Ricky Ian Gordon

I didn't know much about him beyond William Finn's mentioning him in the Ballad of Jack Eric Williams in "Elegies". But then in March I was privileged to attend a concert benefit of his musical "Dream True" at Cooper Union. I had never heard of the show but I guess it ran off-broadway in 1997 or 1999. I was absolutely blown away by the concert. Aside from the fact that it featured Brian D'Arcy James, Jeff McCarthy, Jason Danieley, Kelli O'Hara, Victoria Clark, Michael McElroy, and Jessica Molaskey (can you say dream cast) the music and lyrics in the show were fantastic and incredibly unique. His music, based off of that show, is quite melodic but very sophisticated. It reminded me a lot of William Finn's music actually. Can't comment on the recordings you mentioned but, as a fellow Finn groupie, I recommend Gordon highly.

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by the way, I love your nickname and signature quote! this thread has a deliciously high concentration of In Trousers signatures.

and for the record, the reason I went to the Dream True concert was because I thought there was a chance Finn would be there. he wasn't, but the incredible cast and music more than made up for it. also got to meet Mr. Gordon, director Tina Landau, and John Lithgow who was in the audience to visit D'Arcy and Kelli.

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Ricky Ian Gordon writes WONDERFUL music, but more challenging to sing than your average musical theatre piece.
I sang "A Horse With Wings" by Ricky Ian Gordon and without the proper classical training someone would sound just downright silly on it!

...paul