On the Record: A Tribute to the Great Vocal Groups of the 20th Century
Stage 72 at The Triad – Saturdays and Sundays through December 15
Songs recorded and performed live by the last century’s vocal groups (trios and quartets, mostly), whether storied or obscure, certainly provide a rich aggregate of material for this welcome and original compendium. Four singers of remarkable cross-gender versatility, who blend beautifully in harmonies both simple and complex, combine to serve up a satisfying survey of their subject. The 90-minute program was conceived and directed by Bill Daugherty, who is also one of the singers—along with Paul Kropfl, Amanda Savan, and Deborah Tranelli. Doyle Newmyer is their estimable musical director, pianist, and adapter of the original artists’ arrangements.
Fittingly, the show opens with a rousing version of a song written in 1900, “Those Ragtime Melodies” (Gene Hodgkins), although the version sung here was recorded in 1913 by the Peerless Quartet—on an Edison cylinder. Quick cut to the three jazzy Boswell sisters and their 1931 version of “Roll On, Mississippi, Roll On” (Dave Ringle, Eugene West, James McCaffrey), before we get to songs recallable by most living listeners. The Mills Brothers’ 1932 hit, “Baby Won’t You Please Come Home” (Clarence Williams, Charles Warfield), is the first number to provide a real whiff of familiarity, while The Andrews Sisters’ number one record from 1942, “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree” (Lew Brown, Charlie Tobias, Sam H. Stept), provides a full-on “aha! moment”—for senior citizens, at least.
“Don’t Fence Me In” (Cole Porter, from Hollywood Canteen) is really a Bing Crosby smash from 1944 but gets included here because the Andrews Sisters sang backup on his version, duly replicated here. Daugherty does a creditable Crosby on it, while the remaining trio serve as vocal ringers for Patti, Maxine, and Laverne. This show’s numbers mostly do reproduce the versions of the best-known original artists. “You’ve Got Me This Way” (Jimmy McHugh, Johnny Mercer) faithfully copies the 1940 recording—and arrangement–by the Pied Pipers, and what better way to do the song than this?
The movie clips and still photo montages running silently in the background throughout the show, and perfectly matched to the act on stage, are helpful and effective. The narration, also written by Daugherty, is sometimes engaging, as when the cast delineates the changes in recording techniques and their effect on the artists. But, at times, the talk gets a bit too Wikipedia-ish. We really don’t need to know the names of everybody’s record label, for example. The backup musicians (Chip Fabrizi on drums, Zak Gross on guitar and vocals, John Loehrke on bass) are absolutely in sync with the vocals.
The largely chronological progression of numbers offers up uncanny sound-alikes. Close your eyes and you’d swear it was the Ink Spots singing “Someone’s Rocking My Dreamboat” (Leon Rene, Emerson Scott, Otis Rene). Or Paula Kelly and the Modernaires performing “It’s a Lonesome Old Town” (Charles Kisco, Harry Tobias). While some of the groups, such as the Modernaires and the Pied Pipers, came out of Big Bands, the central emphasis here seems to be on post-War, pre-rock pop of the sort promulgated by the McGuire Sisters (“Picnic,” by George Duning and Steve Allen) and the Four Aces (“Tell Me Why,” by Marty Gold and Al Alberts).
About half-way through the program it occurs to you that every song so far, whether famous or obscure, has been sung in its entirety—no snippets, no medleys, no mash-ups. But just then, comes the muddled middle of the show, with unbilled numbers popping up: the Chordettes’ “Mr. Sandman”; two oddly separated songs by the five DeMarco Sisters (singing four-part harmony), including their memorable “Teach Me Tonight”; and most egregiously, a mere duo, Patience and Prudence’s 1956 bubble-gummer, “Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now.”
But things settle back down in the 1958-forward portion of the show, with sensible choices and full-on versions, properly set up. Solos aren’t the point here, but Paul Kropfl must be cited for his lead vocal on both Dion and the Belmonts’ “I Wonder Why” (Melvin Anderson, Ricardo Weeks) and the Fleetwoods’ haunting “Mr. Blue” (Dwayne Blackwell). The Beatles (Lennon & McCarney’s “In My Life”) and the Beach Boys (“I Get Around,” by Brian Wilson and Mike Love) are at the center of the 1960s segment, as well they should be. But only one black girl group makes the cut: The Chiffons, with “One Fine Day” (Gerry Goffin, Carole King). And the 1970s get really short shrift, with only the Arbors’ a cappella version of “The Windmills of Your Mind” (Michel Legrand, Alan & Marilyn Bergman, from The Thomas Crown Affair) and the BeeGees’ “Too Much Heaven” (Barry Gibb). The 1980s and ’90s get nothing at all. “Cow-Cow Boogie” (Don Raye, Benny Carter, Gene DePaul, from the 1943 movie Reveille with Beverly) seems a quixotic choice for an encore, given that the hit recording was by the very solo artist Ella Mae Morse—albeit abetted by a key clinking against a glass ashtray. (Yes, I know that Ella Fitzgerald recorded it, backed by the Ink Spots, but that wasn’t the inspiration for this version.)
One can lament the exclusion of such groups as Crosby, Stills and Nash, the Mamas and the Papas, or the Jackson Five. And I suppose the Statler Brothers were beyond consideration, since country groups are virtually absent here, save the Sons of the Pioneers with their crossover smash, “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” (Bob Nolan). I’d lose the show’s choreography altogether, especially on this tiny stage—nobody went to see the Andrews Sisters dance. And a fashion consultant would not be amiss. But, again, the vocals are, well, peerless.
About the Author
Robert Windeler is the author of 18 books, including biographies of Mary Pickford, Julie Andrews, Shirley Temple, and Burt Lancaster. As a West Coast correspondent for The New York Times and Time magazine, he covered movies, television and music, and he was an arts and entertainment critic for National Public Radio. He has contributed to a variety of other publications, including TV Guide, Architectural Digest, The Sondheim Review, and People, for which he wrote 35 cover stories. He is a graduate of Duke University in English literature and holds a masters in journalism from Columbia, where he studied critical writing with Judith Crist. He has been a theatre critic for Back Stage since 1999, writes reviews for BistroAwards.com, and is a member of The Players and the American Theatre Critics Association.