Original Cast Recording- Fiddler On The Roof

This Broadway gem was $4. This is the second appearance of this production this month.  If you want to learn more about its legacy, I would suggest doubling back to that post, watching the video below, or just going straight to Google for your queries.

 

As the video so neatly states, Fiddler came out at a precarious time for musicals (1964).  With the arrival of the Beatles, rock and roll became the dominate force in popular American music.  Before this, pop music was musical theater.  It was a tectonic shift of sorts but as a result, musical theater would re-invent itself in the second half of the sixties as well as later decades. Anyway, despite this trend, the songs from Fiddler were a smash hit (along with the musical itself) and remain so to this day, a testament to their place in Broadway history.

Zero Mostel originated the role of Tevye on the stage.  However, during rehearsals, Mostel feuded with director/choreographer Jerome Robbins, due to Robbins testimony in front of the House on Un-American Activities Committee.  The original production also featured Maria Kanilova as Tevye’s wife Goldie as well as Bea Arthur as the matchmaker.

The show, which opened Sept of 1964,  was a massive success with a run of 3,242 shows, the first Broadway production to run over 3,000.  For awhile, it became the longest running show on Broadway. Today it ranks #16 of all time.  The production also won 9 Tony’s including Best Musical.  Numerous revivals and productions have been staged around the world as well.

For a sample, I went with what is probably my favorite song from the production and one that due to being an ensemble piece, does not make it on many of the Fiddler records I find.  That would be “Tevye’s Dream” whereas to convince his wife let their daughter marry the tailor, Tevye concocts a dream whereas their dead relatives come back from the dead to warn of ill consequences should their daughter marry the butcher.  Pretty macabre stuff.  Again,  there were a lot of great moments on this record but I fear a may not get another chance to post this song again.

Satisfactory record.

Original Cast Recording- Camelot

Well, here is a gem of Broadway that I purchased for $4.  I posted the movie soundtrack I believe in February of last year during my salute to the Oscars.  On some levels, I found it quite silly on the surface to have a great classical Shakespearean actor like Richard Burton singing about Camelot.  However, I believe his participation in this production helped hold it together at critical moments to become the success it was.  Also, it is no sillier than Richard Harris in the movie.

Camelot was the follow up musical for the team of Lerner and Lowe, fresh off their success with My Fair Lady. The duo had some success earlier with Brigadoon and Paint Your Wagon. With music by the Austrian-American Frederick Lowe and book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, the musical was based off T.H. White’s novel, The Once and Future King.

Expectations were high after MFL, and Lowe threatened to make this his last work if it were not successful.  The show as a bit rough around the edges but seemed to improve in part tp the strong cast which featured Burton, the breakout star of MFL, Julie Andrews, and Roddy McDowell among others.

An early out of town premier ran for over four hours, leading Noel Coward to remark that it was “longer than Gotterdammerung …… and not nearly as funny”.  There is another funny antidote about Andrews being given the song  “Before I Gaze At You Again'” just before a preview leading Andrews to quip “Of course, darling, but do try to get it to me the night before.” Personal problems also came from every direction, including Lerner’s wife leaving him and director Moss Hart’s heart attack.  Throughout the ordeals, I am told by Wikapedia that Burton held the production together and calmed the fears and anxieties of the other actors.

Initial reviews of the previews were mixed but thanks to television and Ed Sullivan, the cast of the show got to make their case to the American public.   Sullivan had asked Lerner and Lowe to help celebrate the 5 year anniversary of MFL.  The duo decided instead to focus on Camelot, performing 4 songs from the show.   Not only did this boost word of mouth and drive pre-sale tickets.

It also made a star out of Canadian Robert Goulet, who as Sir Lancelot, made his Broadway debut with this.  As a result, “If I Ever Leave You” became his signature song.

Camelot opened on December 3rd, 1960.  It ran for 873 performances and spawned the 1967 movie which as mentioned above has been on this blog.  Furthermore, it won 4 Tonys in 1961 including Best Actor in a Musical for Burton.  And although critics were initially mixed, the work has seemed to grow in stature over the years.  Several revivals have been staged and the songs still remain popular. 

This album, itself was hugely popular at the time, being a #1 record in the US and the top selling for 60 weeks. This is back when Broadway music was American pop music(All this, we shall see, will change in three years).Despite this success, the hardships suffered proved to be too much for Lerner and Lowe as this was their last major collaboration other than the stage adaption of their film Gigi and the film, The Little Prince.  Coincidentally, the director Hart died of another heart attack in 1961, making this his last work as well.

Having gone to Harvard with Lerner, John F. Kennedy was a huge fan of the work and claimed to listen the album at bedtime quite frequently.  His favorite line was the one at the end where a haggard King Arthur tells a young boy “Don’t let it be forgot, That once there was a spot, For one brief, shining moment , That was known as Camelot “.  As a result, Kennedy’s administration gained the Camelot moniker.

The album itself is pretty good and features some great performances by the principles.  Obviously Andrews and Goulet are among the talented singers, but the numbers by Burton and McDowell are not bad either.

For a sample, I decided to go with what I thought was a quintessential Andrews-type song ” Then You May Take Me To The Fair”.  Then I thought , what makes this a quintessential Andrews song other than the fact that she sings it?  Well, for me, I guess that is all it takes.  Anyway, this song was cut from the original production after around a month or so. Here is Andrews as a conniving Queen Guinevere, enlisting knights to destroy Sir Lancelot, for whom she does not know she is in love with yet. Oddly enough it appeared on the film version.  I also went with what is perhaps the climax number, “Guinevere”.

Really great little album.  Satisfactory.

Orginal Broadway Cast- Oklahoma

Well, there is no tribute to Broadway without this, which I purchased for $3. This production launched the beginning of the Golden Age of the Broadway Musical.  This groundbreaking work paved the way for many things which seem standard today.

Oklahoma! really separated two eras of Broadway musicals and gave way to the rise of the “book”musical as the dominate art form.  As opposed to musical follies or productions where the songs were simply vehicles for the star and unrelated to the story, the book musical used music and lyrics to advance the story line.  This form was kicking around here and there before, most notably in 1927’s Showboat but Oklahoma! came to symbolize the genre and therefore changed all of Broadway thereafter.

Both principle’s Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein were well established before they teamed up in the early 40’s.  Rodgers had his share of success working with lyricist Lorenz Hart.  Hammerstein had also worked with a myriad of music writers including Jerome Kern on the aforementioned Showboat.  Both men had entertained the idea of converting the earlier play Green Grow The Lilacs into a musical.  However, Kern had refused to work on this production and Hart had sunk into a great depression that would eventually lead to his death.  Thus, Rodgers asked Hammerstein (who incidentally had six flops in a row and was starting to have self doubt) to partner up and thus history was made.  As a side note, the partnership worked well for both men’s habits.  As opposed to their former partners, Hammerstein preferred to write the lyrics first before the music was written as Rodgers preferred to write the music to lyrics.

Two other interesting aspects to this production, Oklahoma! was cast with singers who could act as opposed to actors who could sing, and as a result, there were really no big stars on opening night.  Furthermore, one of the musicals most notable features was the 15 minute dream ballet, choreographed by Agnes DeMille, niece of Cecil.  It is not only the use of dance but the importance of it in explaining the character’s feelings that make it truly groundbreaking.

During out of town tryouts, producer Mike Todd walked out of the first act noting that the show had no chance of success.  However when retooled and debuted on Broadway in March of 1943, Oklahoma! was a smash hit with critics and audiences.  Due to the unprecedented demand for tickets, the show ran for five years or 2,212 performances, a record at the time. National tours followed along with a big screen adaptation in 1955, various revivals, and performances around 75% of the high schools in this country. Unfortunately, there were no Tony awards in 1943 so none to be won.  However, I found it interesting that his former partner, Hart, told Rodgers upon viewing. that it was the best evening he ever experienced in theater, before dying later in the year.

Another groundbreaking fact, when Decca Records released a set six 10 inch 78 rpm’s from the musical, it was the first original cast recording from a Broadway production (for all practical purposes), paving the way for many more for many years.   This set was a success as well, selling over a million copies.  Due to this, the set was repackaged and reissued thru the years.  This record, is a 1955 re-issue.

Here on this record, the original cast and chorus belt out some of the songs which by now are Broadway standards.  Cast members Alfred Drake ( Curly) , Joan Roberts, (Laurie), Howard Da Silva (Jud), Lee Dixon (Will Parker), and Celeste Holm (Aldo Annie) all shine on this effort.  Pretty good album despite not having my favorite song, “The Farmer and the Cowhand Should Be Friends” on it. Personally, and I think I made it known on some older posts, my interest in Oklahoma! has waned over the years, although I still do like the songs.  However, I still feel that Jud got a bad deal in the story. But since the movie version has both Shirley Jones and Gloria Grahame in it, it will always get watched by me.

But for a sample, I went with one of my favorite numbers, the duet between lovers Will Parker and Aldo Annie, “All or Nothing”.

Not sure why I felt the need to write a book about this but it is done so there.  Satisfactory.

 

Herschel Bernardi- Sings Fiddler On The Roof

This was one dollar.  October is Donkey Show salute to the musicals of old Broadway.  If you look at the last century of musical theater, hand down without comparison, America has produced the most important works of the genre, and this one, Fiddler On The Roof, is one of the best.

Opening on Broadway in 1964, it surpassed 3,000 shows to become at the time, the longest running show until being surpassed by Grease.  Today it still ranks #16. The show was based on Sholem Aleichem’s stories of Tevye and his daughters, with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and book by Joseph Stein. The 1964 production would be nominated for 10 Tony’s, winning 9.

Many of the songs have become musical standards including “Tradition”, “If I Were A Rich Man”, “Matchmaker, Matchmaker”, “The Sabbath Prayer”, “To Life” , and “Sunrise, Sunset”.  Furthermore, the songs have been covered by a diverse array of artists including these two which have been featured on the blog and have become among my favorites.

Fiddler Post 1

Fiddler Post 2

The original role of Tevye went to Zero Mostel.  However, sometime in 1965, Mostel split and Herchel Bernardi assumed the role.  Other notable actors have been Mostel’s understudy Paul Lipson, Theodore Bikel, and Topol. all of which whom clocked 2,000 or more performances as the character.  Topol would later star in the 1971 film version.

This recording , from 1966 perhaps, is a collection of 10 songs, 8 from the what was the current production as well as two from the original production.  For a sample, I went with one of these two numbers, “When Messiah Comes”.

Satisfactory

Original Broadway Cast- Hair

 

Huh! This was one dollar.  Keepin it all musical this month on the Show.  Mostly book musical.

Hair, the 1968 production was the first rock musical to hit Broadway.  Created by two actors Gerome Ragni and James Rado who wrote the books and lyrics along with Galt MacDermot, who wrote the music, the work is noted for its anti-war stance, audience interaction, illicit drug use, profanity, and full frontal nudity.

Well not every actor went along with the nudity.  Despite receiving a $50 bonus for nude work, a young Diane Keaton, who was a memeber of the “tribe” as well as an understudy for the role of Shelia, refused.  Incidentally, Keaton appears on this record as on of the singers on “Black Boys”.

I went thru the musical’s synopsis a few times and honestly can not in great detail describe the plot any more than say this a bunch of hippies doing hippie shit.  As a result, when it was adapted into a movie in 1979, substantial changes were made including adding an actual story.  The movie stared Treat Williams as Berger.  As a side note, for the year and a half I did not have cable TV in my house, I reckon I must have seen every Treat Williams’ movie on Antenna Tv.

But the actual musical (which was first championed by the illustrious Joe Papp and his public theater) was a success and ran on Broadway for 1,750 shows,  Subsequent productions ran on the West Coast as well as  London’s West End.  Frequent revivals have also been staged throughout the years. Furthermore, this album sold 3 million copies by the end of 1969.  It stayed on the #1 spot for 13 weeks and was the last Broadway recording to do so (Hamilton went as far as #3). The musical numbers also spawned hits for various people inlcuding teh 5th Dimension, the Cowsills (which is crazy),  Oliver, Three Dog Night, and Nina Simone.

Well, for a sample, I went with the closing number which has a rousing chorus part , “Flesh Failures (Let The SunShine In)”.

Satisfactory.