Sondheim Etc., Etc.

Album Review

At the conclusion of a review of what can now be considered the first volume of recordings from Bernadette Peters' December 1996 concert at Carnegie Hall, released in 1997, All Music Guide wrote, "Performed before a wildly enthusiastic audience, Sondheim, Etc. is a triumphant debut worthy of an encore." The reviewer (the same one writing now) was making reference to the concert's being, technically, Peters' first as such, albeit preceded by decades of work on the musical stage. And she followed it up with appearances in concert halls around the country and overseas, while maintaining her career in musical theater. But it seems that Sondheim, Etc. was worthy of an encore in more ways than one, as this release demonstrates. It "contains all the music and dialogue that was not on the initial release," and that turns out to be another 52 and a half minutes to add to the initial 71. Inevitably, "The Rest of It," as the subtitle puts it, is not as impressive as the first disc, as might be expected since this is what Peters chose to leave out before. But it also gives a better sense of what the show was like as a whole, not only because it begins with an overture, but also because more of Peters' bubbly personality is on display, whether she is singing "We're in the Money" in pig Latin, joking about her physical endowment, or playfully evoking her Carnegie Hall predecessor, Judy Garland, before borrowing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" for a closer. And typical of a collection consisting of the rest instead of the best, there are buried gems and rarities, the most notable of which is a previously unperformed Stephen Sondheim song, "(They Ask Me Why) I Believe in You." Unlike its predecessor, this album is more "Etc." than Sondheim, with only five compositions by the man who wrote songs in Sunday in the Park with George and Into the Woods for Peters, but one of them is "Children Will Listen," which she sang in Into the Woods. And another of her career songs to be included is "Unexpected Song" from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Words and Music, the show, as she points out, that won her her first Tony Award. So, the collection is not devoid of Peters' hits, either.