Rather like the case of the recent HIGH FIDELITY recording, the CURTAINS recording comes off a lot stronger than CURTAINS the performance. Why? Becuase we don't need to deal with its slow, hoaky book.
Kicking off with its overture, its musical comedy score feels as though it comes from another era entirely, with cute, often smart, songs performed by an amiable ensemble cast including recent Tony winner David Hyde Pierce (how did he beat Raul?), Debra Monk, Michael X. Martin, Jason Danieley, Karen Ziemba and so on.
I found it interesting how the sampler I had received beforehand for Tony voters chose not to include the song about critics. Coincidence?
Particularly liked how they included all three junior version of "In the Same Boat" prior to the completed version, making for a particularly compelling track.
Of course, the weaker numbers remain too - "The Man is Dead," for instance, merely filling up space. But overall, I recommend the recording.