Studio recordings were just starting to be made in the mid-40's. Once record companies started making money from cast recordings like OKLAHOMA! they started putting singers together to make money on other older shows that never got a proper recording. Operettas were so popular in the early 20th century, but hardly any of them where recorded in tact back then. Operetta was still going pretty strong at the outbreak of WWII, but audiences were starting to learn that musicals would give them acting, dancing, singing, AND storytelling throughout. Thus, musical comedy started to take the place of both operetta and vaudeville. Lengthy dissertations could be constructed discussing the reasons that musicals over took operetta in popularity, but I won't even attempt to explain that here. I'll leave that for my Masters degree. For now, we have Kitty Carlisle singing The Merry Widow. She sounds fine. I'm not sure if I love her voice on this; sometimes it sounds a little thin. Wilbur Evans has an interesting sound and performance. Think Marc Kudisch. A 1920's version at least. Every time I hear him sing I think of that. I'll look forward to hearing his voice on other shows and recordings. I like the songs well enough. Overall, it is a decent representation of this popular operetta. I can't say I'll listen to this studio recording all the time, but it embodies the general sound of that specific musical era to me-especially since we don't have many pre-1940 operetta recordings.
Ps. Did you know that 'merry widow' also refers to the lingerie number showed above? HOT.
Grade: B
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