Sondheim voices his feelings

“Sondheim Sings: Vol. 1, 1962-72”

Stephen Sondheim (PS Classics)

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Through words and music, Stephen Sondheim works out the rhyme, if not always the reason, of human behavior. A collection of private demo recordings lets us get inside his mind.

This sampling, the first of three planned releases of vintage demos, begins with material from “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” and continues through “Anyone Can Whistle,” “Company,” “Follies” and “A Little Night Music.” It also includes songs for a couple of projects that even devoted Sondheimians might not know about.

The material comes from the 75-year-old lyricist-composer’s breakthrough years, when he was in his 30s and early 40s. Some was written for such shows as “Company” and “Follies” but cut before reaching Broadway. Others became theater standards, though with lyrics that were subtly and tellingly tweaked after these recordings. Accompanying himself on piano, Sondheim sings 19 tunes.

A baritone with limited range, he tends to slide off pitch or howl his way toward high notes. Emotions, though, come through pitch-perfectly. The hopeful lyrics for “Multitudes of Amys,” cut from “Company,” are sung with breathless enthusiasm -- tinged with the faintest hint of entrapment -- as the bachelor Bobby envisions “avenues of Amys / officefuls of Amys / everywhere I go.” Conversely, Sondheim conveys wholehearted desire in Sally’s immortal torch song “Losing My Mind,” from “Follies,” by letting his voice trail off at the ends of phrases, as though lost in daydreams.

After recording the latter, Sondheim, so precise in his choice of words, made a single revision to the lyrics. He changed “I love you so” -- a bit too on the nose, too desperate -- to “I want you so,” which manages to be more cloaked even as it suggests a still greater sense of yearning.

That’s what’s going on in his mind, and it’s pretty revealing.

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Buoyant acolytes of the put-on

“Altar Boyz”

Original off-Broadway cast

(Sh-K-Boom Records)

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Five voices, twined in resonant harmony, sing: “We are the Altar Boyz! / We know that God is where it’s at / We are the Altar Boyz! / Because we think he’s real phat.”

Meet Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan and Abraham, apostles of boy-band-style Christian pop. At a mock concert that has developed a faithful following off-Broadway, the Boyz evangelize in high-energy numbers that invite everyone to share the love.

As portrayed, respectively, by Scott Porter, Tyler Maynard, Andy Karl, Ryan Duncan and David Josefsberg, the singers are earnest to a fault and exuberant in the extreme, blissfully unaware that their soulful syrup of sound is, like, so five years ago.

Though delivered in all seriousness, the songs, by Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker, are rife with multiple meanings. Gushy with romance, the abstinence ballad “Something About You” declares, “Girl, you make me wanna wait.” And one singer claims to have heeded “The Calling” to a religious life after “Jesus called me on my cellphone.”

Devilish? Perhaps. But not mean. Indeed, the music is so irresistible -- especially the song with the hook “God put the rhythm in me” -- that you may find yourself singing along. And after that, heaven help you.

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Going overboard with restraint

“The Woman in White”

Original cast recording

(EMI Classics)

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Perhaps to atone for foisting “Cats” and “Starlight Express” on us, Andrew Lloyd Webber keeps trying to write serious music. His flirtation with opera, so popular in “The Phantom of the Opera,” continues in his latest effort, based on a Victorian suspense novel by Wilkie Collins.

Recorded live at its September 2004 opening in London, the show -- expected to reach Broadway this year -- has been released on two discs, with audience reaction edited out.

Aria-like passages emerge from the recitative and recede again, with fewer than usual Lloyd Webber showstoppers exploding showily from the score. Such restraint is admirable, but the resulting music is unvaried and dull.

The score begins with a hum of eerie dissonance as a young man (Martin Crewes) arrives in northern England to serve as art instructor to wealthy half-sisters (Maria Friedman and Jill Paice).

Before he can reach their home, though, a woman in white (Angela Christian) emerges from the darkness, singing about a secret.

Around David Zippel’s lyrics, Lloyd Webber wraps buttoned-up Victorian-sounding melodies. When the occasional catchy tune emerges, it already seems familiar. Haven’t we heard that love duet (“I Believe My Heart”) before? In “Phantom,” it goes by the title “All I Ask of You.”

Michael Crawford’s silky bel canto has been outfitted with an Italian accent to play the opportunistic Count Fosco -- alternately sly, randy and conspiratorial.

His big number, late in the second act, is the humorous “You Can Get Away With Anything,” which sounds rather like a number from a comic opera.

It’s fun, but Mozart it ain’t.

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