It's another studio recording, not an actual recording of a cast that mounted and ran a production. That seems a bit like cheating. There must be things that you learn about the show, the music, the role during staging rehearsals and performances in front of an audience that don't get discovered when only working in a recording studio.
That said, I don't think there is another recording of Kurt Weill's Lady in the Dark, so I'm glad to have this one. Rise Stevens sings the role of Liza Elliot, the titular Lady. Ms. Stevens had a significant operatic career. I don't know if she did much Broadway or musicals in general. The extensive notes with this CD reissue quote her as saying that she could sing the music without sounding like an opera singer. Well...
The male lead is John Reardon, a Broadway baritone who had a cross-over career into classical music, too. Bernstein wrote an orchestral/vocal work for him and I believe Reardon originated some Broadway roles. Reardon's another of those John Raitt "real singer" types that I most admire. It's something about the vocal training of singers who performed before microphones were the amplification answer for musicals--they had to really sing! And John Reardon does, although he's not given a lot in Lady in the Dark.
Also in this studio cast is Adolph Green, of Comden and Green writing fame. He sings the "Tchaikovsky and Others" patter song made famous by Danny Kaye in the original production from 1941 (also on this recording as a bonus). There is good reason why Danny Kaye is remembered for this song and Adolph Green is not. The other bonus tracks sung by Kaye are a suprise to me--he had a very pleasant lightish voice with some actual legato to it. From a vaudvillian. And then he rolls off the names of 49 Russian composers in a minute and a half!
Lady in the Dark
Music by Kurt Weill
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin
Book by Moss Hart
1963 Studio Recording released by Columbia Records
CD reissue by Masterworks Heritage Vocal Series in 1997 by Sony Music Entertainment
Bonus tracks recorded in 1941 by Columbia Records
Cast: Rise Stevens, John Reardon, Adolph Green
That said, I don't think there is another recording of Kurt Weill's Lady in the Dark, so I'm glad to have this one. Rise Stevens sings the role of Liza Elliot, the titular Lady. Ms. Stevens had a significant operatic career. I don't know if she did much Broadway or musicals in general. The extensive notes with this CD reissue quote her as saying that she could sing the music without sounding like an opera singer. Well...
The male lead is John Reardon, a Broadway baritone who had a cross-over career into classical music, too. Bernstein wrote an orchestral/vocal work for him and I believe Reardon originated some Broadway roles. Reardon's another of those John Raitt "real singer" types that I most admire. It's something about the vocal training of singers who performed before microphones were the amplification answer for musicals--they had to really sing! And John Reardon does, although he's not given a lot in Lady in the Dark.
Also in this studio cast is Adolph Green, of Comden and Green writing fame. He sings the "Tchaikovsky and Others" patter song made famous by Danny Kaye in the original production from 1941 (also on this recording as a bonus). There is good reason why Danny Kaye is remembered for this song and Adolph Green is not. The other bonus tracks sung by Kaye are a suprise to me--he had a very pleasant lightish voice with some actual legato to it. From a vaudvillian. And then he rolls off the names of 49 Russian composers in a minute and a half!
Lady in the Dark
Music by Kurt Weill
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin
Book by Moss Hart
1963 Studio Recording released by Columbia Records
CD reissue by Masterworks Heritage Vocal Series in 1997 by Sony Music Entertainment
Bonus tracks recorded in 1941 by Columbia Records
Cast: Rise Stevens, John Reardon, Adolph Green
1 comment:
Hi
You may wish to check out the lavish technicolor version of "LADY IN THE DARK" (1944)
starring Ginger Rogers.
A rare vintage delight
Post a Comment