Search - Tom Jones, Harvey Schmidt, Susan Watson :: Celebration (1969 Original Broadway Cast)

More memorable for its tone than its tunes

Gene DeSantis | Philadelphia, PA United States | 09/26/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"What has tragically proved to be Jones and Schmidt's final Broadway show (not counting the too-many aborted workshop productions and out-of-town closings since) is an odd bird indeed, but so were all their shows, and that's why they were special. The entertainment pundits blamed its premature closing on a small-scale show playing a big-scale house, and while that may be true there's something in this score that's off-kilter; it tries for the sweetness and innocence of "The Fantasticks" against a clashing world-weariness, all set to that feathery "Fantasticks" small-pit-band sound. Unfortunately the duo could not come up with a hit here, as with "Try to Remember", nor even anything to be resuscitated by Barbra Streisand; one leaves this recording humming the arrangements. But because the sound is so musical, and so memorable, this album has long survived the production, and serves as a true memorial to Jones and Schmidt's vision of a simpler, more humane theater."