[.ca] Dress Casual

From Amazon.com:
Mandy Patinkin follows up his successful solo debut with Dress Casual. Keeping the same pattern, he provides some Sondheim ("Sorry-Grateful," "Giants in the Sky"), triple-tracking ("Triplets"), and medleys of standards, as well as some Yiddish ("Yossel, Yossel"). The real highlights, however, are two extended suites, one from Rodgers and Hart's Pal Joey (and no, he doesn't sing "Bewitched" in falsetto) and one from Sondheim's 1966 television drama Evening Primrose. For the first full recording of these four songs, Patinkin recruited Sondheim specialist Bernadette Peters, who sings the only song that got significant play after the show, the beautiful ballad "I Remember." Six years after their collaboration in Sunday in the Park with George, the stars are in perfect sync and give Evening Primrose a well-deserved resuscitation. --David Horiuchi

"Evening Primrose" slaughtered:
I bought this for the complete "Evening Primrose" sequence, and boy, was that a mistake. The main problem, I think, is that these four songs were recorded here without composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim's supervision, and that makes all the difference in the world. Left to his own devices, Mandy Patimkin greatly distorts "If You Can Find Me"'s melody; Bernadette Peters's voice is under the accompaniment on "I Remember" (although she's faithful to the song at least, unlike Patimkin and his arrangers), and the arrangements on "Dress Casual" are over-elaborate, gooey, and unrestrained. Neither singer effectively plays his character. I didn't care for the other stuff either, but that's your own lookout. Just don't do as I did; don't buy this for "Evening Primrose". Buy instead the "Evening Primrose" that comes with "Frogs". By the way, WHY is amazon.com listing this under "classical music"? It's about as far from classical as you can get.

• Doodle Doo Doo
• When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along
• Tschaikowsky
• On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe
• Bein' Green
• Triplets
• I'm Always Chasing Rainbows
• If You Can Find Me, I'm Here
• I Remember - Bernadette Peters
• When - Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters
• Take Me to the World - Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters
• Great Big Town
• You Mustn't Kick It Around
• I Could Write a Book
• Happy Hunting Horn
• What Do I Care for a Dame
• Do It the Hard Way
• I'm Talking to My Pal
• Sorry-Grateful
• Being Alive
• Ya Got Trouble (In River City)
• Giants in the Sky
• Mr. Arthur's Place
• Yossel, Yossel
• Hollywood Medley Intro
• Steppin' Out With My Baby
• Shine on Your Shoes
• It Only Happens When I Dance With You
• That International Rag
• I've Got Them Feelin' Too Good Today Blues
• Let Yourself Go