When I saw The Fix at the Donmar I felt that the score was the show's weakest attribute. Having lived with the score courtesy of First Night's recording I am somewhat more impressed by the work of John Dempsey and Dana P. Rowe but remain concerned by the absence of a coherent style, bouncing from hard rock to gospel to country to vaudeville. Mind you, it must be said that each different style is handled with aplomb and when you take into account the performances from a superb cast, The Fix is a worthy addition to any collection of cast recordings.
John Barrowman is the first member of the accomplished cast that we are introduced to thanks to the opening number "One, Two, Three", a rocker that sounds like something from the score of Tommy. Barrowman gets more of a chance to shine with the powerful "I See The Future" and the bittersweet ballad "Child's Play". He also has the opportunity to display his versatility alongside David Firth on the soft shoe shuffle "Control". Mr. Firth who had a rather small part nevertheless contributed substantially to the live show and repeats that feat here. His vaudeville double act with Philip Quast, "Two Guys At Harvard", as cynical a song as I have ever heard ('Two guys at Harvard, Met With a dame, who wanted the cute one, but dated the lame, two guys at Harvard, flirting with death, picture Cain and Abel, courting Lady Macbeth') is as entertaining on record as it was live.
And that neatly brings me on to Mr. Quast. At the Donmar in the tragic role of the crippled uncle, used by his brother, rejected by his sister-in-law, he brought the production to life every time he took the stage and his recorded contributions are just as impressive. Moments of black humour and angst ridden pieces sit side by side, witness "Embrace Tomorrow", "Upper Hand", "Simple Words", and the score's most powerful and memorable song, "First Came Mercy" where Quast's character lays his life bare ('And it's a journey all too quick, from the Golden Boy to the old and sick, from the luminary to the lunatic') once again displaying that Dempsey's lyrics are stronger than the music they are set to. Add in several enjoyable numbers from the cast's leading ladies Kathyrn Evans and the very impressive Krysten Cummings and the country stomper "The Ballad of Bobby 'Cracker' Barrel" and it all begins to add up to an enjoyable score. Not a great cast recording but an enjoyable one just the same. The Fix is released, immaculately packaged, by First Night Records on Cast CD62.
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