Search - Bernadette Peters :: Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers & Hammerstein

Bravo!!

joto25 | 03/19/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bernadette Peters is usually associated with Sondheim. And I loved her in Webber's Tell Me On A Sunday. This BP loves R & H is quite something.Miss Peters' unique talent comes right through the "live" recordings. The phrasing is not practised like Miss Streisand would in her studio recordings. Mind, I do adore Miss Streisands' talents enormously. BP oozes fun and frivolity in some of the cheeky numbers like The Gentleman is a dope and Mr Snow. Her guts and emotions are so intact for the performances of these songs here, that she sounds like she's in character on stage!! Only without the usual distractions of a live stage recording. Although at times, her voice is too forwardly placed, but it works as I listen to it again and again. She is right here on stage in my home!! Brilliant!Miss Peters' rendition and choice of There is nothing like a Dame is rather audacious but appropriate. Do listen to this and enjoy what she is trying to say.... a howling, glaring, gutsy telling of R & H music and lyric!!The treatment of It Might As Well Be Spring and Something Good is most exquisite. The latter, as pointed out by others here, is a mostly over-looked gem from The Sound Of Music. In Weber's Tell Me On A Sunday, BP delivered the most individual performance I've heard. And here, now doing R & H, I am in love with Miss BP again.... Jonathan Tunick of course, has come up with some stunning arrangements and never sounding like he is repeating himself even though he has arranged these tunes many times for other artistes. Great work.Other pieces to really note are, If I Loved You,Out Of My Dreams, So Far....I Haven't Got A Worry In The World, Something Wonderful.... well, the whole CD recording!!!!!!Get it, a wonderful collaboration of all involved..and of course the fabulous Miss Peters. Don't forget to check out the TATTOO."

For Die-Hard Bernadette Fans Only

joto25 | 09/08/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I have every BP CD and was another person anxious to get this release. Ms. Peters has a distinctive voice, and simply doesn't have the range to tackle these songs. R & H wrote for legit voices with true soprano or alto characteristics, so it is a bit too much to expect the same person to sing "If I Loved You" AND "Mr. Snow" AND "You've Never Walk Alone" in orchestrations that bring to mind the context of the characters Julie, Carrie, and Nettie in the show Carousel itself. If they had been done as jazz or pop interpretations (as in the "let's have fun with this" cut of "There is Nothin' Like a Dame"), then BP's obvious vocal flaws wouldn't have been so obvious. It is simply painful to hear her reach for some of the required notes. It is equally painful to not be able to recommend this album. I give it 3 stars only out of respect for a wonderful performer. BTW, I have tried to listen to it more than 3 times, and it depresses me more with each airing. BP needs a producer who leads her down the right path instead of allowing her to present herself in a bad light. That path has more cuts like "The Gentleman is a Dope" and "It's a Grand Night for Singing.""

She's got it!

Adam Mathias | Brooklyn, NY | 03/16/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bernadette Peters gets it: in musical theatre the words are as important as the music. If you like your standards crooned like warm butter and spun silk, this may not be the cd for you. This incomprable musical theatre star gets to the heart of these classic songs and dispels the notion that Rodgers and Hammerstein shows are just fluffy musical-comedy."