchestrated by one of my favourite purveyors of the art, Doug Besterman.

I listened to the CD a few times in writing this review, as I so wanted to love it. But I have to admit I struggled to get into the score at all. I've read quite a few articles on the show, and how Kelly has changed the songs around to make them cleverly fit into the show. This is all well and good, but I didn't know the vast majority of the songs, and didn't know any of them sufficiently well to comment on how well this had worked.

What is a big success is the work of Doug Besterman. He recreates with apparent ease the 1920's speak-easy sound, and from the 'Overture' onwards, the score oozes the appeal of that era. It's a good sized orchestra too, and I really enjoyed the sound that the score has. The performances are also great, so it's worth a listen for those things alone.

That's not to say there aren't good songs on here though. 'Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do' is a great swinging track, as is the finale of the one song I do know... 'Yes We Have No Bananas!' I also enjoyed 'There's A New Day Comin' very much as well, and the more reflective 'There's A Broken Heart For Every Light on Broadway'. There's not much idea of any story on the CD, but the excellent booklet gives you enough to get you through the recording.

Not my favourite cast recording of the year by a long way, but an enjoyable and worthwhile listen.

6

Ian Gude