Hayes’ musical debut is more bossa nova pop than traditional B’way
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2.5 out of 5 stars
PROMISES, PROMISES
Original Broadway cast recording
Masterworks Broadway
On Will & Grace, part of Sean Hayes’ shtick was his cheesy cabaret act "Just Jack," where his talent-challenged character imagined himself a triple-threat actor/singer/dancer who was barely competent at any. He could move, he could carry a tune, but a star? Hardly.
It’s impossible to say from the Broadway cast recording of the current revival of Promises, Promises whether Hayes can hoof it. But it is clear his vocal scope as Jack wasn’t a put-on.
Which is not to say he is bad; he’s not. What Hayes does not possess, however, is a natural gift for singing, an intuitive way with a lyric. He has a pleasant voice and doesn’t hit the wrong notes, but the way he gets there sounds studied and labored, as if he’s tuning a piano, not singing a song.
Perhaps Hayes is actually a better singer than this recording lets on (the mix lacks the wham-bam orchestral punch of a showy Broadway production), but it would be hard to shine brightly when paired with Kristin Chenoweth.
Chenoweth is one of the reigning Broadway divas ever since Wicked, and the opera-trainer soprano knows something about belting out a tune. She could easily overwhelm Hayes vocally, so especially on the duets she seems to hold back.
That might be because of the music itself. Promises, Promises is the Neil Simon-Burt Bacharach-Hal David musical adaptation of the Billy Wilder film The Apartment, about a schlubby mid-level manager who pimps for his bosses by allowing them to use his flat for their extra-marital assignations.
The conceit (or at least the moral ambiguity about sex) is pure 1960s, and it’s smart to keep the current revival set in the pre-Watergate (and certainly pre-Monica Lewinsky) days — not only for its relic sentimentalizing, but for its pop bossa nova sound. Bacharach didn’t write traditional Broadway music so much as pop songs that tell stories, and despite some adult contemporary classics ("I Say a Little Prayer," "I’ll Never Fall in Love Again," "A House is Not a Home"), it’s not Chenoweth’s wheelhouse.
Still, with a current wave of ’60s nostalgia, from Mad Men to Boeing Boeing, there are charms here. And seeing Hayes — who is up for a Tony Award on Sunday (Chenoweth is not) — become a stage star is kinda fun. Call it "Simply Sean." And don’t forget the jazz hands.
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Punk ‘Cocks
English punk rock pioneers the Buzzcocks head to Dallas this weekend led by the
famously bisexual Pete Shelley, right. He has led all incarnations of the band for
more than 30 years, which now looks nothing like the first roster.
But the band is all Shelley’s as he’s been the primary songwriter over the decades. When he came out as bi in the early ’80s, so many Buzzcocks songs made a lot more sense.
Funny how that happens.
With the Dollyrots at The Loft, 1135 S. Lamar St. Friday at 8:30 p.m. $20–$23. TheLoftDallas.com.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition June 11, 2010.