4 more shows...

Ok. It took over a year for me to add 4 shows to the Showtunes Project. At this rate, I need like 4 life times to listen to everything in the past and keep up to date with the present. I really need to get on it. Here we go:

Oh Kay!

Great songs. Most of these are classics, the melody of which everyone can hum at least some part. Of particular interest on the album are the tracks that Gershwin himself plays. This is another one of the albums in the Smithsonian Collection, so there is an extensive plot summary, vintage pictures, and a historic summary of the original production. This may not quite be an original cast album, but it's close enough for me. These songs sound just as fresh from this period as they would sound live today. B

Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera)

So. I'm a big Kurt Weill fan. I like Street Scene. I like One Touch of Venus. 'Speak Low' is one of my favorite songs EVER. But here's the thing. I really don't like Threepenny Opera. I've seen it a couple times. I've listened to it. I just don't get it. I mean, I get why it became popular. I get that it is sorta "out of the box". I just don't like it much. That being said, I vastly prefer hearing the songs sung on this semi-original album state more than hearing them in a more contemporary arrangement/orchestration. This recording is from the Kurt Weill from Berlin to Broadway. A plus is hearing a younger Lotte Lenya really singing in her element. The rest of the album is fantastic with a slew of other Weill songs including some sung by the composer himself. C+

The Band Wagon

Now we are starting to get into some real good stuff. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this cd (which also has Inside U.S.A. on it). There are some great liner notes about both shows. Band Wagon has some awesome songs in it- High and Low being my favorite. But what's not to like about Dancing in the Dark? It's a classic. This is the last show Adele Astaire performed in- she got hitched and left show business. Thank God Fred kept at it. It's fun to hear both of them singing the songs from the show on the album. Like the last other albums, this isn't technically an original cast album. Since the Astaire's are on it singing their songs I think it's close enough. I'd listen to this again for sure. A

Show Boat

Show Boat must be one of the most recorded shows ever. This is the earliest trace of an original cast album that you can get. It still isn't the real thing, but none were made of the original in 1927. What we do have is OBC member Helen Morgan (original Julie) singing her songs for this 1932 recording among others. Paul Robeson is there with his famous rendition of Ol' Man River, a role which in fact, he did not originate. Also on the album is a song 'Joe' sings from the '36 movie, as well as songs from the 1946 revival. All in all, a nice historic package of this production. There have been so many incarnations over the decades, this is the closest to the original that we can get. A-