Albums

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Synopsis

The Songs:

“Almost Like Being in Love”: Lerner and Loewe’s exuberant, infectious ballad is one of the most popular show tunes of all time. In this breezy Highland interpretation it’s easy to see why.

“Bring Him Home”: Forget the barricades, the smoke, the turntable – this eloquent song is a major factor in the powerful emotional impact of Les Misérables around the world.

“The Sadder but Wiser Girl for Me”: After the two opening numbers of this album, the first romantic and the second solemn, Jerry felt it was time to lighten things up a bit.

“Younger Than Springtime”: Bill Brohn’s lush tropical orchestration and Jerry’s passionate interpretation of this timeless Rodgers and Hammerstein song engulfs us all in a dreamlike Polynesian paradise.

A song of possible marital compromise, “Marry Me” has been turned, thanks to Michael Starobin’s arrangement with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s immortal “Manhattan”, into a Valentine to marital bliss.

“Don’t Marry Me”: In these times of political correctness, a show like Flower Drum Song isn’t performed very often. That’s too bad because the score is one of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s most delightful.

“Lonely Town”: Jerry’s affinity for the music of Leonard Bernstein, so well established in the Grammy Award-winning recording of Candide, is again in evidence in this, one of Bernstein’s greatest theater songs.

“Standing on the Corner”: With a vocal arrangement by Forever Plaid arranger James Raitt and a perky orchestration by Douglas Besterman, this rendition of the Four Lads hit is dedicated to Mel Cooley.

“What Kind of Fool Am I?”: What would appear to be a quintessential ’60s night club ballad comes to new life in this arrangement, taking it out of its supper-club milieu and back to its theatrical roots.

“Anthem”: This stirring Act One finale was performed magnificently on Broadway by David Carroll, who, until his death in March of 1992 from AIDS, was one of Broadway’s most promising leading men. Jerry dedicates this version to him.

“Gethsemane”: B.C. (Before Cats), Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice collaborated on the ground-breaking musical Jesus Christ Superstar. While there were plenty of pop hits in that score, its serious theatrical aspirations come through in this powerful soliloquy.

“Eve” / “She Loves Me”: Bill Brohn has put these two songs together and developed a mini-romantic comedy about the peculiar nature of love from both sides.

“She Wasn’t You”: This little-known gem was changed to “He Wasn’t You” for the film version of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, which enabled Barbra Streisand to sing it. In this rendition Jerry’s operatic background comes through in a brash and vibrant way.

“Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat”: Once a showstopper, always a showstopper.

“All I Ask of You”: In this Michael Starobin orchestration, this love duet becomes a promise of love with a strong Debussy influence.

“Mama Look Sharp”: When 1776 opened during the Viet Nam war, this song gave a chilling anti-war message to a proudly American show. William D. Brohn has taken this evocative song and turned it into a narrative as it would be told late at night around the campfire.

“What I Did for Love”: If you were to pick one show that defined what life on Broadway was about in the ’70s and ’80s, it would be A Chorus Line; and if you were to pick one song from that show this would be it. Of course it’s not just talking about Broadway; the song speaks to anyone whose work is also their joy.

“Come the Wild, Wild Weather”: We’ve been caught. This Noel Coward song was never on Broadway. The play Waiting in the Wings takes place in a home for retired actors and is a reflection upon old age, friendship, and whatever the future, however short-lived, might have in store. In his recitals, Jerry uses this song as an encore; for our purposes it is a perfect coda to this recording.

Credits

Jerry Hadley, tenor
Paul Gemignani, Musical Director and Conductor
The American Theatre Orchestra