Review: MARGUERITE, Original Cast Recording, Broadway Records

A new musical album based on Canada’s first female saint Marguerite Bourgeoys has been released. With a book and lyrics by Anton Dudley and music by Michael Cooper, Tony Award winner Cady Huffman takes centre stage to tell the one-woman story of her life and how she travelled across the oceans to help bring liberated women to Canada and build the city of Montreal. 

There are 30 tracks on the album, which may seem a lot but only having a run time of 1 hour 11 minutes, it definitely doesn’t feel overloaded.

The album has a very mellow and easy listening feel for a musical. There are no “big” or dramatic numbers, instead opting for solely a piano and cello which is very fitting for the piece. It has the ability to feel very religious with the stripped back orchestra and allows Cady Huffman’s voice to be the main attraction along with the story.

The story is easy to follow through song and it allows you to get a feel for who exactly Marguerite Bourgeoys is and the good she did during her life. Huffman’s performance is superbly emotive with an underlying empathy through her voice. 

Album highlights include ‘Je Suis Canadienne’, a lovely and gentle song about looking for love and the best of things in life; ‘First Fruits’ which, although talking about the first fruits to come to fruition each season, actually has a nice message about the process of life. ‘Across the Sea’ and ‘Cabbages and Pumpkins’ are other notable musical moments.

Cady Huffman brings the character to life and shows off her vocal range brilliantly across the course of the album, hitting every note with ease.

There is the hope that this will be staged at some point, which would be an exciting prospect.

****’ Four and a half stars

Reviewed by: Emma Littler

For more information and to listen to the album, please click here.