Tracks: 1. ACT ONE: Overture
2. It's Good To Be Home
3. I Need To Be in Love Ballet
4. My Little World
5. While You're Young
6. I Need To Be in Love
7. Broken Tea Cup
8. The Other Hours
9. The Other Hours Ballet
10. All Things
11. Soveriegn Lover
12. I've Got My Eye on You
13. Light the Way
14. Take Her to the Mardi Gras
15. Tug Boat
16. ACT TWO: Entr'Acte
17. Won't You Sanctify
18. Time Passing
19. Take Advantage
20. Oh! Ain't That Sweet
21. Thou Shalt Not Ballet
22. I Like Love More
23. It's Good To Be Home (reprise)
Posted 2007-08-05 20:52:48: Amazon.com Editoral Review: Harry Connick Jr.'s Tony-nominated score for his 2001 Broadway debut, Thou Shalt Not, sounds a lot like, well, Harry Connick Jr. Transplanting Émile Zola's dark novel of passion, adultery, and murder, Thérèse Raquin, to 1940s New Orleans allows Connick to operate in his element, with songs that don't need to move the plot along among the most interesting: Debra Monk's saloon song "My Little World," a traditional funeral march ("Won't You Sanctify"), the lively ensemble numbers "Light the Way" and "Take Me to the Mardi Gras," the numerous jazzy instrumentals, and Tony nominee Norbert Leo Butz (The Last 5 Years) sounding like the crooning composer-lyricist himself on "Oh, Ain't It a Shame" and "It's Good to Be Home."
Connick plays piano but doesn't sing on this 77-minute original cast recording, but other cast members include Kate Levering (Peggy Sawyer in the 2001 revival of 42nd Street), Craig Bierko (Harold Hill in the 2000 revival of The Music Man), and Leo Burmester. Director-choreographer Susan Stroman couldn't duplicate her phenomenally successful run of Contact, The Music Man, and The Producers--Thou Shalt Not was generally panned, and the show closed after a three-month run. That makes this CD a historical document, and thus it's great to have the full lyrics, but for those not up on their Zola, a plot synopsis would have been nice. --David Horiuchi
