Judy Kuhn - Rodgers, Rodgers & Guettel (2015)

The elder Rodgers's classic "Hello, Young Lovers" is followed by his grandson's luminous song of love at its purest "Hero and Leander"; pairing Oklahoma!'s "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" alongside Floyd Collins's "The Call," Kuhn unearths an optimism - and a sound - common to both. And in a felicitous wedding of Richard Rodgers's "Nobody's Heart," Mary Rodgers's "Hey, Love" and Guettel's "Love to Me," Kuhn weaves a tale of love in its many guises: disillusion that gives way to expectation, yearning that culminates in joy and fulfillment. Rodgers, Rodgers & Guettel features music direction by Todd Almond and orchestrations by Joshua Clayton, plus guest appearances by Malcolm Gets and Shuler Hensley. But the spotlight remains focused on Kuhn, whom The New York Times, in reviewing the evening at Lincoln Center, hailed as "a top-of-the-line singer whose approach might be described as one of passionate restraint... conveying as much insight and empathy as more overtly dramatic singers without straining for a show-stopping theatricality; her delivery is refined but not prim, her intonation impeccable." ~Editorial Reviews