Michelle Nicastro
On My Own (Varese Sarabande 5810)

I think I'm the only one in the Loud Bassoon staff that buys '90s Broadway albums, and even I am beginning to question my judgment sometimes. Michelle Nicastro is by no means a superstar even in Broadway circles, her big credits being the L.A. cast of "Les Miserables" and the film Body Rock.

Okay, so the film Body Rock is no one's big credit, but she was in it. She's also been on "Santa Barbara" and other TV shows, which shows that maybe the Broadway thing is a part-time gig for her?

This album, even for a 90s Broadway album, is pretty uninteresting and somewhat annoying, although some of the can't miss songs ("On My Own" and "I Dreamed a Dream" from "Les Mis" for example) don't miss.

Nicastro's voice is probably fine in the theater, but on CD, minus the connection shared by stage performer and audience, she lacks the flair of a Linda Eder to make a great album. It's a technically fine voice, but without a great deal of variety in timbre, and her emotional expressiveness is fairly forced.

The selection of songs, too, is pretty much a hodgepodge, mixing up crowd-pleasers from an assortment of recent musicals ("Miss Saigon," "Rent," "Jekyll & Hyde," "Steel Pier," plus the failed "Big" and a few older shows like "Once On an Island" and "Phantom"). Highlights include "Someone Else's Story" from "Chess" (written by Bjorn and Benny from Abba, with Tim Rice) and "On my Own," but there's far more misfires here than hits.

"Come Back With the Same Look in Your Eyes" (from "Song and Dance") is done up like a Bonnie Raitt song, and comes off like an intentionally humorous karaoke performance. "This is the Moment" (from "Jekyll & Hyde") sounds like something "The Simpsons" would do if making fun of current Broadway shows, and "Seasons of Love" (from "Rent"),which closes the CD, is totally wrong in every way. Not only is it a staggeringly bad song (sorry, all you freakish "Rent" fans—it's not all that), but the performance sounds like a run-through, and at any rate is wrong for Nicastro's voice.

I'm not sure if I'd have liked it more if there had been a "Body Rock" medley included, plus breakdancing instructions in the liner notes, but I can guarantee that this CD won't be "on its own" at the used CD shop, where I'll probably get $2 for it. Perhaps I'll trade it in toward the cast recording of "Side Show." Oh, when will I learn my lesson?

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Review by Wimpempy Tarlisle