For quite a few years, I've had a series of pictures of New York on my kitchen wall. On one of them, a great shot of Times Square, is a series of billboards for Broadway shows of the time, and pride and place in the middle is one for a musical called Cry-Baby. That, I must confess, was the total extent of my exposure to the musical, until Broadway Records announced they were recording the majority of the original Broadway cast for a release of the cast recording.

Cry-Baby - The Musical is based on the 1990 film by John Waters. Set in 1954, this musical centres on Baltimore teenager and finishing school student, Allison Vernon-Williams. Allison becomes distracted from her upper crust lifestyle as she enters a relationship with Wade “Cry-Baby” Walker who is a rock ‘n’ roll high school rebel. The book is by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, known for their other John Waters adaptation of Hairspray. Four-time Tony Award nominee, Cry-Baby - The Musical debuted on Broadway at the Marquis Theater on March 15, 2008 under the direction of Mark Brokaw with Drama Desk Award winning choreography by Rob Ashford. The energetic music and lyrics by Adam Schlesinger and David Javerbaum really brought this musical to life, and now with the release of this recording, showcasing “88.4% of the original cast”, everyone will be able to enjoy the vibrant, upbeat score of Cry-Baby - The Musical.

It's worth noting up-front that despite it's links to Hairspray, this show is no Hairspray. It's a pure Rock n Roll music, with the songs been very true to the genre. The songs are well constructed, and sound great on this Broadway Records release, but there are no real show-stoppers here. Performances are all great - the attention to detail on the vocals, and especially the harmonies, is superb. I enjoyed listening to the recording immensely, although I would have welcomed some idea of the progression of the story. The songs, whilst good, do not progress the story along, and whilst the excellent booklet does give you an idea of the premise of the musical, there is no proper synopsis.

Another mention must be made of the excellent orchestrations. Cut down for this release - I imagine to match the recently released rights, or for a tour - but sound full, and again, very true to the period.

8

Ian Gude