It was sheer bad luck that Kander and Ebb’s new show, Steel Pier, should find itself up against a fizzing revival of their amoral masterpiece Chicago on Broadway. The familiar won out over the new in awards and audiences. Yet Steel Pier finds its creators at the peak of their powers. Now here’s a chance to compare and contrast these new Broadway cast recordings.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, you are about to see a story of murder, greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery and treachery – all the things we hold near and dear to our hearts”: the stage is set even before the opening of Chicago. The memorable original cast recording (8/79 – nla), featuring Gwen Verdon, Chita Rivera and Jerry Orbach, ran for 55 minutes. The new recording is some 20 minutes longer, with four new tracks. Ann Reinking sounds uncannily like Verdon; Bebe Neuwirth (Lilith from TV’s Frasier and Chita Rivera’s takeover in the London edition of Kander and Ebb’s Kiss of the Spiderwoman) is just as positive but is no Rivera soundalike. The main new items are “I know a girl`” for Neuwirth and the band’s “Hot honey rag”. In the 22 years since it premiered on Broadway the show has lost none of its electricity, and this new recording is definitive. As luxury casting, Joel Grey (the original MC from the same team’s Cabaret) takes a minor role and sings “Mr Cellophane” with pathos. James Naughton is an oh-so-smooth corrupt lawyer. But the show belongs to the women: Reinking’s Roxie and Neuwirth’s Velma charge through such delights as “All that jazz” and “My own best friend” as if their lives depended on it – as, in the show, they do. There’s an alert band under Rob Fisher and superb recording to match. Full lyrics are included.
Steel Pier is set in Atlantic City during 1933. Mick Hamilton is running a fixed dance marathon contest that his secret wife, Rita Racine, will win. Her partner is a stunt pilot, Bill Kelly, who, we realize is a ghost. Rita has been promised that this marathon will be Mick’s last scam, but he doesn’t mean it. By the end of the show, Rita has, with Bill’s encouragement, summoned up the courage to leave Mick for good. The score is full of life and invention. A Gershwinesque overture is a trailer for many good jazzy/bluesy numbers that follow. Touching ballads like “The last girl” and “Somebody older” contrast beautifully with peppy numbers like “Everybody’s girl” and “Everybody dance”. Karen Ziemba is magnificent in her first major Broadway role; Gregory Harrison’s Mick and Daniel McDonald’s Bill provide firm support. As with Chicago, the booklet includes all the lyrics; the show as recorded is a total delight.'