Perfect Show Tunes for Gay Pride Include Tony Winners

Before he had a hit with LaBelle's cover of his song “Lady Marmalade,” gay record producer/songwriter Bob Crewe was credited with making Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons one of the top pop acts of the 1960s. Now the Tony Award-winning Jersey Boys: The Original Broadway Cast Recording (Rhino) tells the story of the same group in song.

The talented cast works its way through much of the Four Seasons' catalog, which included memorable numbers such as “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don't Cry,” “Walk Like A Man,” “Can't Take My Eyes Off You,” “Dawn (Go Away),” as well as the comeback hit “December 1963 (Oh, What A Night).” Kudos go to John Lloyd Young (winner for Best Actor in a Musical) who does a wonderful job of recreating Frankie Valli's distinctive singing style, falsetto and all.

The Tony-nominated Broadway musical The Color Purple doesn't shy away from the love same-gender love story between lead character Celie (Tony Award winner LaChanze) and Shug Avery (Elisabeth Withers-Mendes) in the same way that Steven Spielberg's 1985 film adaptation did. “What About Love?,” the song that Celie and Shug sing to each other to express their love can be heard on The Color Purple: Original Broadway Cast Recording (Angel), along with more than two dozen other songs co-written by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray.

It's not as if openly gay Stephin Merritt's songs weren't already theatrical to begin with. Even at their most electro, as performed by Magnetic Fields (one of his musical units), Merritt's songwriting, which owes as much to Stephen Sondheim as it does to the Pet Shop Boys, has an unsurpassed level of drama. I am continually drawn to the country-tinged “Papa Was A Rodeo,” a song that remains nearly unparalleled in its ability to elicit tears and laughter all in the space of just a few minutes.

The consistently prolific Merritt (why do you think, in addition to the Magnetic Fields, he has the bands the 6ths, Future Bible Heroes, and The Gothic Archies?), who in recent years has dabbled in movie soundtracks, has also created works for the theater. Showtunes (Nonesuch) compiles more than two dozen of Merritt's compositions, collaborations with Chen Shi-Zheng.

Although they are not in the settings we have come to expect from Merritt, they nevertheless bear his mark (just listen to “What A F***ing Lovely Day!” and “Fan Dance Cha-Cha”). It's understandable that he would want share these tunes with his fans, but I'm sure there are many who are rubbing their hands together in anticipation of his next, more accessible offering.