1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

All I can say is (and don't ask me how I know this), the libretto's a mess but the score...wow!

What are other people's opinions?

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Updated On: 9/25/08 at 09:05 AM

I personally hear no rubbish songs. What are these rubbish songs?

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I think it is absolutely 100% brilliant. I listen to the score often and I love every song. Ken Howard and Particia Routledge are fantastic. Too bad it didn't have a longer run and was not given an official OBCR.

I love this score a lot! Routledge and Howard were both so wonderful. The President Jefferson Sunday Luncheon Party March often gets stuck in my head for hours.

The First Lady of the Land is a showstopper to be reckonded with. The way Routledge changes her voice between Grant and Hayes is so funny.

The book is a bit of a mess. It comes across as too episodic, even though there are supposed to be common themes holding the whole piece together. Unfortunately these themes aren't brought out enough to be the glue to keep the show from falling apart. Still, this doesn't take away from the wonderful score.

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That's not an OBCR. It is a soundboard/bootleg recording.

Edit: If I'm not mistaken Bernstein specifically forbid the recording of the show because the experience left such a bad taste in his mouth. What a shame.

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Updated On: 9/25/08 at 09:58 AM

Yeah, it's really too bad that Howard and Routledge didn't get the chance to properly record their performances. The only official release of the score is a CD called The White House Cantata. It is an abridged version of the score, and the performances are only so so.

I guess we are going to have to wait for some sort of complete studio album to come out. I actually think Ebersole would be an interesting choice for the Routledge role. In Grey Gardens when she sings Around the World she instantly goes from yelling, "I'll shove you under the goddamn bed!!" to beautifully singing, "Around the world...". It also reminds me of Routledge changing from the crass Julia Grant to the smooth-toned Lucy Hayes.

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Updated On: 9/25/08 at 10:12 AM

I was actually lucky enough to see 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue at the National Theatre in DC prior to its (short) Broadway run. I agree the book was not great but the score was so good I really enjoyed it. My fav song is "Seena".

There IS a recording of a large chunk of the score - a studio recording with the London Symphony Orchestra under the title "White House Cantata" with Thomas Hampson and June Anderson singing the leads. It's available on Amazon.

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The Bernstein estate had Indiana University do a remounting of this show back in 1992. It even played the Kennedy Center. Erik Haagensen (a Lerner expert), directed the show and restored the original concept of putting on a play where the actors break from scenes to comment on them. Those songs would be accompanied only by piano (like a rehearsal) and the White House/staff scenes would all be with orchestra. I was in it. It was pretty cool and the music, mostly is amazing. The book, even with the fixes, was still too preachy and the Bernstein estate (after one more try in the mid-90's), let the score be turned into the White House Cantata.
I agree the score deserved a better recording, with amazing theatre singers vs. opera singers. Brian Stokes Mitchell as Lud, Audra McDonald as Seena, Judy Kaye as the First Lady (who, by the way, did record "Duet for one" on Broadway Showstoppers EMI. wouldn't they have sounded great?!
Alas, the Bernstein estate will not let this be presented any other way now.

"Judy Kaye as the First Lady (who, by the way, did record "Duet for one" on Broadway Showstoppers EMI."

Judy also sings a lovely "Take Care of This House" on her "Where, Oh Where" CD.

At the "Bernstein's Broadway" concert in Chicago in 2007, they did three selections from the show -- Judy again sang "Take Care of This House," a boy soprano (it was a two night concert, with different boys each night) sang "If I Was a Dove," and Brian d'Arcy James sang "Ten Square Miles by the Potomac River" with the chorus. I loved every second of it (well, maybe not some of the notes the boy hit, but hearing a few selections of the score live? Fantastic.).

I've only heard the White House Cantata and so don't have anything to compare it to and, whilst the opera singers may be wooden, the music is so extraordinary I have out-of-body experiences listening it.

I actually saw it & thought it was OK.

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Did any clips of this show ever leak anywhere?

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Matt, funny you should mention that. The first time I ever heard the song was actually on the 2001 Kennedy Center Honors. It was only three months after 9/11 and Renee Fleming closed the evening with a moving rendition of "Take Care of This House." I wonder if the president was listening...

Warren Hoge, of the NY Times, was a part of the post show discussion after the NY premiere of the "Cantata." He was assigned by the Times to cover the out of town exploits of the show for its out of town tryouts and into NY. His admiration for the score is unending. He mentioned that when he was in Washington at a function with President Reagan, he told the him about the show and the song. And Mr. Reagan asked him to sing it for him - and he did right then and there at the table.

~Kev