The Gay Life [Remaster]

構成数 : 1枚
合計収録時間 : 00:48:04
Principal cast: Barbara Cook (Liesl Brandel), Walter Chiari (Anatol), Jules Munshin (Max), Sterling Clark (Usher), Leonard Elliott (Franz), Jeanne Bal (Helene), Loring Smith (Herr Brandel), Lu Leonard (Frau Brandel), Yvonne Constant (Mimi), Michael Quinn (Proprietor), Jack Adams (The Great Gaston), Rico Froehlich (Otto, doorman), Ted Lambrinos, Russell Goodwin (waiters), Joanne Spiller (Grandmother), Elizabeth Allen (Magda). Recorded on Deceber 3, 1961. Digitally remastered by Robert Norberg. All songs written by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz. Includes liner notes and an interview with Barbara Cook by Ken Mandelbaum. Include liner notes by Barbara Cook. Personnel: Jules Munshin, Elizabeth Allen, Barbara Cook, Jeanne Bal, Walter Chiari (vocals). Audio Remasterer: Bob Norberg. Liner Note Authors: Barbara Cook; Ken Mandelbaum; Jonathan Schwartz. Director: Gerald Freedman. Unknown Contributor Roles: Andy Wiswell; Richard Jones . The 1961 Broadway musical The Gay Life was a failure, running only 113 performances and losing its entire investment. The reasons for that failure have been ascribed to the show's book, set in turn-of-the-century Vienna, concerning the last bachelor days of a womanizer, and to the casting of Walter Chiari in the leading role. But no one has blamed the score, which represented the reunion of composer Arthur Schwartz and lyricist Howard Dietz after 13 years. While no hits emerged from that score, it did boast several memorable songs, among them the ballads "Magic Moment" and "Something You Never Had Before," and the up-tempo gypsy number "Come A-Wandering With Me." Both of those ballads were sung by the cast's chief asset, Barbara Cook, in the role of the bride who finally ends the main character's philandering. But those are only the high points in a collection of songs that is consistently impressive. Schwartz and Dietz were better known for contemporary revues than for period book musicals, but the composer proved himself the equal of Richard Rodgers and Frederick Loewe in writing melodic waltzes, and the lyricist showed that his witty wordplay could work anywhere. The show's flaws are apparent on the cast recording, however, particularly when Chiari opens his mouth; his accent is so strong that it is sometimes difficult to make out the lyrics. But all is forgiven when Cook is the singer, and Elizabeth Allen, in her only number, turns "Come A-Wandering With Me" into a tour de force. The result is the kind of album likely to be appreciated more by theater music fans than the general public, though it makes the best of a musical that didn't work on-stage. ~ Matt Collar & William Ruhlmann
エディション : Remaster
録音 : モノラル／ステレオ (Studio)