Whay were they thinking?

                                 What were they thinking?

        I was struck, while listening to the music coming from my wife's sewing room, by the fact that sometimes people with great voices choose to do material for which they are not suited. Examples: Little Richard should not do "You'll never Walk Alone" and Beverly Sills (who didn't) or Pat Boone (who did) should never have recorded  "Long Tall Sally." Similarly,  John Lee Hooker should avoid "Ave Maria", and Tony Bennett need not record  "Barracuda." I also have two examples of male singers, both excellent, one of which I feel,  is impeccable in choice of material, Josh Groban, and one who is a bit less so, Michael Buble.

        Buble sometimes strays into Beatles and Queen material which, while he has a great Sinatra like style, just isn't in his wheel house. His "Fly Me to The Moon" is superb, his "Can't buy Me Love", replacing the Beatles driving rock beat with a swing rhythm, isn't. I say all that as introduction to today's musical critique. I just listened to Josh Groban's new album "Stages." What Josh does is, as expected, flawless, as is the selection of material. Go get it, it's wonderful!

        What is puzzling, in an otherwise superb Broadway playlist, is the two duets which are included - "All I Ask of You, from "Phantom," and "If I Loved You," from "Carousel". Of the two, I vastly prefer the former musically as a matter of personal taste , but the producers in a moment of "who knows what?" decided that the perfect choice to sing the part of Christine would be Kelly Clarkson. While I actually like much of Kelly's own  material, the little semi-Reba/sobby catch in her diction, so quaint in country rock, just sounds really out of place. Ga Ga could have killed it, even Carrie Underwood might have gotten close, but Kelly's part just sounds  sappy. As all my musician friends know, just hitting the right notes is insufficient.

        On a much, much brighter note, the same producer, apparently anxious to atone for the former, chose the incredible, impeccable, multi-Tony winning Audra McDonald to pair with Groban for "If I Loved You." The result is simply gorgeous. Lesson for today, only Lady GaGa, Charlotte Church and a very select few others can cross genre's convincingly. As I write this, I think back to when Ed Sullivan would periodically attempt to bring culture to an audience which was far more attuned to, and preferred, the plate spinners, dog acts and talking mouse sock puppet. He would bring out aging former Metropolitan Opera star Helen Trauble, who would mangle a pop standard or two, take the check and leave to scattered applause. She was far worse than Ms. Clarkson, but the concept is similar.