Broadway With A Twist(ed)

Who says showtunes aren't adaptable? Who would have ever thought that Dee Snider, front man of Twisted Sister, would ever release an album of Broadway songs? Well, as Sondheim said, you gotta have a gimmick. I have listened to this album two times now, ad I still don't know how I feel about it. It is louder than anything I have on my music library, first of all. I am not really a big fan of the shout-is-more school of singing, so there were moments when I just felt so overwhelmed by this here. But, he seems to have brought some Broadway cred here. I mean, he was able to lure Patti Freakin Lupone to do guest vocals in a duet of "Tonight/Somewhere" from West Side Story. And in the weirdest of senses, the track works. There is certainly a showcase of theatrics there that just gels. Other guest vocalists include Bebe Nuewirth in "Whatever Lola Wants," (she kind of gets lost in there) and Clay Aiken (!) in "Luck Be A Lady." (that was just bizarre) There certainly is a wink-wink vibe here, what with the cast of Priscilla Queen Of The Desert singing "There Is Nothin' Like A Dame." But strange as the tracks sound, though, he brings new shadings to songs like "Cabaret," and "Music Of The Night.' There is actually such energy in how he sings "the Ballad Of Sweeney Todd" that takes that song to another dimension. Whether it works or not, the jury is still out. One thing is for certain, I don't know if I could listen to this album again in one sitting - it felt so exhausting to go through all the noise that I found myself wanting pure silence afterwards.