Louise Pitre, who was the original Donna in the original Toronto and Broadway casts of “Mamma Mia!” is back with a new show, this time drawing inspiration from the World War II era. The musical, “Could You Wait?” is a show near and dear to Louise’s heart because it affords her a rare opportunity to work with her husband, Joe Matheson. Together with Diane Leah on piano, the trio have crafted a touching story about finding love and being separated by war and posing the question if the pair could wait for each other.

The show showcases the awkwardness of the initial stages of courtship and how long distance relationships can build via correspondence. Each deals with the awkwardness of what to say and what not to say as each letter exchange occurs before ultimately deciding to wait for each other, despite the concerns of their respective parents. The story gets told through the use of actual World War II era songs along with five songs written especially for the show that fit seamlessly into the show as if they could have been hit songs from the era.

The show hasn’t been seen outside of Ontario, yet. But the cast recording is available and it’s a welcome addition to my collection. Mamma Mia! introduced me to Louise Pitre’s wonderful voice, but it was her albums that made me a fan. So when I found out about this cast album, it was a no brainer, and I had to order it, no matter the cost. And the total cost ended up being about $30 US, but worth every penny. Louise and Joe sing brilliantly together and the songs are excellent showcases for their voices. I bet the show the was spectacular to see too. I hope they get the chance to introduce more audiences to it.

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Between the Australian films, “The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert” and “Muriel’s Wedding” helping to usher in a revival of attention to ABBA and their music, it seems that ABBA’s stage musical, “Mamma Mia!” has helped usher in what has been dubbed the era of the “Pop-sical” a musical based on established Pop music catalogues. While a lot of musicals based on bands and movies have been short lived, some such as “Hairspray” have gone onto success in both stage and movie form. In truth, a stage musical based on “The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert” has more in kin with “Hairspray” than it does with “Mamma Mia!” in that both Priscilla and Hairspray are the musical adaptions of films, it’s that Priscilla’s film actually has several key references to ABBA.

No doubt due to the fact that ABBA’s catalogue has now been transformed into a successful musical in it’s own right, the powers that be didn’t want to dilute that success by allowing the makers of “Priscilla” the opportunity to use ABBA songs once again in it’s new stage version. In a way it’s kind of sad, but as they say, challenges tend to be the mother of creativity and not to be deterred, the stage musical has adapted in a way to weed out the ABBA references and incorporate a lot of other music not originally tied to the film. (more…)

During the week of March 11-18th, iTunes USA was offering Mercy by Duffy as it’s “Single Of The Week” as a free download. While I’ve not been very impressed by the other free songs of the week I’ve downloaded in the past, this one just knocked my socks off. Comes to find out this song has been a chart topper in the UK which is probably why I liked it so much. My musical tastes have always been more in line with European musical tastes than American.

I thought this song has a great retro-feel with its beat feeling very 60’s-ish. Duffy’s voice sounds a bit of a cross between Dusty Springfield and Tina Turner to me. (I think the song has a big “River Deep, Mountain High” sound to it. I’ve heard others compare Duffy’s voice to Amy Winehouse (I don’t agree because I can’t stand Amy Winehouse), and Dolly Parton (I love Dolly but don’t really hear that comparison.) The video can be seen at Amazon’s UK site and it’s well worth the look.

Well the song has definitely left me wanting more, but ridiculously the album isn’t available here in the USA until May 13, 2008. That’s just too long to wait, especially since the album is available now in the UK. So I ordered it from the UK, and it’ll be here next week sometime. I can’t wait to hear the rest of the album. If you want to pick up Duffy’s “Rockferry” album you can get it here from Amazon UK or if you want to save a few bucks you can wait until the US release on May 13th, you can pre-order it now at Amazon US. I for one am not waiting for the US release!

How many exclusive bonus tracks is enough? Dolly Parton’s latest album, “Backwoods Barbie” For Dolly’s first “mainstream” country album in well over a decade, she’s back with a vengence, and she’s after her fans wallets in ways only topped by Garth Brooks who’s so ego driven to outsell the Beatles and Elvis Presley that he releases all albums with mutiple discs, multiple covers, and several other tactics to get his diehard fans to purchase several copies of the same album or box set. Apparently he can’t do it on talent, so he has to employ clever marketing tricks, too bad Prince beat him to the idea of selling a CD as part of a concert ticket package, and that methodology has been ruled out not to count ever again for album sales.

Anyway, back to Dolly, what’s a loyal fan to do? (more…)