IN & OUT

MARC SHAIMAN

Rating:

Original Review: One of the first mainstream Hollywood movies to deal with homosexuality in a light hearted way, Frank Oz's In & Out starred Kevin Kline as Howard Brackett, a well-liked high school teacher in a sleepy New England town who, on the eve of his wedding to the ditzy but loveable Joan Cusack, is sensationally "outed" during the Oscar broadcast by his former pupil Cameron Drake (Matt Dillon), now a bigshot Hollywood actor. Everyone is shocked - most of all Howard - who goes about trying to convince the townsfolk, the gathered media (including slick reporter Tom Selleck) and most of all himself that he is not gay, and that his planned betrothal will still take place.

It is perhaps apt that the task of scoring In & Out should fall to Marc Shaiman, one of Hollywood's few openly gay composers. But, as I once read in an interview with Shaiman, unless you count the Village People there is no such thing as gay music - and this is reflected in Shaiman's entertaining and diverting romantic comedy score. The film itself caused controversy with the on-screen kiss between Kline and Selleck, but there is no subtext whatsoever to Shaiman's work, which for the most part plays is straight (excuse the pun), and although it breaks no new ground in purely compositional terms, is great fun to simply sit and listen to.

Shaiman's music is a lovely, full-orchestral affair given an added sense of magic and whimsy by the inclusion of a set of silvery and sugary chimes and bells that make it not too dissimilar in tone to Alan Silvestri's Father of the Bride. There is a fair amount of mickey mouse scoring, especially in cues such as the opening 'Wedding Preparations' and the rather riotous 'Howard Is Outed', but the whole thing is salvaged by the stunning main theme which is right out of the same book as The American President, Patch Adams and all the other soaring melodies for which Shaiman is rightly famous. There are several superb comedy scherzos, especially 'The Morning After', 'The Bachelor Party' and 'I Don't', which somehow manages to work in a lightening-fast flash of Mendelssohn's Wedding March, before slowing down to take in the gently romantic 'Mom & Dad' and conclude with the fantastic, heart-warming finale 'Teacher of the Year/People/The Wedding'.

In addition to Shaiman's score, there is a wonderful piece of original source music from the fictional Cameron Drake movie "To Serve and Protect", for which Shaiman wrote a sensational score medley in a variety of styles, from dramatic to low key and introspective to full-on heroic and glorious. Four songs, including Diana Ross' legendary anthem 'I Will Survive', Ethel Merman's 'Everything's Coming Up Roses', Patsy Cline's country ballad 'Crazy' and the camp disco classic 'Macho Man' pad out the score's running time, although in their own way each of the selections are actually quite good fun.

Ultimately, there is very little to dislike about In & Out, unless you have a very hard heart or an intense hatred of comedy scores with lovely themes and sense of fun and adventure. This one of Shaiman's best efforts in the genre, and potential purchasers should not be dissuaded from imbibing in the album simply because of the score's comparatively short 25-minute running time. This is a gay score in the original sense of the word - meaning that it is cheerful, good-humoured and occasionally joyous.

Track Listing: Running Time: 40 minutes 28 seconds

Motown 530841-2 (1997)

Music composed by Marc Shaiman. Conducted by Artie Kane. Orchestrations by Jeff Atmajian, Frank Bennett and Michael Starobin. Recorded and mixed by Dennis Sands. Edited by Nic Ratner. Mastered by Ramón Bretón. Album produced by Marc Shaiman, Scott Rudin, Adam Schroeder and Frank Oz.

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