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ON THE RECORD: Adding Machine and Kerry Butler's "Faith, Trust & Pixie Dust"
By Steven Suskin
09 Jun 2008
KERRY BUTLER: FAITH, TRUST & PIXIE DUST [PS Classics PS-862]
Kerry Butler burst into notice in 2001 as Shelley in Bat Boy. (She had originated Belle in the Toronto Beauty and the Beast, in 1995, and done a stint at the Palace in the same role, but that did not quite capture our attention.) Bat Boy let us know that we had a quirky new ingénue with talent and character. This was followed by a similarly delightful appearance as Penny Pingleton, friend-to-the-heroine in Hairspray. Next up was Audrey in the Broadway premiere of Little Shop of Horrors, in 2003, and since last July Butler has been profitably employed skating around the Helen Hayes in Xanadu, with a Tony Award nomination for her efforts.
Ms. Butler has now brought forth her first solo album, "Faith, Trust & Pixie Dust." A collection of Disney songs, it is; Butler is a self-described "Disney geek," whatever that might connote. While Disney songs might not be especially high on the list of most listeners of theatre music, this CD is plenty enjoyable enough for Butler's theatre fans; and as anyone who has been to Orlando in the last 20 years might agree, there is a huge potential audience out there. (If PS Classics can get this CD into a tenth of all those gift shops at the East and West Coast theme parks, they will presumably outsell anything in their impressive catalog.)
The 13 selections point to the enormous range of Disneyanna; there are only three obvious choices included, and a number of songs I have never heard. Alan Menken, whose songs Butler sang in Beauty and the Beast and Little Shop, has four contributions, including two rarities. "This Only Happens in the Movies" was written for an unproduced film, "Who Discovered Roger Rabbit?" while a cut song from "Aladdin" — "Call Me a Princess" — is quite lovely. Best of the tracks, perhaps, is "When You Wish Upon a Star" from "Pinocchio." (By coincidence or by design, Michael Kosarin's arrangement seems to pay homage to Cliff "Ukelele Ike" Edwards, who voiced Jiminy Cricket and thus introduced the song — sans ukulele — in 1940.) Kosarin's arrangements are generally inventive, although I find the up-tempo numbers to be far more effective. Supportive orchestrations come from Michael Starobin and Larry Hochman.
The album ends with a non-Disney item which nevertheless speaks to the heart of the subject, and might well be the most effective song of the bunch. "Disneyland" is not Disney; it comes from the ill-fated 1986 Marvin Hamlisch-Howard Ashman musical, Smile. Kerry Butler clearly believes in the power of Disney, and her rendition of "Disneyland" speaks well for all those dreams, hopes, faith, trust & pixie dust.
(Steven Suskin is author of "Second Act Trouble," "Show Tunes" and the "Opening Night on Broadway" books. Past On the Record columns are archived in the Features section of Playbill.com. Suskin can be reached at Ssuskin@aol.com)
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