Lullaby Of Broadway
A group of singers, all chorus members of different Broadway shows, sing the classic hits of musicals from the 1930s to the present in jazzy choral arrangements, usually featuring one or two members as soloists, on The Broadway Boys: Lullaby of Broadway. They all have fine voices, but no one stands out as unique, as star material.
The songs themselves cover a range of styles, from "Feed the Birds," a Mary Poppins song, to the more sophisticated "I Don’t Care Much" cut from the original Cabaret. Every performance ultimately has a ring of similarity to it, the higher voices taking the leads with a frequently feminine personality overriding the all-male concept.
Best on the disc are "Defying Gravity" from Wicked--sung in a slow and deliberate manner, which provides the lyric with a solemn, almost desperate wishing quality--and "Imagine" from the show Lennon, featuring Jesse Nager, founder of the group, and Maurice Murphy.
Nager also duets on the final cut with Danny Calvert as "Maybe" and "Tomorrow" provide a wistful, compelling idealism about the possibilities in this world. The group idea here is honed down to just the two voices.
There are now nearly thirty singers involved in this group, which was originally conceived as a group of six, and appearances are possible by whatever performers may be available. The singers on this album, not already mentioned, include Michael James Scott, Telly Leung, Peter Matthew Smith, Daniel Torres, Landon Beard, Lucas Steele, and one woman, Natalie Weiss, in a Roger Miller tune from Big River, "Leavin’s Not the Only Way to Go."
This enjoyable disc is almost a special taste collection, but for easy listening with pretty tones, it’s a special gift.
by The Broadway Boys
PS Classics. PS-1091.
