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Review of Anastasia (Stephen Flaherty/David Newman)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you became disillusioned with the later 1990's
musicals by Disney and Alan Menken and your love of the genre sends you
in search of an intelligent and entertaining alternative.
Avoid it... if you are interested in the commercial album for Anastasia solely for David Newman's score, which is relegated to a small corner of the product amongst an abundance of unnecessary pop song recordings.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Anastasia: (Stephen Flaherty/David Newman) At a
time when Disney's domination over the animated musical was coming to an
end, Twentieth Century Fox put forth one valiant effort to steal the
genre away. And while the two-dimensional animation genre was in its
dying days, Fox managed to do exactly that. Disney had concluded its
long run of success with composer Alan Menken after an absolutely
hideous entry in Hercules earlier in 1997, and the stage was set
for another studio to take some of the action. Despite critical praise
and a handful of major awards nominations for its music,
Anastasia only grossed $58 million at the box office, and the
marketability of 2-D musical animations seemed lost to the more visually
spectacular, non-musical efforts by Pixar. Compared to its predecessors,
the animation in Anastasia was quite decent, and with a
compelling story and direction from animation veteran Don Bluth, the
film merits attention from genre fans. Strong cast performances from
mainstream actors Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Angela
Lansbury, and Christopher Lloyd, among others, were another highlight.
In the six cast songs written by Stephen Flaherty (with lyrics by Lynn
Ahrens), however, only half of the cast was allowed to perform its on
vocals, creating discrepancy in the film itself. The team of Flaherty
and Ahrens was best known at the time for their collaboration for the
Broadway show Ragtime, and the spirit of the songs thus strays
far closer to the sensibilities of a Broadway production rather than the
classicism with which Alan Menken had defined the genre through the
decade. Unlike the Menken musicals, Flaherty would not write the score
for Anastasia, and despite some hope that Bluth would reunite
with composer James Horner for the endeavor (in which case, he probably
would have written his own songs anyway), Fox would hire David Newman
for the task. Newman had already been mired for years in projects
beneath his talents, and despite having the ability to maintain careers
like those of his relatives Thomas, Randy, and Alfred, Anastasia
failed to snap him out of his rut and he still writes music for
ridiculously dumb comedies ten years later.
The six cast songs by Flaherty for Anastasia are satisfyingly contemporary while maintaining enough Russian spirit to address the story of the legendary princess. The appropriately Russian "A Rumor in St. Petersburg" introduces all the major elements of the story with clever rotations between the town's characters. Obnoxious in parts, the song does what is necessary, and it'll be a distant memory once you get to the following ballad and waltz. The songs "Journey to the Past" and "Once Upon a December" both feature the vocals of Liz Callaway, and their appeal as the "leading lady's songs" are equally attractive. The first song is the hopeful and energetic major-key representation of the entire film, wrapping the story together with the necessary positive spirit. The second one is the haunting melody in a waltz rhythm meant to address the sadness of Anya's loss. While "Journey to the Past" is reprised in two pop songs and is conveyed victoriously at the conclusion of Newman's score, it is "Once Upon a December" that better tells the film's story. Appearing in short vocal reprises throughout the score, this song is the connecting element between Anya and her lost grandmother, and the Russian sensibilities of the waltz are far more interesting than the rather straight-forward ballad. The villain's song for Rasputin isn't particularly popular, and some may even wish that Christopher Lloyd had attempted his own vocals. Yet, the deep male vocals paired with high female ghost hauntings are very creative, and outstanding lyrics and a fine balance between the Russian doom and gloom and the slight comedy needed for the genre is decently accomplished. The bass region is well treated in this song, too. The two outright comedy songs are the weaknesses of the album, though "Learn to Do It" once again offers impressive lyrics and alternating banter. Bernadette Peters' performances in "Paris Holds the Key" are the worst that Broadway can carry over from Flaherty, however. Fox chose to saturate the end credits sequence (and, of course, the album) with pop variants of two of Flaherty's cast songs, as well as one written specifically for the purpose of light rock. The unique entry is the tolerable "At the Beginning," which seems to have been meant to be the centerpiece of the pop songs but was overshadowed in popularity by the cast song adaptations. For soundtrack collectors, the song "At the Beginning" is interesting in that it included contributions by two composers still on the rise, including piano performances by Anne Dudley and string arrangements by Aaron Zigman, for whom it would be another ten years before his name would be widely known. Both of the songs "Journey to the Past" and "Once Upon a December" would be nominated for Golden Globes, with the former also receiving an Oscar nomination. The pop version of "Once Upon a December" is the highlight of all the songs, despite the somewhat lazy vocal rendering. The album's most irritating and baffling track is the Spanish-language variant of "Journey to the Past." If the producers of the album wanted a version of one of the songs in a different language, would it not have made sense to record a Russian cover rendition? What about the story of Anastasia says "Latino?" Not a damn thing, and the album loses a star in its rating simply for this trashy attempt by Fox to expand their marketing capability to the Latino market when it flies in the face of all artistic logic. Instead of this ridiculous song, perhaps a few more minutes of David Newman's score would have made more sense. His material is limited to 23 minutes on the commercial album, leaving some interesting portions unreleased. Newman remarkably adapts the "Journey to the Past" and "Once Upon a December" themes into his material, which alone is fully orchestral with elegant choral accompaniment. He does his best to extend the mysticism of the story into his music, and the choral highlights in the final two score tracks are the best on the album. Not much of Newman's own stylistic voice is to be heard outside of some of the brass-led crescendos heard in the first and last minutes of the score. The last moments of "Finale" feature a monumental, glorious Newman-style eruption that will remind of the finales to Bowfinger and Galaxy Quest. Overall, however, there is really too little score to be satisfied, and the infusion of four pops into the mix by Fox and Atlantic is unforgivable. So much about the production is praise-worthy, and yet the presentation on album leaves much to be desired. Even Disney fell into this trap in its waning days atop of the genre. With all its strengths, Anastasia deserves better. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 57:13
(total and track times not listed on packaging)
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert contains lyrics for each song and extensive credits, but no extra
information about the film or score. At the time of its release, the packaging for the
album emitted a terrible odor, merging the sickening aroma of glue, plastic, and foul
body stink.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Anastasia are Copyright © 1997, Atlantic Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 10/28/97 and last updated 2/17/08. |
