All Shook Up Cast Recording Reviewed

By Amy Somensky Jun 10, 2005, 15:48 GMT

All Shook Up tells the story of a guitar playing man who brings romance, rebellion, and rock-n-roll into the life of a small town girl. Its plot is based on Shakespeare’s 12th Night and As You Like It, gender bending included. Set in a small “square” conservative town, a motorcycle riding stranger, Chad, comes to town, shakes things up, and changes the population forever. He meets a tomboyish young girl named Natalie. She immediately falls for Chad, who does not return her feelings. To get closer to Chad, Natalie assumes the identity of Ed, with whom Chad falls in love with, only to discover later that he is a she. Imagine this all of this is set to hits of Elvis Presley.

The cast recording includes 24 Elvis songs, including the mega hits, “Jailhouse Rock,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Can’t Help Falling In Love,” and the title song “All Shook Up.” The songs are not carbon copies of the Elvis versions, unlike other jukebox musicals, but have been given a Broadway flair and some new interpretations. In fact, I only heard “thank you very much” once. Some of the new interpretations worked and some didn’t. A few of the songs seemed to lose their effectiveness when not sung by Elvis. Two good ones that stood out were “Now or Never” which was given a slight Latin sound, and “The Devil in Disguise,” which has a gospel sound. The version of “A Little Less Conversation” may be the worst version I have ever heard. The song is crazy, and here it seems too structured, and the lyrics are spoken too clearly. Now I am in no way an Elvis aficionado, but there were at least half a dozen songs I didn’t know. Either, I had never heard them before or they were unrecognizable in this form, I am not sure.

Most jukebox musical’s problem comes in the plot or lack there of. That can be said for All Shook Up as well. A good book should be able to be told through the songs, and in turn each song should advance the plot. Joe DiPietro’s book has been written around the songs, and at times I had trouble following the plot through them, and through the entire CD the plot seemed to advance only about 5 inches.

Jenn Gambatese and Cheyenne Jackson

This cast recording has a high production value and is well produced. The sound is very crisp and smooth, far superior to many others.

Listening to the CD makes me think the musical would be a fun experience especially for Elvis fans. The CD is well produced, and the exceptional cast makes is worth listening to. It succeeds where other jukebox musicals could not by actually trying to craft some kind of original work, and not feeding us carbon copies of the original songs.

M&C is running a contest to win some great All Shook Up prizes including the CD. Click here to enter.