Generally speaking, the original cast members of Broadway musical productions get all the glory. Although long-running shows necessarily become peopled with replacement performers over time, only the originals are eligible for Tony Awards, and usually only they appear on cast recordings. But as Broadway producers have looked for ways to reinvigorate those long runs, they have increasingly employed "stunt" casting of replacements, often bringing in well-known names from the movies and television who will be recognizable to the tourists who keep shows on the boards year after year. Producers Barry and Fran Weissler are past masters at this practice, so it is no surprise that, when their contract with Broadway veteran Donna Murphy, appearing in their 2003 revival of the 1953 musical Wonderful Town, ran out after a year, they replaced her with film and TV star Brooke Shields. They had previously brought Shields into their 1994 revival of the 1972 musical Grease. And, as they did with Grease, they have reissued the Wonderful Town cast recording in a version featuring Shields as a souvenir for patrons attracted by her non-stage stardom. Actually, a listen indicates that this is for the most part the same recording as that issued previously, except that through the magic of modern multi-tracking Murphy and her co-star, Jennifer Westfeldt, have been erased and replaced by Shields and the only other credited newcomer, Jennifer Hope Wills. That, however, constitutes a more extensive re-recording effort than when Shields replaced
Rosie O'Donnell in the featured role of Rizzo in Grease. The two stars of Wonderful Town have the lion's share of the songs, including "Ohio," "One Hundred Easy Ways to Lose a Man," "A Little Bit in Love," "Conga!," and "Wrong Note Rag," so there is plenty here that's new, vocally at least. At the same time, Shields and Wills are somewhat straitjacketed fitting their performances into the preexisting tracks (which is analogous to what a replacement cast member has to do on-stage, come to think of it). They manage fine. Wills has an excellent soprano voice that gets her through, and Shields, like Murphy before her, plays the role of Ruth Sherwood as more of a character part than a starring role. The dialogue segments come off a bit wooden, but there is nothing here that will disappoint audiences who have thrilled to seeing a movie star live on-stage. Shields is no Murphy, but then Murphy was no Rosalind Russell (the show's initial star), and the original Broadway cast recording of this show from the '50s remains the one to own. (Like its predecessor, this album concludes with two tracks featuring lyricists
Betty Comden and Adolph Green performing demo versions of some of the show's songs.) ~ William Ruhlmann