Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... only if you typically appreciate Cliff Eidelman's predictably soothing character scores of the 1990's. Avoid it... if you have no patience for predictable orchestral romance scores, despite this one's attempt to infuse some unique Eastern European character into its constructs. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
The Beautician and the Beast: (Cliff Eidelman) In something of an unintended parody of The Sound of Music, The Beautician and the Beast is a romantic fantasy which revolves around the outlandish premise that a hairdresser in New York could accidentally be confused as a tutor for the children of a foreign dictator, and of course, the unlikely love that spawns in that situation. Any charm that the film might have hoped to convey is nearly shattered by the comical dialect of Fran Drescher, whose voice becomes so intolerable by the end of the film that it is difficult to hear the music behind it. With the film debuting as a complete failure, one of the few bright aspects about The Beautician and the Beast is its score by Cliff Eidelman. For that music, the filmmakers chose to mix a few traditional Eastern European, classical and choral pieces with the talents of Eidelman, whose career was starting to look upward again at the time. Aside from The Beautician and the Beast, which gave him the opportunity to go to Britain to record with the London Metropolitan Orchestra, Eidelman would also produce an impressive score for the third installment of the Free Willy series that same year. Little at the time indicated that The Beautician and the Beast would be the last boisterous score from Eidelman for several years, with a career-dooming period of inactivity to ensue thereafter. Eidelman's task was to reflect two separate worlds colliding for this film. The primary setting of the film is the fictional Eastern European country of Slovetzia, led by a perpetually angry former-007, Timothy Dalton. Eidelman decided to bypass any New York influence in the score (no silly urban jazz rhythms to distract from the tone of the film) and concentrate on forming a score with a foundation built on European waltz rhythms. The majority of cues, whether in robust performances or simple underscore, have a hint of waltz-like movement, faintly referencing Russian progressions and occasionally pulling a few measures from Tchaikowsky. The consistency of this choice remains strong throughout the score, with a pompous and almost comedic title theme of romance fitting naturally with the spirit of a waltz. The primary theme prances along with character and spirit, much like Drescher's character in the film, and shares many structural similarities to his title theme for Free Willy 3: The Rescue. Just as Drescher's obnoxious voice can cause an ill mood in the film, the title theme gets old rather quickly, playing too hard to the romantic comedy side of the emotional scale while trying to maintain the rhythms of the waltz. It will test the patience of anyone who can't sit through an entire Rachel Portman score. The only performance of the title theme that breaks loose with a less constraining rhythm exists in the final marriage cue at the end. This makes sense, given Drescher's growing influence over the dictator, and the prevailing of romance over tradition. The other most memorable cues from the film are actually the two traditional pieces contained on the album (neither composed by Eidelman), though Eidelman's original score fits very snugly with those classical tracks and thus no awkward transitions break the flow. A secondary theme for the family of the dictator isn't particularly well articulated, though an idea representing the title couple's friction receives satisfactory development on low strings in "You Are a Beast." The only remaining highlights of the score for The Beautician and the Beast, although short in length, are many of the more sensitive cues composed for conversational scenes during the second half of the film. As Drescher's true occupation is revealed and Dalton tries to decide what to do about their growing affections despite this crisis, Eidelman inserts a few very touching variations of his themes. They aren't remarkable in the larger scope of film music, but cues such "Cinderella's Confession" and "Going Away" provide some of the sincere emotion that fans of Eidelman have become accustomed to hearing over the years. The album was a rare partnership between Eidelman and the Milan label, and the product quickly vanished from record stores as the film failed miserably in theatres. Now reduced to an occasional find on the secondary market, the album for The Beautician and the Beast contains only 26 minutes of actual original score composed by Eidelman (which is a typical length for most of his works on album during the 1990's). Of that 26 minutes, which are divided into cues no longer than 2:20 minutes, roughly five minutes are remarkable. The concluding "The Prince and the Princess" is easily the high point. The rest will be pleasant to the ears of Eidelman's fans, and some might even find it a refreshing change from the often somber tone of many of Eidelman's scores of the period, but it still won't generate much spark or enthusiasm. *** Track Listings:
Total Time: 30:55
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