Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers and Hammerstein

AMG Review of Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers and Hammerstein

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

Bernadette Peters marks the Richard Rodgers centennial with this collection of songs, all but one of which were written with Rodgers' second major lyric partner, Oscar Hammerstein II. (The exception is the album-closing "Something Good," written for the film adaptation of The Sound of Music, for which Rodgers wrote his own lyrics since Hammerstein had died.) The song selection combines some of the songwriting team's biggest hits, "If You Loved Me" and "You'll Never Walk Alone" from Carousel, "It Might as Well Be Spring" from State Fair, "So Far" from Allegro, and "Some Enchanted Evening" from South Pacific, with some lesser known compositions. Peters takes delight in digging up worthy songs that have not gotten much exposure, such as "I Haven't Got a Worry in the World," written for Anita Loos' successful 1946 play Happy Birthday, which Rodgers & Hammerstein produced. She also looks for ways to recast songs that are well known. For example, in selecting from South Pacific, she ignores the songs you might have expected her to sing, "A Wonderful Guy" and "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair," and instead takes on two songs not sung by the show's female lead, "Some Enchanted Evening," which is the big ballad number for the male lead, and, even more unusual, "There Is Nothin' Like a Dame," a song written for a chorus of bawdy sailors. Singing in the second person, she makes the latter a tribute to female superiority. Although Peters is an accomplished Broadway star, this is very much a song album; arranger Jonathan Tunick creates calm, understated settings, and Peters sings in a conversational manner. The album might have benefited from having more contrasting moods, but it makes for a warm, inviting celebration of its composer's 100th birthday.