The musicals of
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II are neo-operettas that provide many opportunities for big baritone voices to strut their stuff. In the original productions,
Alfred Drake (Oklahoma!), John Raitt (Carousel), and opera singer
Ezio Pinza (South Pacific) made the most of those opportunities in songs like "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'," "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top," "If I Loved You," "Soliloquy," "Some Enchanted Evening," and "This Nearly Was Mine," and it is reasonable to expect that these rangy, dramatic songs would also serve a contemporary opera singer like
Bryn Terfel. They do, but the fun of this album comes when
Terfel tries out songs not originally written for the big-voiced male leads and instead tries a lusty, uptempo number like "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" or a comic one like "There Is Nothing Like a Dame." His success with such material demonstrates an unusual versatility and a willingness to meet the material not typical of the spate of opera-singers-doing-show-music albums. And it makes this one of the best of the bunch. ~ William Ruhlmann