St. Louis Woman

構成数 : 1
合計収録時間 : 01:07:00
Music written by Harold Arlen. Lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Principal Cast: Vanessa L. Williams (Della Green); Chuck Cooper (Badfoot); Victor Trent Cook (Barney); Wendell Pierce (Mississippi); Stanley Wayne Mathis (Lil' Augie); Helen Goldsby (Lila); Yvette Cason (Butterfly); A.J. Baptiste-Cassell (Piggie); Jillian Hervey (Jackie); Tavia Rivee Jefferson (Celestine). Recorded at Edison Studios, New York, New York on July 2 & 6, 1998. Includes liner notes by Rob Fisher, Edward Jablonski, Jack Viertel. Lyricist: Johnny Mercer. Personnel: Chuck Cooper, Victor Trent Cook, Helen Goldsby, Reginald Pindell, Amy Jo Phillips, Jesse Means II, David Dean White, Laurie Williamson, Victor Cook, Wendell Pierce, Charles S. Dutton, Joseph Webster, Shelton Becton, Stanley Wayne Mathis, Vanessa Williams , Yvette Cason (vocals); Jay Berliner (guitar, banjo); Grace Paradise (harp); Belinda Whitney-Barratt, Suzanne Ornstein (violin); David Blinn, Mitsue Takayama, Jill Jaffe (viola); Joseph Thalken (cello, piano); Jeanne LeBlanc, Clay Ruede, Frederick Zlotkin (cello); Red Press (flute, alto flute, piccolo, clarinet, alto saxophone); Albert Regni (flute, clarinet, alto saxophone); Lawrence Feldman (flute, clarinet, tenor saxophone); John Campo (clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, baritone saxophone); Dennis Anderson (clarinet, oboe, English horn, tenor saxophone); Kamau Adilifu, Glenn Drewes, John Frosk (trumpet); Russ Rizner-French, Roger Wendt (French horn); Dave Bargeron (trombone, tuba); Jack Gale (trombone); John Redsecker (drums); Thad Wheeler (percussion). Audio Mixer: Cynthia Daniels. Liner Note Authors: Rob Fisher ; Rob Fisher; Emily Grishman; Edward Jablonski; Jack Viertel. Recording information: Edison Recording Studios, New York, NY (07/02/1998/07/06/1998). Ensembles: Reginald Pindell; Amy Jo Phillips; David White; Kimberly Michaels; Jesse Means II; David White; Laurie Williamson; Joseph Webster; David Omar White; Shelton Becton; Bobby Osborne. Photographer: Ray Lego. St. Louis Woman is a perfect example of the kind of "lost" musical championed by New York's City Center Encores! series, which presents concert versions of vintage shows featuring full scores, abbreviated books, and minimal staging. Primarily due to an inferior libretto by Arna Bontemps (based on her horse-racing novel, God Sends Sunday) and Countee Cullen (who died just before the start of rehearsals), St. Louis Woman was a flop, running only 113 performances, despite an excellent score by composer Harold Arlen and lyricist Johnny Mercer. But it made a star out of Pearl Bailey (even though she did not have the starring role), and a pop hit emerged from it, "Come Rain or Come Shine." Nevertheless, it might have been forgotten completely had not Mercer, the co-founder of Capitol Records, arranged for the label to record a collection of its songs as its first cast album. Along with "Come Rain or Come Shine," "Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home," "Legalize My Name," and "It's a Woman's Prerogative" (the last two sung by Bailey) entered the canon of Arlen-Mercer classics. Arlen tried to expand the show into an opera, Free and Easy, which had a disastrous tour of Europe at the end of the 1950s. After that, nobody tried to revive a show that had failed twice, and only the short 1946 cast album preserved the score. The 1998 Encores! production, starring Vanessa L. Williams and Charles S. Dutton, finally restored the score and its long-lost orchestrations, and Mercury Records, Williams' label, did well to record it. Unlike Bailey, Williams does have the starring role (originally intended for, but never played by, Lena Horne) and thus the opportunity to sing "Come Rain or Come Shine" and "Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home." But Helen Goldsby, in the second female lead, also makes an impression singing "I Had Myself a True Love," "I Wonder What Became of Me," and the vengeful "Sleep Peaceful, Mr. Used-to-Be," and Yvette Cason, in the third female lead originally occupied by Bailey, mak
録音 : ステレオ (Studio)