5 Seconds To Justify a Musical's Existence

For those who read books and study English literature, Bright Lights, Big City is kinda a big deal.

Then Scottsh Composer/Lyricist/Bookwriter (how many times has THAT happened?) Paul Scott Gordon wrote a musical version. It has its supporters (like most shows do), but was not, on the whole, well received. Partially because it looked like a desparate folow-up to Rent. (Much of these comparisons are the result of flawed producing...Michael Greif as director? Production at NYTW? Come on.) Read the original NY Times review.

As was the case with Prettybelle, Bright Lights, Big City got somewhat of a posthumous cast recording, featuring original star (Patrick Wilson) and a bunch of other great people like Christine Ebersole and Sheri Renee Scott.

However, the entire score is justified, in my opinion, from about 5 seconds performed by Sharon Leal (who you may remember from Boston Public, or as the girl who replaces Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls). She plays Patrick Wilson's wife and sings a song about modeling. The verse with the 5 seconds in question begins at 40 seconds, at 1m9s the greatness happens. It's actually shorter than 5 seconds, but when I first heard it I went back and listened to it on repeat for about 15 blocks. The song doesn't improve much after that point, but feel free to listen to the whole thing.

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

Also here's a nice, if contrived, song from the show sung very well by Ms. Sheri Renee Scott, mainly because I felt obligated to share it after mentioning her earlier.

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io