Anna Karenina: The Broadway Musical

Performer: Melissa Errico & Co./Original Soundtrack/Melissa Errico
Engineer: Paul Benedetti; Lance McVickar; Dave Kowalski; Dan Levine; Frank Piazza; Paul Wycliffe; Dan Levine; Paul Benedetti; Paul Wyckliffe; Lance McVickar; Dave Kowalski; Mark Fraunfelder; Frank Piazza
Producer: Dan Levine; Dan Levine
Distributor: Allegro Corporation (Dist

Notes: Lyricist: Petter Paul Kellogg. Personnel: Melissa Errico (vocals); Marc Kudisch (vocals); Jeff McCarthy, Kerry Butler (vocals); Jayne Houdyshell, Michele McConnell, Duane McDevitt, Brian Charles Rooney, Tracy Schaal, Lee Zarrett, Marc Kudisch, Gregg Edelman, Ann Harvey, Brian d'Arcy James. Audio Mixers: Dan "D Unit" Levine; Paul Wyckliffe. Recording information: Bennett Studios, Englewood, NJ. Arranger: Dan Levine . Composer Dan Levine and lyricist/librettist Peter Kellogg's musical adaptation of Tolstoy's epic novel Anna Karenina spent less than six weeks on Broadway in 1992, and 14 years later the independent LML Music label gave the score its first recording in a studio cast version in which Gregg Edelman repeated his performance in the secondary role of Constantin Levin and Melissa Errico, who made her Broadway debut in the secondary role of Kitty Scherbatskaya, was promoted to the title role, replacing Ann Crumb. Levine, who served as producer, took the opportunity to revise the score for this recording, adding two songs, "I Shall Work" (for Edelman) and "I Never Dreamed" (a duet by Errico and the new Kitty, Kerry Butler), that were not heard on Broadway, and making other changes. But this remains a pedestrian adaptation in which the famous story of adultery in the Russian upper class of the late 19th century is set to music with a group of professional yet unexceptional theater songs. Errico, who has gone on to a career of starring roles on Broadway (a revival of My Fair Lady, High Society, Amour, Dracula), is an appealing Anna, and Brian d'Arcy James, stepping in for Scott Wentworth, handles the male lead, Alexis Vronsky, well. The standout performances, however, are by Edelman and Butler, as the secondary couple who end happily, unlike, of course, the title character. It is these performances that are worth noting in this premiere recording of Anna Karenina, not the score itself, which may help explain why the show was not a success on Broadway and did not earn a recording by its original cast. ~ William Ruhlmann

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