OK, I went to see "Primo" tonight (which was great) and in the Playbill was a flyer for "In My Life" which said "Be the first to hear IN MY LIFE with a FREE CD Sampler, available in the back of the theatre following the performance." Not sure the connection between an extremely serious one man show about Primo Levi surviving the Nazis at Aushwitz, and a musical about a contemporary relationship between a person with Tourette's Syndrome and one with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, but, um....... whatever ................
So I just got home and am playing the three songs now. The CD doesn't mention who the singers are. The title track isn't bad -- a more or less decent middle of the road pop ballad sung by a female singer with a nice voice. Not a great song, but not a bad one.
But then, the next two songs are ..... wow. Easily the most cliched, awkward, embarassingly crafted lyrics I've heard since "BKLYN," paired with two very pallid and generic melodies.
"I Am My Mother's Son" is a country-flavored ballad sung by a male singer that is simply dripping with earnestness and facile sentimentality. I just can't imagine how this song could ever be effective in a book show.
And then the CD ends with "Life Turns On A Dime." Yet ANOTHER syrupy, cliched ballad. The title phrase is invoked throughout and there is an endless assortment of tortured rhymes and awkward phrasing that basically had me sitting her with my jaw dropped, speechless after the first verse. Terrible.
All three songs strike me as third rate Debbie Boone album filler, which might have worked in 1978 or something at the height of her "You Light Up My Life" (which writer/composer/director wrote) fame, but now just sounds like lame, out of touch, pathetic and utterly forgettable Muzak.
This sampler confirmed my worst fears about this show. I'll most certainly be there to see what ends up on the stage at the end of September.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney