Certain names stick in your memory over time - sometimes for the right reasons, sometimes not. I saw a lot of theatre in London in the 1990s. and one name that sticks in my mind, for all the right reasons I hasten to add, is New Zealand-born Meredith Braun. Braun originated the role of Betty Schaefer in Sunset Boulevard, played Christine in Phantom Of The Opera, and my favourite, Lily In the RSC's production of The Secret Garden. Film buffs will also know that she

had a leading role in the 1992 movie The Muppet Christmas Carol.

After a ten year absence from the West End, Meredith returns to performing, with the release of her debut solo album. Someone Else's Story is a hand-picked collection of songs from contemporary musical theatre, each one of them telling a very personal story. A whole host of composers are featured, including Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Michel Legrand, Claude-Michel Schonberg, Stiles and Drewe and Stephen Schwartz. In charge of arrangements is the extremely talented Paul Bateman.

I've had this album for a few weeks, and I've listened to it many times. I can't say it blew me away on first listen, but it's grown on me very much. There are some superb tracks on this release, all of which benefit greatly from Bateman's treatment of the arrangements with a simple combination of piano and cello. Braun's voice is distinctive, but didn't for me always carry each number off with quite the preciseness I was expecting. 'Meadowlark' is an extremely rewarding attempt, and it just about comes off, but there are a couple of passages that I would have expected to have been tidied up, or redone. The Sondheim medleys (of which there are two) are excellent - Braun and the material marry perfectly. The opening number, and the album's title track, again show off Braun's superb vocal talent, and Bateman's unique arrangement helps to make the number a worthy opening.

My favourite number on the recording has to be 'Wait a Bit' from Just So, the Stiles and Drew masterpiece. I've only ever heard Julie Atherton sing this number previously (a personal favourite of mine, see my review of her latest album No Space For Air), and it's great to hear another, and equally pleasing, take on it. 'Papa Can You Hear Me' compares less favourably to the Streisand original, but in all fairness, how could it? I'll skip over the foreign versions of a couple of the tracks at the end, as for me they didn't work as tracks, especially as we already have English versions of them earlier in the album.

A good listen, and great to see an album from Braun at last, which has been long over due.

7

Ian Gude