Jerome Kern's ROBERTA Full Studio Cast Recording

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 8/31/14 at 3:08am

I just stumbled across the listing for this on CastAlbums.org and thought I would spread the word here. It's being done by New World Records, who did a number of restoration recordings back in the '90s, more recently the Rodgers & Hart show DEAREST ENEMY.

Apparently they're using the original full orchestrations, which are always nice to hear for an old show like this. The only other readily available full-length recording is the Goddard Leiberson one from the '50s (and the significantly modified soundtracks), but I don't know if the orchestrations on that are close to the originals or not (the soundtracks certainly aren't).

It's nice to see that these types of recording are still being made by someone somewhere (although DEAREST ENEMY was a poor choice in my opinion). There are so many old scores that are intact somewhere but are never heard, at least in their original forms.
Amazon Listing

[mjohnson2]

Posted: 8/31/14 at 3:41am

Already preordered it. Very very excited to listen to it.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/31/14 at 3:41am

I've never even heard of this show! I'm curious though just from the composer and names involved. Although that album cover doesn't really scream musical comedy.

[Bdwyblues]

Posted: 8/31/14 at 8:43am

I worked on a production of ROBERTA in the early 1980's at what is now Maine State Music Theatre. Back then it was Brunswick Music Theater run by Victoria Crandall. The show starred Dorothy Stinnett as Madame Roberta along with Betsy Kiser, Ken Prescott and Ginger Prince. The exquisite fashion show (Gowns by Roberta) was designed by David Robinson. The score is beautiful and features the hit "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." Vicki Crandall often did operettas. I got to see and hear such shows as Blossom Time, The Student Prince, Song of Norway, and Bitter Sweet. Those scores are so beautiful. I eagerly look forward to the release of this CD.

[Demitri2]

Posted: 8/31/14 at 11:12am

One of my earliest summer stock experiences. The show actually played in a barn called the Gateway Playhouse in Bellport, Long Island. It starred an ancient Edward Everett Horton and SOUND OF MUSIC's Patricia Neway (who sang a lovely "Yesterdays"). I was impressed because at one point the younger female performer singing "I Won't Dance" sat in my lap and sang "Oooooh he's handsome!". For a twelve year old it made my summer (plus I was probably the only male sitting in the first row under sixty).

There are two film versions of the show. The more faithful 1935 version ROBERTA with Astaire and Rogers. And the retitled LOVELY TO LOOK AT from 1952.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/31/14 at 10:10pm

There was also a TV production in 1969, starring Bob Hope, John Davidson, Michelle Lee and Janis Paige.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371917/

[allofmylife]

Posted: 9/1/14 at 6:49pm

The original show in 1933 starred Bob Hope and a woman named Tamara who accompanied herself on the guitar as she sang "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." The chorus was packed with people who went on to long careers, including, I believe, Fred MacMurray, Alan Jones, Ray Middleton and George Murphy. Roberta was played by Fay Templeton, who starred in shows with George M. Cohan, thirty years earlier. Sidney Greenstreet was also in the show.

RKO bought the movie rights and put Astaire and Rodgers into second leads, after "Gay Divorce" it was a backward step for them but the quickly regained their star footings.

Updated On: 9/1/14 at 06:49 PM

[allofmylife]

Posted: 9/1/14 at 7:26pm

[Pawnee Bill]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 8:19am

The Goddard Lieberson recording isn't the only previous Roberta. Decca issued one sometime in the 1940s with Kitty Carlisle and Alfred Drake. It's on CD as we speak.

[jayinchelsea]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 9:10am

This should be an amazing recording, with such musical luminaries as Rob Berman and Larry Moore to provide a rediscovery (and for most of us, an introduction) to a remarkable score by one of the greatest theatre composers of the 20th century, Jerome Kern. I've preordered my copy, cannot wait! And with Rob Berman behind it, can an Encores production be far off?

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 11:02am

The songs "Yesterdays" and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" were sung by Irene Dunne in the first film version. "I'll Be Hard to Handle" is sung by Ginger and turns into a dance number.

The songs "I Won't Dance" and "Lovely to Look At" were not in the original production and were added for the film. Apparently the Gateway production kept "I Won't Dance." I wonder if other stage productions keep those numbers?

Of all the lovely songs, beginning with "Smoke Get in Your Eyes," It was "Lovely to Look At" that received the Oscar nomination. Go figure.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 11:37am

We really have the marvelous Larry Moore to thank for this recording. He worked tirelessly restoring the original Robert Russell Bennett orchestrations, beautifully interpreted for this recording by Rob Berman. I agree with the poster who suggested that an Encores production could be in the offing.

[tazber]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 12:56pm

Maybe AE can share some of his memories from Roberta's original run!

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 10:31pm

Of all the lovely songs, beginning with "Smoke Get in Your Eyes," It was "Lovely to Look At" that received the Oscar nomination. Go figure.

Didn't Oscar nominated songs have to be written specifically for the film in those days? "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" was in the original stage show and was already a monster hit by the time of the film.

Per posters above, "Lovely to Look At" was added for the film and, thus, eligible.

Or were rules different in those days?

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 10:50pm

^^^^^^
Originally a song merely had to be featured in a movie to be nominated, but when Jerome Kern's own "The Last Time I Saw Paris" won a few years in after having already been a huge hit Kern insisted the rules be changed.

Although all that actually happened many years after the film of ROBERTA had been made so "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" very well could have been nominated and could have even won (perhaps resulting in the rules being changed then instead?).

"Lullaby Of Broadway" was the actual winner, by the way.

Updated On: 10/22/14 at 10:50 PM

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 10/22/14 at 4:18pm

I finally got this recording!

I must say I enjoyed it quite a lot. It's very different from many of the other studio restorations, because it includes a boat-load of dialogue between songs as well as during them. Apparently that's the way the show was structured originally, in a rather progressive step for 1933 (of course it is by the composer of SHOW BOAT so that's no surprise). In the liner notes it likens it to a radio broadcast, which is very appropriate comparison.

The score itself is just a whole bunch of wonderful Kern songs, but all the dialogue does make it hard to listen to them individually at times. I think it works best for listening in one sitting rather than just selectively (the Goddard Leiberson set is still probably the best one for that). The songs themselves are a nice balance of "modern" songs of the period with more operetta-ish material.

The sound is very good, and the orchestrations are wonderful to hear. There's a great deal of dance music and such that shows off the wonderful orchestra. The cast is very good too, even when having to work with pesky Russian or Polish accents.

One of the things I found most astonishing was the plot itself and the historical context. I had only passing familiarity with the basics of the story, but there's quite a lot I was unaware of, especially the part regarding Russian nobility having to work as servants due to the Russian Revolution (a similar conceit is used in the play and musical TOVARICH I believe). It really is a lovely story, if not a bit melodramatic at times.

The notes go into great detail with all of the historical context (perhaps too much detail) in addition to including a lovely bio of Kern himself and detailed notes on the reconstruction and adaptation of the surviving materials for the recording, as most of these recordings do.

One final note: The reprises of "Let's Begin" would give the infamous title song from THE LAST SHIP a run for it's money.

[Fantod]

Posted: 10/22/14 at 4:30pm

Mr. Nowack, how would you compare this to the 1952 studio cast?

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 10/22/14 at 7:23pm

They should bring this show back!

[Rinaldo]

Posted: 10/22/14 at 9:17pm

// Originally a song merely had to be featured in a movie to be nominated, but when Jerome Kern's own "The Last Time I Saw Paris" won a few years in after having already been a huge hit Kern insisted the rules be changed. //

While that's true, there seems previously to have been a gentlemen's agreement among writers and producers that songs from a stage show would not be submitted for nomination when the show was filmed -- only "new" songs were considered suitable. "The Last Time I Saw Paris" was relatively new, and had never been in a stage show, but it had in fact been performed and recorded a great deal in the year before its film's release. So Kern got the rules tightened up.

In the case of "Roberta," there were only two songs that hadn't been in the Broadway musical; "I Won't Dance" was actually salvaged from Kern's London show "Three Sisters," so "Lovely To Look At" was the only eligible song.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 10/22/14 at 11:52pm

Re: The Goddard Leiberson album

I'd still say that the '52 version is best for just casual listening for just the songs, but I find this new recording to be a better one overall. I like a great deal of the voices better, as well as the very fine Robert Russell Bennet orchestrations, which I suppose must have largely been considered "lost" in the early '50s. The guitar parts sprinkled throughout are especially lovely, as well as a few sections with some beautiful xylophone accents.

There are also the obvious perks of it being a double disc set in stereo, allowing for a ton of material not on the other disc and far better fidelity. I quite like the two Schwarenka specialty numbers "Clementina" & "Hot Spot" which are both absent from the '52 album. There's also the lovely incidental music and dance arrangements. Some of the songs like "The Touch Of Your Hand" and even the famous "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" play much better for me within the context of the scenes they were written for, as opposed to standalone pieces where they're kind of just there.

I've always been slightly annoyed by the glacial tempos on some tracks from the Leiberson discs (OH, KAY has some of the slowest ever), in this case "Yesterdays." On the new recording it's relatively short (2 minutes) and has a pretty swift countermelody whereas on the '52 recording it stretches out to four and has a very lugubrious arrangement.

Like many of the Leiberson recordings ROBERTA was done in a very slow "easy listening" style, which while lovely lacks a certain livelihood that this new recording has. Overall I'd say the new recording has more life than the rather business-like earlier version. That's probably because it was done as if it were an actual performance instead of like a '50s era pop music album.

They're still both really great albums of a great score, and it all depends on what you're looking for.

Updated On: 10/22/14 at 11:52 PM

[Pawnee Bill]

Posted: 12/12/14 at 6:24pm

The old Lieberson recording is a bit sleepy, though Kaye Ballard's numbers are terrific. Anyway, the Kitty Carlisle Decca version is very theatrical, with a cast (including Alfred Drake and Paula Laurence) that could easily have played the show if it had been produced in the 1940s instead of in 1933.

And while it is good to have the complete score with the original orchestrations, this isn't one of those "big" Kern scores with a ton of songs, like Show Boat, Sweet Adeline, Music in the Air, and The Cat and the Fiddle. Frankly, I found all the talking on the new CD set extremely tiresome. For all the music you get, this could easily have been a single CD. And I bet they would sell a lot more copies that way.

[elmore3003]

Posted: 12/14/14 at 11:06am

Well, Pawnee bill, Peter filichia disagrees with you:
http://www.kritzerland.com/filichia.htm