No for an Answer 1941

This is an interesting listen. Billed as an opera, it isn't really opera. The songs are smart like you'd expect them to be. I'm amazed that the show was even recorded. It ran 3 Sunday nights in January at the City Center (Called the Mecca Temple at the time), so it really isn't even a Broadway show. This is a true cast album. We're still pre-Oklahoma!, so it's still rare to have a recording made simply to preserve the production.

Blitzstein is playing the piano. A VERY VERY young Carol Channing (still an undergraduate) singing some pop parody songs. Everyone once in a while you can hear the Carol that she'll become two decades later. The song 'Francie' is pretty awesome. The fellow returns from prison and is so freakin excited to see his woman that all he can do is sing her name, and them just hum. She speaks in between his name calling. Way ahead of its time. I love the integration of dialogue into song. According to the liner notes, the singers where hired to be actors first. Think: actor's who sing. Something not very common at the time. Once again, Blitzstein very quietly pushing musical theater to another lever.

Grade B-