Track By Track: Zorba (New Broadway Cast Recording)

I was looking through my vinyl collection the other day, and came across my copy of the 1983 "New Broadway Cast recording" of Zorba. I had seen the show during its national tour, which starred the revival's two headliners, Anthony Quinn and Tony-winner Lila Kedrova. Both were utterly charming, with Kedrova stealing the show with her every number. They were a big draw due to their starring in the film version, Zorba the Greek. But for me, the score was the star of the show. Even including their flops, you rarely (if ever) hear talk of this Kander and Ebb score. For me, it is one of their best - a wonderful mix of songs, orchestrated to include traditional Greek instruments that lend to the authentic sound of the show. I highly recommend this one! 

Track By Track:

Zorba The New Broadway Cast Recording

Act One

Track 1: Life Is *****

"Life is what you do til the moment you die." As usual, Kander and Ebb have created an exhilarating, scene-setting opening. Sage advice spills forth from the enigmatically named The Woman (brilliantly sung throughout by Debbie Shapiro). It also sets the theme for the evening: Death is coming, so live life while you can.

Track 2: The First Time ***

"I sniff at a woman...each time is the first time!" Anthony Quinn, while certainly no great singer, is captivating. Zorba the Greek's philosophy of life? Treat each life experience as a first time, unique, potentially life-changing event. 

Track 3: The Top of the Hill ****

"There's a woman at the door to a room in a house at the top of the hill, and she's waiting for you." The way this song builds and introduces a community reminds me a great deal of Kiss of the Spider Woman's "Over the Wall." Catchy, vibrant and a great way to give a star her entrance!

Track 4: No Boom Boom ****

"Please, Sir, no Boom Boom!" Charming code for a consort is the fun key to this number, a toe-tapper of a story song. But don't be so taken in that you miss the point that even though Hortense (Lila Kedrova) has had her share of men, she was always in control.

Track 5: Mine Song ***

"The sound in your ear is the sound of tomorrow." The business of the village, mining, is the toil and the pride of the community. The vocal arrangement of this song is thrilling.

Track 6: The Butterfly *****

"No too fast. Let it grow. Let it last." One of the most beautiful songs in the entire Kander and Ebb oeuvre, this song is a stunning metaphor for the precarious line between life and death. Robert Westenberg, Nikos, sings with power and gentleness, and acts the song with the same power and gentleness. The final verse, a stunning trio for him, Shapiro and Taro Mayer, the Widow.

Track 7: Goodbye, Carnavaro ***

"Don't forget me!" The verbal game play here between Zorba ("Carnavaro") and Hortense  ("Boombalina") allows the very palpable chemistry between Quinn and Kedrova to flow right through the speakers.

Track 8: Grandpapa ***

"Weak and feeble Grandpapa." When the villagers doubt Zorba's, um, stamina, he proves that he may look like a grandpapa on the outside, but he still has the moves. The star here is the orchestra in a vigorous dance.

Track 9: Only Love/The Bend of the Road/Only Love (reprise) *****

"Give me love. Only love. What else is there?" The Act One closer is a blend of two great numbers - the heartbreaking "Only Love," which shows why Ms. Kedrova won a Tony, and "The Bend of the Road," really a reprise of "The Top of The Hill." This time, The Woman is bringing together the young couple, Nikos and the Widow. Life is, it seems, an endless cycle of love and lovers.

Act Two

Track 10: Yassou ****

"Exchange the rings and drink the wine! Yassou! Amen!" A quick wedding starts the act, but tragedy isn't far behind...

Track 11: Woman ****

"Woman." Zorba offers his philosophy on his favorite topic.

Track 12: Why Can't I Speak/That's a Beginning *****

"Why can't I speak? Why can't I show him?" "And who can say where it may end?" Two songs in counterpoint offering two points of view of one encounter and the beginning of a true love. Mayer and Westenberg are just wonderful here. The last 30 seconds give me goosebumps.

Track 13: The Crow *****

"Soon we will see the crow fall from the sky...What doesn't die never was born." Another fable to offer insight to an impending death. Dramatic and urgent, the recording is as dramatic as the staging. Shapiro is breathtaking.

Track 14: Happy Birthday *****

"You'll dance through life. All through life." As Hortense begins to transition, she hallucinates a joyous memory - her 16th birthday celebrated with her mother. So sorrowful even as the music is jaunty. The final moments of this song bring me to tears.

Track 15: I Am Free/Finale: Life Is (reprise) *****

"I have nothing. I want nothing. I am free." Having been through another tragedy, Zorba offers his final story, and the one philosophy that gets him through life. "I live as if I might die any minute!"

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The Friday 5: 5 Kander and Ebb Shows in Need of Revival

Broadway history is full of great writing teams - Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Menken and Ashman, Pasek and Paul - all great, all with seminal works. But there is one pair whose work I greatly admire. They have written some of Broadway's greatest musicals of all time, and even their "flops" are glorious. Their works are at times dark and at times joyous, and always revealing of the human condition. And like many of the great theatre craftsmen, their work pushes boundaries and is often said to be ahead of its time.

Cabaret has been revived three times since its debut, and, of course, Chicago shows no signs of stopping. But there are many shows of theirs that seem ready for revival. This week, I look at 5 Kander and Ebb musicals I'd love to see again, along with some of my favorite songs from each. As a bonus, there's a look back at some of the people in the original casts. Here are those shows (in alphabetical order):

The Friday 5:

5 Kander and Ebb
Shows in Need of Revival

Kiss of the Spider Woman

Last on Broadway: July 1, 1995

My 3 Favorite Numbers:

• "Where You Are"
• "Kiss of the Spider Woman"
• "Dressing Them Up"
• Honorable Mention: "You Could Never Shame Me"

Interesting Original Cast Members: Merle Louise - one of the greatest supporting actresses ever: the original casts of Gypsy, Company, Sweeney Todd, La Cage aux Folles and Into the Woods.

The Rink

Last on Broadway: August 14, 1984

My 3 Favorite Numbers:

• "Chief Cook and Bottle Washer"
• "What Happened to the Old Days?"
• "The Apple Doesn't Fall"
• Honorable Mention: "The Rink"

Interesting Original Cast Members: Jason Alexander - Tony winner for Best Actor in a Musical, Jerome Robbins' Broadway, TV's Seinfeld; Scott Ellis - 8-time Tony Award nominee for direction of a play or musical; Rob Marshall (understudy) - 6-time Tony Award nominee for direction of a musical or choreography, Oscar winner

The Scottsboro Boys

Last on Broadway: December 12, 2010

3 Favorite Numbers:

• "Commencing in Chattanooga"
• "Alabama Ladies"
• "Electric Chair"
• Honorable Mention: "The Scottsboro Boys"

Interesting Original Cast Members: Joshua Henry - 3-time Tony Award nominee for leading or supporting actor in a musical, Rodney Hicks, Josh Breckenridge - both in Come From Away, Colman Domingo - book writer, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical

Steel Pier

Last on Broadway: June 28, 1997

3 Favorite Numbers:

• "Everybody Dance"
• "Everybody's Girl"
• "Steel Pier"
• Honorable Mention: "Two Little Words" (Kristin Chenoweth)

Interesting Original Cast Members: Casey Nicholaw  - Tony winner, Best Director, The Book of Mormon, 9-time Tony Award nominee for direction of a musical or choreography; Andy Blankenbuhler - 3-time Tony winner, Best Choreography, In the Heights, Hamilton, Bandstand; Kristin Chenoweth (her Broadway debut!) - Tony winner, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, 2-time Tony Award nominee for leading actress in a musical

Zorba

Last on Broadway: September 2, 1984

3 Favorite Numbers:

• "Life Is"
• "The Butterfly"
• "The Crow"
• Honorable Mention: "Happy Birthday"

Interesting Original Revival Cast Members: Debbie Shapiro (Gravitte) - Tony Award winner, Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Jerome Robbins' Broadway; Rob Marshall - see The Rink; Robert Westenberg - Theatre World Award winner for Zorba, Tony Award nominee for featured actor in a musical, Into the Woods

Musical Words of Wisdom

The cast recording of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is once again responsible for some serious thought.  If you are reading this, I'll assume that you have more than a passing interest in musical theatre.  If you are at all like me, you find the lyrics of Broadway shows to be a treasure trove of clever turns of phrase, witty witticisms, and poignant words to live by.

If you have listened to the score of WOTV at all, you know it is full of the aforementioned wit and poignancy.  It was one time when I was enjoying the ever so catchy "On the Verge" that I got my Broadway Vocabulary Quiz blog idea (the word was "ululating") and the idea for this blog came to  mind as I laughed out loud at a certain line in the song that struck me as funny, true, and as a clever turn of phrase.  (See below)  And I asked all of you to send me your favorite lines from Broadway musical numbers.  

Please note that there were several repeats, so I might not attribute the line to you.  Understand that appreciate all of your contributions!  And so, here are some of my favorites along with some of yours.

• "It's murder on a hairdo when your head is underwater." - "On the Verge" from Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
• "You've got pain in your stomach like a long-neglected tooth, dilated pupils that refuse to see the truth..." - "Lovesick" from Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

• "The price of love is loss, but still we pay.  We love anyway." - "Light" from next to normal

• "Because happy is what happens when all your dreams come true." - "Thank Goodness" from Wicked (GalindaU89 from NYC)

• "Christmas bells, ringing out goodwill to men, and peace on Earth; Ev'rything they taught you when you were a child - the things a child once taught the world." - "Christmas Day" from Promises, Promises (Sherilyn F. from Newark, NJ)

• "Life is what you do 'til the moment you die." - "Life Is" from Zorba (Barb P. from Manhattan)

• "I'd walk through the quad, and think, 'Oh My God!  These kids are so much younger than me!'" - "I Wish I Could Go Back to College" from Avenue Q (Tim Z from Geneva, NY)

I could probably do a whole blog just from the entries sent in from AChorusLineFREEK from Long island, NY!  Thanks! (He or she didn't leave a name, but DID leave words of wisdom and clever wording from almost every song in that show's score!

From A Chorus Line:

• "Who am I anyway?  Am I my resume?  That is a picture of a person I don't know." - "I Hope I Get It"
• "All thanks to Sis (Now married and fat)" - "I Can Do That!"
• "'Diff'rent' is nice, but it sure isn't pretty.  'Pretty' is what it's about.  I never met anyone who was 'diff'rent'.  Who couldn't figure that out?" - "At the Ballet"
• "Too young to take over, too old to ignore." - "Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen"
• "Six months later I heard that Karp had died.  And I dug right down to the bottom of my soul... and cried.  'Cause I felt... nothing." - "Nothing"
• "Tits and ass won't get you jobs, unless they're yours.  Didn't cost a fortune, neither.  Didn't hurt my sex life, either." - "Dance: Ten; Looks: Three"
• "Give me a job and you instantly get me involved.  If you give me a job, then the rest of the crap will get solved." - "The Music and the Mirror"
• "Kiss today goodbye, and point me t'ward tomorrow.  We did what we had to do.  Won't forget, can't regret what I did for love." - "What I Did For Love"
• "One smile and suddenly nobody else will do." - "One"

Next week, I'll do another blog entirely made up of quotes from the musicals of Stephen Sondheim - thanks to contributions from Tyler, Catherine and SteFANSondheim13!

And keep sending in your favorite lyrics and vocabulary words for future blogs!  Lloyd Webber fans - send me your quotes, too!  I'll do a whole blog on those if I get enough!

Rate this blog below, and leave your comments here, by email at jkstheatrescene@yahoo.com, or Tweet me!

Jeff

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