Search - Various Artists - Soundtracks :: Tintypes: The Original Broadway Cast (1981)

Just right

F. Behrens | Keene, NH USA | 09/18/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A friend of mine lent me a boxful of old Broadway LPs that I wanted to transfer to cassettes and one of them was an absolute stunner. I had somehow let the original production of pass me by about three decades ago and I am delighted to tell one and sundry it is now available on a CD released by DRG (5196). It is basically a review that tells the story of the immigrant experience through the songs of the time: "The Yankee Doodle Boy," "I Don't Care," "In My Merry Oldsmobile," "I Want What I Want When I Want It," and others, some very familiar and some not so. They are arranged in sequences such as "Arrivals," "Ingenuity and Inventions," "The Factory," "Rich and Poor." Always light-hearted, "Tintypes" merely mentions the good times and especially the rough ones without commenting upon them with a sledgehammer. The lyrics tell it all. A game cast--Carolyn Mignini, Lynne Thigpen, Trey Wilson, Mary Catherine Wright, and Jerry Zaks--speaks some lines and sings the songs as arranged by Mel Marvin with spirit and occasionally a European accent:. This is exactly the kind of material I always claim should be in the hands of imaginative teachers who want to bring to life the essence of the times they are teaching to classes out of sterile textbooks. But this DRG set is highly recommended to you all. And just think: if it were not for the people depicted in this wonderful little show, which of us would be here to read this review urging your to get a copy for yourself and several as perfect gifts for any occasion?"

Un heard of

F. Behrens | 10/05/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Tintypes is a revue. It's a celebration of turn-of-the-last- century-America, Americana. Americana is celebrated by all the many aspects of immigration, integration and inspiration. The linking strand is America.
The poor, the rich and the political classes are all given their say.
This is a musical that , like so many Broadway successes, benefits from interpretation. TINTYPES is wrapped firmly in the American flag but can be shown as a struggle.
Just as LES MIS., WEST SIDE.., etc. tell the tale of the under-class - so does Tintypes.
Musically it holds some of the best Broadway numbers. Ironically it holds these numbers in context, which is better than leaving them hanging in a void of nonsense."