Porgy and Bess

PORGY AND BESS is fast becoming one of my all time favorite scores. I've listened to the 1951 studio recording mostly. From what I can tell, it doesn't really matter what year you hear...the songs always sing. The recordings on the "Gershwin Performs Gershwin" CD are a must listen. George Gershwin himself announcing himself, calling out the cues and measure numbers to the orchestra. And then they start playing. This is the kind of sound I miss! Everyone playing in one big room. You hear all the acoustics. I think you miss out a little when you mic EVERY individual instrument and then mix it all together. On this recording, you hear everything. People chatting. The flute. The singers. But that all adds to the realism of it. Like, this is how it REALLY sounded back then. It's a lot of fun. These singers sing with real emotion. I'm not sure why I'm surprised. But I am. It's real moving. I can't get over how much fun it is to hear them shouting out measure numbers, while the tape rolls. It's so authentic. I love it. A. There will be a part two to this post... The studio Porgy and Bess... I'm waiting for the CD. The records I have can't play on my record player. But check out the AWESOME cover...

At Home Abroad

I've always liked Dietz and Schwartz. A Tree Grow in Brooklyn is one of my all time favorite scores. I was very curious to hear what some of their early work was like.

AT HOME ABROAD. An old fashioned revue-sical. Plot driven shows were still not the most popular form of theatrical entertainment. A show with a THIN plot, littered with specialty songs and sketches still were going strong in the 30's. This one was a hit. Beatrice Lillie. Ethel Waters. The heavyweights actually recorded. I don't get Bea Lillie. I think it was one of those 'had to be there's'. BUT. Ethel Waters is incredible. She sings with such emotion. The sketches are great to hear once, and get a sense of comedy so many decades ago. Besides that, I won't touch the stuff again. I AM impressed that there is SO much dialogue on the recording. You can actually hear the audience reaction on the "Trains" track. Back to Ethel. Thief in the Night is beautiful. I would love to hear just her songs alone without the other muddle. C- (with an A for Ethel)

Anything Goes

I'm attacking Anything Goes today. There are 3 different casts singing on the cd, and much of the same material on the Smithsonian record. I'll listen to the record as well because I like the sound better on the record player. The notes in these Smithsonian releases (Oh Kay, Lady Be Good) are just incredible Of course, when you have Richard Norton writing them you can't go wrong.

The London recording is first up on the CD. It's ok. I'm not surprised that the sound quality is just incredible. Musical Theater my have been 'invented' stateside, but recording show tunes for pleasure was definitely something that the Brits started before us. There are so many cast albums from original London productions- many of which started on Broadway then transfered. I have chosen not to include London recordings simply because it would make it impossible to listen to it all. The line is drawn. I listen to this London recording only because it's included on the CD with the (somewhat) original broadway cast. Jeanne Aubert sings everything in her head voice. What is up with that? She has that cliche 30's vibrato tone. It kinda bores me. There is no theatricality in her voice. I can't help but compare her to Merman. Of particular note on this recording is some of the dialogue from the show included before the song 'Be Like the Bluebird'. The Foursome songs are particularly fun.

As for the US recordings with Ethel Merman: what a gem. I think the best part is hearing the original orchestrations. So full, so rich, so classic. Ethel sounds great. It's fun to hear her at the start (ish) of her career. I just wish there was a more complete recording of the entire NYC cast. It would be fun.

Also on the CD is Cole Porter singing some of his songs. He seems like a pedophile. I don't know what a pedophile sounds like, but I have a hunch it sounds a lot like the singing of Cole Porter.

Overall... B+ the record which has everything on the CD gives it the '+'.

Blackbirds of 1928

This was an interesting listen. I'm not sure if it was the recording, the record, or my record player but the sound quality on this album was not great. Everything sounded a bit muddy. I have a feeling it was the record itself. I'd be curious to listen to one of the newer releases of this recording. I bet it's better. Regardless, it has some pretty charming music. It has the standard, 'I Can't Give You Anything But Love", which is just lovely. Of particular interest is Duke Ellington's Band playing on all of the tracks. I wish I could hear the orchestrations better- saxes, reeds, strings all sounding fun and original. Ethel Waters sounds good enough. I'm excited to listen to her on At Home Abroad (coming up next). Overall, I'd probably listen to this recording much more if the quality were better. It will be fun to listen to the 1953 studio version though. I wonder when I'll get to that? Maybe when I'm 50.

C+

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-

Next to Godot

I saw two shows this week on the great white way.

Next to normal. 

Now I saw this theater piece last year at second stage and I didn't really like it at all. I found it very disjointed, needing a lot of work. Well, the producer, writers, and director did something about it.  They reworked it and produced it out of town last fall in DC. I can't believe the transformation at the Booth Theater. The set is the same along with some costumes. The music is VERY different. Everything flows so much better. No longer that stupid grocery store number (although they talk about the incident). No longer that god awful closing to the first act, Feeling Electic (which was the original titles of the show). Gone also is Brian D'arcy James replaced by J. Robert Spencer who is just fantastic. He captures the stoic nature of the father not yet coming terms with the family loss. Alice Ripley was a thousand times better than I was expecting. I heard she was pitchy which was not so. The show I saw she nailed everything to the wall. My jaw dropped more than once on occasion.  I believed everything she did, especially when interacting with the father. She could easily win the Tony.  The daughter I saw and acted superbly. I particularly enjoyed he interacting with the boyfriend. He was really interesting. A great listener. Overall, I have to say that I wasn't moved to tears, though I know plenty of people who were. I was just sitting there appreciating the work and writing. The book was never too sentimental which could easily have happened. I'm curious just how many shows have been pretty terrible on first outing then get reworked and come back to town a success?  This show did just that.

I'm listening to Billy Elliott. I'm very excited to see this. Kudos to Elton John for writing a real live theatrical score. The music sounds like he actually gives a shit to the theatrical situation.  Based on Lestat and Aida, who new he could do that?

Also saw Waiting For Godot. What a fun play. It's a gift to see Nathan Lane on stage. He really is a remarkable comic. He does this business with a whip and I was in stitches. The relationship between him and Bill Irwin was so developed. You really believed they have spent their lives together waiting for Godot to finally show up. I thought maybe I would be bored by this play about nothing but I was captivated the whole time. Such a comment on the human condition. Just passing time waiting for something, anything to happen. What happens in the meanwhile is just life.  John Goodman was also very funny.  I'd love to see him play Falstaff.  John Glover is someone else I'd love to see in another play.  He embodied the part to a frightening degree. I look forward to seeing this play again in another context. It seems to me it can be done so many ways. I'm glad to see hysterically funny version.

Why can't I stop listening to Shrek, The musical?  

3 more shows to add to the list...

I've finally started back on my big show project.  You know...  The one where I listen to every cast recording possible.  I figure it will take me my whole lifetime so I might as well start now.  I've since abridged my original requirements since I last posted (or is it just post?).  I have the handy Jack Raymond cast recording anthology, and I thought about trying to listen to every show made, regardless of when the cast recording was recorded.  In other words, I could listen to the 1845 musical (well... operetta) Maritana of which  a recording was made in 1968.  After spending some time on this idea I realized it might be the year 2020 by the time I even get to the turn of the century (the turn being 1899 to 1900).  I've now decided to only listen to recordings of the ORIGINAL cast.  It can't just be one song sung by that one guy who made a record when the show closed in 1906.  I'm looking for the real deal: full cast recordings.  This has helped me jump to the 1900's right off the bat.  So.  The first recording:

 (As a side note.. I'm listening to Dessa Rose... and I like it.  This is the third or forth listening, but it keeps getting better.  I never saw it, but I understand it wasn't so great  live.  The recording however, makes me smile.  Steve and Lynn: Please give us anoth-

er big musical like Ragtime.)

The Wizard of Oz. 

 

Now this is a recording that I feel a little deceived into including on my journey.  According to castalbums.org it says it's an original Broadway cast, but I think they're all liars.  Of course you can't really blame anyone at that website since the site is like wikipedia- user created and updated.  Regardless, this recording is not an original cast recording.  It has songs and snippets sung by plenty of other people, but nothing from anyone in the original cast except for a 6 second scarecrow laugh by the original (recorded 30+ years after the fact).  The piece itself is fun and what was usually expected during this time period.  Funny little songs that where added and removed based on what 'star' was entering or exiting the show.  One of the coolest things about this recording is the actual booklets.  Two of them.  One of them has all the lyrics and synopsis, the other gives you the running order so you can listen to everything in its place.  There are two discs boasting over 145 minutes of music.  I would love to know who bought this recording because of that 2 plus hours of mediocre song.  I can't remember any of the songs.  Not one, but I do remember the booklets.  That actually counts for a lot to the cast album collector.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading about all of the songs and information on the show.  

(Side note #2... regarding cool booklets... how about Dessa Rose?  I have no CD in my collection that has the case and booklet Dessa Rose comes in.  It is a full on book!  My favorite package.)

 

Yes, we've just skipped almost two decades to get to the next recording.  That's what happens when you change the rules like I did.  Sunny is a fantastic Kern and Hammerstein musical comedy.  A lot has happened to the world of musical comedy since the turn of the century and Jerome Kern was key in that transition.  He is famous for his beautiful lush melodies.  Before there was Show Boat, there were plenty of other musicals he wrote for Americans in the early 1900's.  This recording gives us a couple casts on one disc (like the Robin Hood recording and others have done).   Medleys were recorded in the olden days before entire shows made it on record (check out Broadway Through the Gramaphone if this sounds delicious to the ears).  The Sunny CD has lots of medleys, as well as the London cast, 1st National Tour cast, and members of the original.  While this isn't exactly an OBC, it is pretty close.  The liner notes on the reissue were by Mr. Musical Theatre historian himself- Gerald Bordman.  The songs stand on their own.  I can still hum the title song.  "D'ye Love Me?" is also a favorite, as well as "Who" and "Two Little Bluebirds".  I would love for City Center to do this or to get a new studio recording made.  

Last, but DEFINITELY not least: 

                                                                                 Lady, Be Good!

Ok, I thought this picture was funny, so I had to include it.  Gershwin would have loved it.  I would consider this recording (on an LP) to be the first one that comes close to being an Original Broadway Cast- and even this one  doesn't technically pass the test.  This recording was made in London (which was the hotspot for recording cast recordings in the early 1900's.  It seems America was slow to jump on the bandwagon, but plenty of UK shows have complete recordings long before we started doing that on the B-way).  Here, the original stars (Fred and Adele) as well as Mr. Gershwin himself are on the recording.  The sound quality is fantastic.  These songs are just amazing.  One can't help but wonder what the audiences of 1926 thought while watching and listening to this musical who were so accustomed to simple, fundamental harmonies with cheesy orchestrations.  The songs further the plot, the melodies are beautifully unpredictable, and the songs themselves are completely original.  You've still got Cliff Edwards coming on stage to sing a random song in the middle of the action with his ukulele because his contract said so, but I accept all that.  The songs are just so damn good.  Also exciting on this LP is that George plays the piano for many of the tracks.  The LP itself is from the Smithsonian American Musical Theater Series-  so it has lots of fun historic stuff inside: info on the original production, old pictures, a great rundown of the plot and songs, giving each song it's dramatic function.  Overall, this is a fantastic recording.  Whoopee is coming up next on the list and it is from the same series.  I hope that will be as interesting (assuming I actually locate a copy somewhere).  

Until next time...