"Face the Music" Soundtrack Lyrics

"Face the Music (2007 Encores! Cast Recording)" Soundtrack Description

Overview

What happens when a 1932 Broadway satire gets its full musical DNA restored? The Encores! 2007 concert revival of Irving Berlin and Moss Hart’s Face the Music rebuilt lost pages, re-sequenced material, and then captured it in a crisp studio cast album. The recording showcases Depression-era optimism, backstage farce, and pointed political jabs—without sanding off the original’s brass and bite. Playbill and Variety both flagged how the revival reframed Berlin’s revue-savvy into a coherent backstage comedy with teeth.

The album foregrounds period dance rhythms (foxtrot, soft-shoe, waltz), flesh-and-blood torch send-ups, and Berlin’s unkillable earworm craft. Signature numbers—“Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee,” “Soft Lights and Sweet Music”—sit alongside rarities restored for Encores!, giving listeners a panorama of the score as performed March 29–April 1, 2007, and preserved that summer by DRG Records. The New Yorker called “Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee” one of the Depression’s most buoyant hymns of resilience.

Questions & Answers

Is there an official cast recording of the 2007 Encores! production?

Yes. DRG Records released the studio cast album in 2007; AllMusic lists July 3, 2007.

Who leads the music on the recording?

Rob Fisher (music director/conductor), long associated with City Center’s Encores! orchestra.

Who handled the score restoration for Encores!?

Bruce Pomahac led the restoration effort for the Irving Berlin materials.

Which songs from this show became standards?

“Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee” and “Soft Lights and Sweet Music.”

Does the Encores! version include rediscovered or added numbers?

Yes—items like “Two Cheers Instead of Three,” “The Police of New York,” “If You Believe,” and “How Can I Change My Luck?” are part of the restored score.

Where can I stream the 2007 recording?

Major platforms carry it; a complete album edition is on Spotify.

Notes & Trivia

• Encores! ran March 29–April 1, 2007, with John Rando (director) and Randy Skinner (choreography).
• David Ives supplied the concert adaptation used by Encores!.
• “Torch Song” parodies Helen Morgan–style weepers; “Investigation” is an extended finale that reprises themes and resolves the plot.
• “Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee” was introduced in the original 1932 production and became a pop standard.
• The 2007 album was recorded at Legacy Recording Studio A509 in New York.

Genres & Themes

Satirical revue DNA → backstage scheming and topical gags; tempos keep scenes buoyant even when lampooning corruption.

Jazz-age ballroom & foxtrot colors → romance and razzle (“Soft Lights and Sweet Music,” “On a Roof in Manhattan”).

Burlesque & novelty → comic needles for politics and Prohibition (“The Police of New York,” “A Toast to Prohibition”).

Torch pastiche → high-melodrama send-up (“Torch Song”) that lets the orchestra smolder while the lyric winks.

Tracks & Scenes

“Lunching at the Automat” — Ensemble
Scene: Opens on Depression New York; out-of-work showfolk count coins at Horn & Hardart. Non-diegetic within the show world, diegetic-feel staging.
Why it matters: Establishes stakes and the economy before any romance or razzle—tone and time period in one bite.

“Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee” — Pat & Kit
Scene: Early Act I pep-talk; two troupers choose optimism over scarcity.
Why it matters: Berlin’s resilience anthem; the revival leans on it as the score’s moral center.

“Two Cheers Instead of Three” — Uncle Sam & Ensemble
Scene: A sardonic flag-waver added in touring versions, restored for Encores!; a patriotic grin with a pinch of vinegar.
Why it matters: Places 1932 satire in sharper relief for 2007 ears.

“The Police of New York” — Meshbesher, O’Rourke & Policemen
Scene: Crooked-cop financiers enter the picture; march-time swagger, comic bluster.
Why it matters: Sets up the cash pipeline that accidentally “saves” the show-within-the-show.

“Torch Song” — Streetwalker
Scene: A club-side lament staged to milk the tears.
Why it matters: A deadpan parody of torch tropes; musicians get to play smoke and velvet while the lyric winks.

“On a Roof in Manhattan” — Pat & Kit
Scene: Lovers carve out quiet above the city; gentle waltz/ballad profile.
Why it matters: Human-scale romance amid satire; a breath before the next scheme.

“My Beautiful Rhinestone Girl” — Rodney St. Clair
Scene: Inside the show-within-the-show (Rhinestones of ’32); crooner glamour with tongue in cheek.
Why it matters: Mirrors Broadway’s surface polish while the plot skewers it.

“Soft Lights and Sweet Music” — Pat & Kit
Scene: Classic Berlin moonlight; dance carries the scene.
Why it matters: The other standard—silky melody that outlived its satire chassis.

“I Say It’s Spinach (And the Hell with It)” — Pat & Kit
Scene: Comic refusal number; lovers push back against phony taste and gatekeepers.
Why it matters: A credo for the show’s anti-bunk spirit.

“How Can I Change My Luck?” — Hal Reisman
Scene: Producer’s rueful solo, newly folded into the show for Encores! from Berlin’s files.
Why it matters: Gives the harried producer a heartbeat—and a hook.

“A Toast to Prohibition (Drinking Song)” — Company
Scene: Speakeasy bravado erupts; clinking glasses, quick modulations.
Why it matters: Satirizes vice-and-virtue politics while the dance band swings.

“Investigation” — Company
Scene: Finale-sized comic-opera wrap-up; reprises swirl into a legal deus ex machina.
Why it matters: Berlin’s construction flex: plot closure via musical montage.

Music–Story Links

“Lunching at the Automat” and “Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee” sketch the economic cliff and the coping mechanism—hope as habit. “The Police of New York” flips civic rot into entrepreneurial fuel, driving the “bad money” that bankrolls a flop-turned-hit. Romance duets (“Soft Lights…,” “On a Roof…”) keep Kit and Pat tangible while producer Hal’s “How Can I Change My Luck?” shifts sympathy to the harried middleman. By “Investigation,” Berlin uses reprise logic to tidy plot and politics in one comic surge.

How It Was Made

Encores! commissioned a meticulous restoration, led by Bruce Pomahac, to reconcile variant scripts and lost orchestrations; David Ives supplied the concert adaptation. John Rando directed; Randy Skinner choreographed. Rob Fisher conducted the Encores! orchestra and anchors the studio recording. Playbill’s feature traces how archives and rental parts were knitted back into a playable 2007 score.

Reception & Quotes

Contemporary coverage praised the clarity of the restoration and the energy of the band and cast. TheaterMania called the Encores! staging “the best musical in town.” Variety highlighted its lineage to modern backstage satires. Playbill’s “On the Record” lauded the restoration’s sound. The New Yorker contextualized its Depression-era pep.

“The best musical in town… conducted smartly by Rob Fisher.” TheaterMania

“An enjoyable antecedent of self-satirizing musicals.” Variety

“The music has been carefully restored… and it sounds absolutely splendid.” Playbill

“One of the Depression’s most buoyant anthems.” The New Yorker

Trusted sources cited in-text: Playbill; Variety; The New Yorker; AllMusic.

Additional Info

• Encores! engagement: five performances (Mar 29–Apr 1, 2007) at New York City Center.
• Key cast: Judy Kaye, Walter Bobbie, Lee Wilkof, Meredith Patterson, Jeffry Denman, Eddie Korbich.
• Album producers for records: Joel Moss & Curtis Moore.
• Two concert-only curios—“Two Cheers…” and “If You Believe”—restore touring/Broadway ephemera to the mainline score.
• “Torch Song” is a pointed genre pastiche; “Investigation” functions as an extended musical-comedy finale.
• Licensing today is handled via Concord Theatricals (R&H catalog).
• Streaming placement is stable across services; Spotify and others carry the 2007 album.

Technical Info

• Title: Face the Music (2007 Encores! Cast Recording)
• Year: 2007 (cast album); Encores! run March 29–April 1, 2007
• Type: Concert cast recording (restored score)
• Music/Lyrics: Irving Berlin; Book: Moss Hart
• Adaptation: David Ives (Encores! concert adaptation)
• Music Direction/Conducting: Rob Fisher
• Score Restoration: Bruce Pomahac
• Label: DRG Records (release listed July 3, 2007 by AllMusic)
• Recording Location: Legacy Recording Studio A509 (NYC)
• Selected notable placements: “Lunching at the Automat” (opening tableau); “Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee” (early morale boost); “The Police of New York” (corruption march); “Soft Lights and Sweet Music” (romantic dance); “How Can I Change My Luck?” (producer solo); “A Toast to Prohibition” (speakeasy set-piece); “Investigation” (finale wrap).
• Availability: Streaming (e.g., Spotify); physical CD via DRG Records.

Canonical Entities & Relations

Sources: Playbill; Variety; The New Yorker; AllMusic; Wikipedia; TheaterMania; CurtainUp; Concord Theatricals.

November, 09th 2025