Weill/ Brecht- Die Dreigroschenoper ( Threepenny Opera)

Here is something I bought out of my enjoyment of the music of Kurt Weill. I was not sure what it was as it was a German record from 1967 and the liner notes were in that language. I paid $2 for this.

I mean I could have painstakingly translated the German text but we are not doing that so here we are with a record of songs from the Weill/ Brecht work, Die Dreigroschenoper or to those who speak English, the Threepenny Opera. The songs on side one are abridged versions featuring original cast members such as Lotte Lenya and Kurt Geron as well as Willy Trenk-Trebitsch who is most famous for his portrayal of MacHeath.

There is some narration at the start of some numbers. The second side is split between some of the songs from the work in French as well as some songs from Mahagonny. Overall, it is a decent record. I would have preferred the fuller versions, however.

For samples, I went with “Eifersuchsduett”/ “Jealousy Duet”featuring Lenya and Erika Helmke. From side two, I went with “Chant des Canons”/ Cannon Song” from Albert Prejean and Jacques Henley as well as “Alabama Song”, again from Lenya. For reference, you can hear these songs in English from a post here.

Satisfactory Record.

Eifersuchtsduett
Chant des Canons
Alabama Song

Lester Lanin and his Orchestra- Have Band, Will Travel

Some months, when I pick out records, I will start to notice a lean into one genre or another and will then go with it. I kind of did that with minor big bands and their leaders. So let’s kick things off with this, which I got for $4, probably for the songs. I also liked the cover.

Enter Lester Lanin, born in Philly in 1907. Lanin was a band leader to high society, playing balls and galas for the wealthy,celebrities, and high society thru the 1930’s to the 1990’s. He played in the White House for inaugural balls from Eisenhower onward. He also played at a party for Frank Zappa in the 70’s. He was known for his long and smoothly arranged medley’s, which make up this album. Lanin died in 2004 at age 97. I believe his band still lives on today. Slow Internet keeps me from looking into this further, but feel free to explore on your own at the bands webpage,

Released by Epic Records in 1958 . in Stereorama, we have this record of medleys from various sources and eras ( although the Broadway influence, not doubt cemented this purchase for me). Decent record. Lanin no doubt had a knack at stringing together songs in a seamless fashion.

For a sample, I went with the second medley on the record, which leans heavily on two of my favorite musicals, Guys and Dolls and The Music Man. Here we have “Guys and Dolls/ If I were A Bell/ Top Hat, White Tie. and Tails/ Til There Was You/ 76 Trombones”.

Satisfactory.

Medley 2

Mantovani- Theme From Carnival

Here is a record I got from that King of Strings, Mantovani. I paid $1.00 for this. There were enough Broadway songs I knew on this. I am not sure if I am ironic buying these Mantovani albums or not.

Anyway, here is this one from London Records in 1961, with Mantovani applying his easy listening touch to the likes of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Lowe, Porter, Loesser, and the like. Pretty decent stuff. I was leaning towards “I Feel Pretty” for a while but ultimately went with “Til There Was You” from Meredith Wilson’s Music Man. I felt it was the better song as well as a better representation of Mantovani’s string sound as compared to “Pretty”.

Satisfactory.

Til There Was You

OCR- A Little Night Music

In terms of the 5 year anny, that is being celebrated this month, here is a record from the hit Stephen Sondheim musical, A Little Night Music. Earlier I had posted the West End version as well as the movie soundtrack. Well, here is where it all began. I paid $3.60 for this.

The original Broadway musical, directed by Harold Prince with book by Hugh Wheeler, opened Feb 25, 1973 and played 601 shows/ 12 previews. It also cleaned up at the 1974 Tony’s winning Best Book, Best Score, Best Leading Actress for Glynis Johns, Best Featured Actress for Patrica Elliot, Best Costume Design, and Best Musical, beating out Bob Fosse’s Pipin.

The idea for the musical made up of waltzes had been kicked around by Sondhiem and Prince for sometime, I believe. I should also note that the musical is based on the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night.

Pretty good effort by all involved, including Len Cariou who I believe was also in the film version but am too lazy to click a link back to verify. For a sample, I am going with the “Overture” which is both haunting and beautiful and perhaps the best opening since Carousel. I also decided to go with “Glamorous Life” as I feel I got hosed on the film soundtrack.

Finally, I decided to throw a bone to someone who was woefully overlooked on both the West End and film soundtrack, Hermione Gingold with “Liaisons”.

I get that I am short on a lot of information here, but I would really be rehashing what I have said on older posts. Pretty good record. Of course, I am partial to Jean Simmons and the West End production, but this is still fine indeed. Satisfactory.

Overture
Glamorous Life
Liaisons

The English National Opera Production featuring Eric Idle/ Gilbert & Sullivan- Highlights from The Mikado

I really wanted to play this earlier but given that this has both Eric Idle and Gilbert & Sullivan, posting this during our 5 year anniversary month just made more sense. I can’t recall if I paid $1 or .80 cents for this.

This record from MCA Classics in 1987 features perhaps the best known work of one of my favorites (and frequent blog subjects) Gilbert & Sullivan as well as Monty Python legend Idle (also a favorite and semi-frequent subject).

Whereas Gilbert was knighted in 1907, Sullivan, the composer of the dynamic duo, received the honor way back in 1883. It is noteworthy that Gilbert got his after Queen Victoria’s death, as the good Queen was quite partial to Sullivan, encouraging him to ditch his partner and focus on serious music. In reality, both men’s work independent of each other is of little importance. Stick to ruling the world Queen Vic because you know nothing of music.

As of this writing, Eric Idle has yet to receive knighthood and lives in Los Angeles.

This record is from the English National Opera’s 1987 production of The Mikado. In what seems as if it were drawn from today’s climate, the show was set in a 1920’s style Grand Hotel. Idle was featured in the comical role of Ko-Ko, (which was once performed by Groucho Marx here). He was joined by Lesley Garrett as Yum-Yum, and by who I think is the lead female role of the work, Felicity Palmer as Katisha. The whole thing can be seen in two acts on YouTube. I find this coming full circle pretty funny give G&S’s struggle with piracy of their works during their lifetimes.

This record features the highlights of the work, since it is only one record. They did not include the Act II Finale, which I think is a mistake. However, all the other classic bits are here and well performed at that.

Well, I am going to err on the side of more samples, rather than fewer. Also, I am going to post songs which I have posted before from this work mainly because they are the best songs but also I wanted to highlight Idle’s performance. Let’s start with “Behold the Lord High Executioner” (which if I remember right features Pooh-Bah performed by Richard Van Allen) followed by “Here’s a Howdy Do” in which Idle is joined by Garrett and Bonaventura Bottone, who played Nanki Poo. Next, we have one of my favorites, “There is Beauty in the Bellows of the Blast” with Idle and Palmer. Finally, we have “Three Little Maids from School” with Garrett, Jean Rigby, and Susan Bullock. I included this as I felt it was probably the best version I have heard since starting this blog.

Satisfactory.

Behold The Lord High Executioner
Here’s A How De Do
There is Beauty In The Bellows Of The Blast
Three Little Maids From School

VA- Starlight Express

I am pretty embarrassed to post this, due to content as well as the fact that this is the second Andre Lloyd Webber piece this month and speak ill of by scheduled skills. The day I bought this, I also bought a rather impressive work that will be featured in April. I felt that these two purchases canceled each other out. I paid $1 for this.

Well, here is this then, a compilation of songs from the uneven Webber musical Starlight Express, released after the musical and not before (which was the typical style for Webber productions). Produced by Phil Ramone and featuring El DeBarge, Richie Havens, Josie Aiello, and Peter Hewlett among others, it is a tribute to the music rather than the production.

Despite the thinly layered disdain I have for this, I actually had a tough time picking a sample. After going back and forth, I went with “Engine of Love” by Earl Jordan. According to the liner notes, Webber produced this in 1977 and considers it “the grandfather of the whole project”.

As much as I want to go low, I only paid $1 so I will call this a satisfactory record.

Engine of Love

OCR- Two Gentlemen of Verona

I was very curious about this album, knowing beforehand that it won the Best Musical Tony in 1972 over Follies and Grease, two musicals which not only have appeared on this blog, but have also enjoyed a significant longer life via revivals. I also knew the music for this was written by Canadian Gait MacDermot (1928-2018), who had written the score for Hair. I was quite curious to hear something else he had done. I paid $5 for this.

Two Gentlemen of Verona, produced by boundary pushing Joseph Papp, debuted in 1971 and ran for 614 performaces. With a book by John Guare (who also wrote the lyrics) and Mel Shapiro (who also directed), the story follows Shakespeare’s comedy (which was one of his first and weakest plays).

The original production stared Jonelle Allen, Diana Davila, Clifton Davis, and Raul Julia as the principals. According to Wikipedia, both Jeff Goldblum and Stockard Channing served in the chorus.

For what ever reason, as hinted on above, this work did not have the shelf life of the other Best Musical nominees. Why ? I do not know. Perhaps the music is too seventies. I did find the album quite enjoyable. When the music takes off, it does so majestically.

For samples, I went with what was my favorite song on the record “Thurio’s Samba” which I must warn will get stuck in your head. I also decided to go with “I Am Not Interested In Love” , Finally, I went with “What Does A Lover Pack” as it was sung by Raul Julia and has some pretty funny unintended third person references.

I liked this album enough. I thought it was quite fine effort, Satisfactory.

Thurio’s Samba
I Am Not Interested In Love
What Does A Lover Pack

OCR- Cats

As I happened to spend two weekends on the west side of town, I stopped in twice at Half Price Books out on Westheimer. I saw this for $2 the first trip but did not buy it. I thought about it for a full week before picking it up upon my second visit. By now, the movie version has come out. If I was quicker (or not so ahead of myself), perhaps I would have timed this post to coincide with the movie. Or perhaps, it is generating enough Oscar buzz to still be relevant. (ED NOTE. I wrote this way before the movie came out which is being acknowledged as a flop although a cult following is building) Incidentally, the cashier remarked that she the cover looked like her similar cat t-shirt which she was wearing that day.

Well no matter what you think of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s adaptation of TS Elliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, the work itself is both one of West End’s and Broadway’s longest running shows (8,949 and 7,485 performances respectively). It also won the Best Musical Tony and its British cousin, the Olivier. The musical became a cultural phenomenon, shifting the field of what musicals could be.

There are some critics that feel it ushered in the Golden Age of British Musical Theater as well as the era of the Mega Musical. Others feel that it is the equivalent of the “mega budget Hollywood action film”. I m among the latter opinion , thus making Webber the musical equivalent of Michael Bay. It should also be noted that Webber sunk a considerable amount of his own resources in this production and its failure would have no doubt ably meant financial ruin for the composer.

The most famous piece from this production is no doubt “Memory”, sung by the fading Grizabella. This song is one that I often reference when my friend’s have pets which are ever so in the latter stages of their life. It should also be noted that this was a last minute addition to the production.

A live action film, referenced in the first paragraph, was made last year and has probably been out for some time, barring some catastrophic incident which may have turned society against cats, let us all pray. Directed by Tom Hopper. the film stars Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift, James Cordon, Idris Elba, Ian McKellen, and Judi Dench, who was supposed to star in the original musical but snapped her Achilles tendon during rehearsals. I suppose I bought this album to refresh myself before seeing the movie which I also suppose I should have a review for this summer, given my current rate of knocking out posts.

Regardless, here is this record from the West End Cast, featuring Wayne Sleep, Paul Nicholas, Brian Blessed and Elaine Page. To finish out the details, the effort was produced by Cameron Mackintosh and Webber’s Really Useful Group and directed by Trevor Nunn. This record was released by Polydor in 1981, the same year the musical debuted on the West End.

For a sample, I went with “The Old Gumbie Cat” sung by Jennyanydots, sung by Myra Sands. Sands was Dench’s understudy. Dench was originally set to play both Grizabella and Jennyanydots. The role of Grizabella most famously went to Elaine Paige.

As much as I dislike this musical, I can not ignore its popularity as well as its cultural significance. Satisfactory record.

The Old Gumbie Cat

OCR- Applause

I got this for $6 mostly because it was Broadway and Lauren Bacall and I was unaware the two went together. I failed to see the list of accolades this production won on the cover.

Applause, with book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Charles Strouse , and lyrics by Lee Adams, (Stouse and Adams were the team behind Bye Bye Birdie), was based on the 1950 film All About Eve, which was based on Mary Orr’s short story “The Wisdom of Eve. When the principles started writing this, they did not have the rights to the movie and could not use any of the dialog or characters created for said movie. By the time writing was done, Twentieth Century Fox relented and granted the musical full rights to the movie but by that time, the story was pretty much set. A musical number tilted “Fasten Your Seat Belts” was an exception

Applause opened at the Palace Theater in 1970 and ran for 896 performances. It won a Best Musical Tony as well as Best Direction, Best Choreography, and Best Actress for its star Bacall. I was somewhat surprised to learn that this was the first major award she had ever won.

Bacall was much intrigued with the role as she was approaching mid-age much like the main character Margo Channing. A TV version was made which also features Bacall.

The cast is rounded out by Len Cariou, Robert Mandan, Ann Williams, Brandon Maggart, Penny Fuller, Lee Roy Reams, and One Day At A Time’s Bonnie Franklin. As far as the album goes, I really liked it. I thought the songs were catchy and to the point. I particularity liked “She’s No Longer A Gypsy”, a song about understudies who grab the spotlight, along with a shout out to Shirley MacLaine.

Another fun fact, this is one of the half dozen productions George Steinbrenner helped finance before buying the Yankees. If you are looking for the back cover, it was the exact same as the front.

For samples, I went with the star. Here is Bacall with “But Alive’ as well as “Welcome to the Theater. I thought these were really good numbers. Given her gravely voice, I did not put much stock in Bacall when I bought this. However, I felt she hit it out of the park.

Satisfactory.

But Alive
Welcome To The Theater

Percy Faith- My Fair Lady

I originally bought this for 80 cents, just because the price was good enough to check out. I bought this again for $2 because Julie Andrews was on the cover.

This album was originally released in 1956 by Columbia. It was released in 1964, electronically re-channeled for stereo (possible to coincide with the success of the movie version). I forget which version I listened to for this. I know which one, I am giving away though. Sorry Audrey. I have always had a place in my heart for Andrews.

Not that she had much to do with this record which is bandleader Percy Faith going thru some of the bigger songs of this production. Depsite how I feel about the show in general, you can not argue with the music, allthough I am no Faith fan and feel the interpretations are quite bland.

Well sample we must so here we are with “With A Little But Of Luck”.

Sorry but again, I just don’t really like Percy Faith. Meh.

With A little Bit Of Luck