AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVID FOIL - by Jorge
With, among other things, its interesting podcasts, its irresistible photo gallery and its unique blog, the new Masterworks Broadway website is a must for every musical fan.

A few weeks ago I received an email from Cinemedia Promotions asking me if I would be interested in interviewing one of the guys responsible for this new website and I couldn’t resist it. The only problem was the fact that I live in Portugal and those guys are in the United States, but thanks to the miracles of the internet I was able to interview David Foil, Senior Director at Sony Masterworks.

So, although we never seated together in the same room, here is my exclusive interview with David Foil. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Jorge’s Place: The new Masterworks Broadway site is like heaven for musical fans like me, and I’m very grateful for it. What made you create such a site now?

David Foil: We’re so pleased that you like the site! The Masterworks Broadway label encompasses all the Broadway recordings released earlier on the Columbia Masterworks, CBS Masterworks, Sony Classical and RCA Victor labels. The result is the world’s greatest catalogue of Broadway recordings, and we wanted to celebrate that exciting fact. For more than half a century, Broadway has represented a significant part of the identity and the success of Masterworks, both in the past and in the present. Our desire is to make as much of our Broadway catalogue available as possible, of course, but we also want to document the meaning and the importance of the catalogue. A worldwide audience is beginning to embrace Broadway musicals, and that makes it even more important for us to document and make available our rich legacy. Our amazing team has worked hard to research and restore photographs from our archives, assemble comprehensive, entertaining background information on the artists and the recordings, create podcasts with leading figures in the musical theater, and regularly update the site’s content. We believe the site is becoming a destination for all fans of the Broadway musical, whether they are new fans or devoted, longtime enthusiasts.
"I have never been able to resist the spell of music and theater all at once."

JP: It’s obvious this new site is a labor of love. What made you fall in love with musicals and when did that happen?

DF: Personally, I have never been able to resist the spell of music and theater all at once. The musicals I first became aware of – from the “golden age” of the 1950s and 1960s – were filled with fabulous songs that had lives of their own on records. But to see and hear, or even imagine, them performed in the theater delivered even more excitement. As a child, I could feel this before I could tell you exactly why, and I think that’s why I was drawn to original cast recordings. You get a sense of the theatrical intensity when you listen. It’s irresistible. Today, I understand better the art and the craft on which great musicals are built, but they are still simply as thrilling to me as they were originally.

JP: There was a time when show tunes were part of the popular music, but that started to change in the 60s. Why do you think that happened?

DF: Until rock music redefined what popular music would be, Broadway (and, later, Hollywood) was a primary source of American popular songs. Virtually every songwriter of any consequence sought to write a hit Broadway musical, because that meant the public would immediately buy and sing the songs it made popular. It was easy then to define that audience and what it wanted to hear. That changed with the emergence of rock, at the same time as great sociological changes in the United States. Together they had a dynamic effect on popular culture in the 1960s. Where once Broadway defined American popular music, it had to respond to American popular music. In this time of upheaval, the traditional Broadway musical lost some of its appeal. But it recovered quickly and learned to sing in new and exciting ways. At the same time, the public discovered a renewed affection for the musicals of Broadway’s “golden age.” The great old shows probably have never been as profoundly popular as they are today.  

JP: I heard that in the last years cast recordings aren’t easy to sell and rarely make a profit. I want to believe there’s still a market for them. What are you thoughts on this?

DF: There is some truth to your first statement, though our catalogue has many examples of original cast recordings that quickly became big and profitable hits. Cast recordings are expensive records to make, and they have to be made quickly, while a musical is new and fresh. What makes a show a hit – a hit that people want to relive by buying and listening to the recording – is not always predictable. Recordings often get made in the hope that musicals will catch on, but that does not always happen. We have in our catalogue a lot of great, entertaining recordings of shows that simply failed to capture the public’s imagination. Back when the Broadway sound defined popular music, it was easier than it is today for a major record company to take that risk.

JP: With the advent of the Internet and the piracy that has been destroying the music business, what do you think are the biggest challenges to sell a new cast album nowadays?

DF: As always, the biggest challenge is quality material: finding a great musical to record. That will never change. With very few exceptions, great musicals always capture the public’s imagination and result in sales. As for the internet and piracy, they are just the latest in a long line of challenges to the way the music business operates. We all miss record stores and the traditional ways in which we used to buy music, but I believe the internet is a beginning, not an end. It offers us greater opportunities to make more music available to more listeners. This is especially true in specific areas of the repertoire like Broadway musicals. 

"The biggest challenge is quality material: finding a great musical to record."
JP: There was a time when even big flops like ANYONE CAN WHISTLE and DEAR WORLD were recorded. You think that happened because the record producers recognized the quality of those scores or were just happy accidents?

DF: In the case of ANYONE CAN WHISTLE, the decision – by producer Goddard Lieberson – to record the show was a rare example of making a recording simply because the score deserved to be recorded. There was no likelihood, in the spring of 1964, that it would make back its investment. Lieberson was an extraordinarily creative and thoughtful producer, with impeccable taste, and he believed in Sondheim’s talent and promise. But this was during a time when Broadway still defined popular music; Lieberson could take this chance, as a calculated risk, knowing that something would come along soon to offset the loss. DEAR WORLD was recorded because it was a new Jerry Herman musical starring Angela Lansbury, only three years after the blockbuster success of MAME. But those three years were crucial, and the world was suddenly different – remember that 1969 was the year Led Zeppelin made its first album. The pipeline of Broadway musicals had begun to run dry (though no one, at that moment, had a clue that Stephen Sondheim would change everything the following year with the premiere of COMPANY). DEAR WORLD is a beautiful recording of a score that still gives us great pleasure, but the show failed and the recording suffered the kind of slow sales that could no longer be tolerated in a rapidly changing business environment. 

JP: Can we expect a new golden age of cast recordings in the near future? Are there enough new material and composers to make that happen?

DF: Actually, I think we live in a “new golden age of cast recordings.” Virtually every musical of any consequence gets recorded today, even if most are recorded by smaller independent labels. But the result is that more musicals are preserved in recordings, and that is a great thing. Masterworks Broadway is a living label – our recording of the 2009 revival of WEST SIDE STORY won a Grammy a few months ago – but we also have this marvelous legacy of recordings to celebrate. And new interest in new musicals means that people want to hear the cast recordings of classic shows, as well. I think it’s the best of times.

JP: Presently on Broadway, revivals of old shows are no longer a sure bet (WEST SIDE STORY is a hit, but FINIAN’S RAINBOW closed in a few weeks) and more “traditional” musicals don’t have long runs (CURTAINS closed in a year and NEVER GONNA DANCE in weeks). Does that mean that the new theatre audiences are no longer interested in the “old” Broadway sound? What will that mean for the old musicals catalog?

DF: It depends entirely on what audiences feel like seeing and hearing. If a revival of a classic musical makes a compelling case for seeing and hearing the show again, the public will generally respond – as happened with recent revivals of SOUTH PACIFIC and WEST SIDE STORY, both of which are hits. In some instances, I think, traditional, older musicals can get lost in the busy, noisy world we live in. Last year’s revival of FINIAN’S RAINBOW was a lovely surprise. But you can’t help the fact that the show itself, for all its sharp intelligence and inspiration, is basically a gentle, easygoing entertainment. Today, a show like that can get overshadowed and nudged aside when it has to compete with such intense, thrilling, high-powered spectacles as WICKED and BILLY ELLIOT. I think that might have had something to do with the disappointing run of a show like CURTAINS. It had a great cast but no superstar to drive it, and the clever premise and funny material were – again – gentle, easygoing entertainment.
"I think we live in a new golden age of cast recordings."
JP: Do you think the future of those shows linger in concerts like the City Center Encores?

DF: City Center Encores is a splendid showcase for musicals that, for the most part, don’t have the promise of commercial success in revivals on Broadway today. The worldwide phenomenon of CHICAGO began as an Encores revival in 1996, and it is, of course, the big exception to that statement. But the Encores concert performances – and others like them, in New York, Los Angeles, London and other places – are wonderful opportunities to hear the scores of these shows as they were meant to be heard, with full orchestras and ensembles. These performances present another opportunity to preserve not only the traditional performance style of the shows but also the materials themselves, primarily orchestrations.

JP: I guess that through the years you’ve seen musicals that, for several reasons, were never recorded. Are there any you wish you’ve produced?

DF: Everybody who loves musicals has such a list, though I think most significant Broadway musicals have been recorded, in one form or another. In the late 1940s, a conflict between the record companies and the musicians union resulted in an embargo on cast recordings, so we have no original Broadway cast recordings of Frank Loesser’s WHERE’S CHARLEY? with Ray Bolger, or the Kurt Weill/Alan Jay Lerner collaboration LOVE LIFE. I would love to have heard those, as well as some tantalizing flops – CARNIVAL OF FLANDERS (1953), for instance, which won Dolores Gray a Tony and included the song “Here’s That Rainy Day.” 

JP: Can you share with us your favorite cast recordings?

DF: What an impossible question to answer briefly! Surely the great Sondheim shows – COMPANY, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, SWEENEY TODD, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE – and MY FAIR LADY, GYPSY, CANDIDE, THE MOST HAPPY FELLA and THE SOUND OF MUSIC. I have great affection for some less obvious titles, as well, like ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER, CITY OF ANGELS, BELLS ARE RINGING, DAMES AT SEA, the Lincoln Center revival recordings of CAROUSEL and SHOW BOAT. I am really fond of the recording we did of the 2008 revival of SOUTH PACIFIC, and the WEST SIDE STORY recording from last year is a sensational new version of that incredible score – the same for the complete studio recording of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s lovely, neglected ALLEGRO.

JP: Looking at the near future, what can musical lovers expect from Sony? Are there any shows in the vaults that will finally get released on CD? And what about new musicals?

DF: Masterworks is always on the lookout for the best new musicals to record. We are also serious about our intentions to make as much of the catalogue available as we possibly can. Keep watching masterworksbroadway.com – we will be making an announcement shortly about a release in July.
"Masterworks is always on the lookout for the best new musicals to record."

JP: As a record producer, what are your advices for people who are starting at the business?

DF: It’s a tough business to break into, especially today. But there is always room for talented people who have something to offer. Get as much practical experience as you possibly can, learning from the people who already know how to produce records. You need a basic knowledge of music and the intricate skills needed to work in a studio, all of which you can learn best from practical experience. Through that process you can develop a refined sense of hearing music and knowing how best to present it – taste is something you can’t pick up like a skill, only develop over time. You also need to be a good colleague, with the ability to work quickly, efficiently and at full capacity in a pressured environment.

posted May 8, 2010


To visit Masterworks Broadway website, listen to its podcasts or going through its photo gallery, just click here.