Product Description

The special Harry Connick Jr. release features two distinct albums, packaged in a unique slip case. One album will include the original cast recordings from the Tony nominated Broadway hit “Pajama Game” featuring duets with costar Kelli O'Hara. The second album will include new recordings with Kelli O'Hara from “Thou Shalt Not” featuring “Light In The Piazza.” All of these songs were written, arranged and orchestrated by Harry Connick, Jr. Other famous Broadway duets will also be featured on this release. This special package will be in stores for the Tony Award nomination announcements (5/16), in which Harry Connick Jr. and “Pajama Game” are expected to clean sweep all categories nominated for.

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This set sheds the spotlight on Harry Connick Jr.'s first two major musical-theater experiences. On disc 1, the cast-album recording of
The Pajama Game revival, his role is limited to that of singer. On disc 2, which includes songs from his own
Thou Shalt Not, he is composer, pianist, and interpreter. The revival of
The Pajama Game is all frothy fun and shows that Connick has what it takes to become a stage leading man. (He still sounds a little stiff at times, as in the spoken part of “Hey There” for instance.) Kelli O'Hara plays his love interest with spunky zest-appropriate, considering her part has been played by both Janis Paige and Doris Day-and it's hard to beat great tunes such as the aforementioned “Hey There,” “Her Is,” “Steam Heat” and “Hernando's Hideaway,” performed here in a jumping eight-minute version. Note that both the show and the recording include three Richard Adler songs not in the original production: “If You Win, You Lose,” “The World Around Us” (co-written with Jerry Ross) and “The Three of Us.”
Thou Shalt Not was an interesting but flawed attempt, but this collection of songs-some of which were in the show, some of which were cut from it-works quite well on its own. Backed by his quartet (occasionally augmented by a discreet string section), Connick creates a jazzy, dimly-lit mood, especially on duets with Kelli O'Hara, such as “Can't We Tell” and the sumptuously melancholic “I Like Love More.” Even when the pace slightly picks up on the Sinatra-esque “Oh! Ain't That Sweet,” the general atmosphere remains classily subdued.
–Elisabeth Vincentelli

Review

This set sheds the spotlight on Harry Connick Jr.'s first two major musical-theater experiences. On disc 1, the cast-album recording of the
Pajama Game revival, his role is limited to that of singer. On disc 2, which includes songs from his own
Thou Shalt Not, he is composer, pianist, and interpreter. The revival of
The Pajama Game is all frothy fun and shows that Connick has what it takes to become a stage leading man. (He still sounds a little stiff at times, as in the spoken part of “Hey There” for instance.) Kelli O'Hara plays his love interest with spunky zestappropriate, considering her part has been played by both Shirley McLaine and Doris Dayand it's hard to beat great tunes such as the aforementioned “Hey There,” “Her Is,” “Steam Heat” and “Hernando's Hideaway,” performed here in a jumping eight-minute version. Note that both the show and the recording include three Richard Adler songs not in the original production: “If You Win, You Lose,” “The World Around Us” and “The Three of Us.”
Thou Shalt Not was an interesting but flawed attempt, but this collection of songs-some of which were in the show, some of which were cut from it-works quite well on its own. Backed by his quartet (occasionally augmented by a discreet string section), Connick creates a jazzy, dimly-lit mood, especially on duets with Kelli O'Hara, such as “Can't We Tell” and the sumptuously melancholic “I Like Love More.” Even when the pace slightly picks up on the Sinatra-esque “Oh! Ain't That Sweet,” the general atmosphere remains classily subdued.
–Elisabeth Vincentelli —
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