I think we are quite fortunate at the moment, in that we seem to have a good steady flow of new cast albums being released. On almost the same day, I have had 3 new London Cast recordings land in my inbox, from Masterworks Broadway - and they couldn’t be more different.

First into the player is the Original London Cast of a new musical - Mrs Henderson Presents. The musical, currently playing in London’s West End, is nominated for four Olivier Awards including MasterCard Best New Musical, Best Actress in a Musical (Tracie Bennett), Best Actor in a Musical (Ian Bartholomew) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical (Emma Williams). Based on the much-loved film that starred Dame Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins, Mrs Henderson Presents is the hilarious new musical with lyrics by Don Black, music by George Fenton and Simon Chamberlain and book by Terry Johnson.

It’s a stellar cast, well respected production team, and great writers, so the expectations are that this would be a release (and a show) to remember. And, to a point, it is, although I’m not sure if this will end up being a long (or well) remembered musical. I love Tracie Bennett, having seen her in several things over the last 20 or so years, but at least as far as this recording goes, she doesn’t really shine. Maybe it’s the material, maybe it’s something else, but I found her performance disappointing and forced. Emma Williams on the other hand, shines here, as does Ian Bartholomew. There are some nice moments between the three of them, ‘Anything But Young’ is a great example, but unfortunately there weren’t enough of these to hold my attention. Even the ‘big number’ from the show ‘If Mountains Were Easy To Climb’ is in the main lovely, but then it’s spoiled by an overpowering vocal from Bennett.

The main issue for me was I didn’t love the score. It’s VERY 1930s - as you would probably expect - but for me, it lacks that spark that made the likes of Me & My Girl etc so successful. The composers are the same as for the medium-successful movie, and I think perhaps they may be to close to the original, where the music worked extremely well. Theatre is a different beast. What I will add is that the orchestrations, by the masterful Larry Blank, save the recording somewhat, as they do bring to life what is there. It’s just a shame that what IS there wasn’t much to start with.

5

Ian Gude