Rodgers and Hart recordings

[Fantod]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 12:56am

So I have the 1953 studio cast of The Boys from Syracuse, but I am looking for other good Rodgers and Hart recordings, specifically trying to decide between the 1951 recording of Babes in Arms, the 1989 concert, and the 1999 concert to buy. Any recommendations for that show as well as other great Rodgers and Hart scores to buy?

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 1:05am

I'd suggest the Encores! 1999 for Babes. Also the 2002 revival of On Your Toes and the two volume set of Ella Fitzgerald sings Rodgers & Hart. The 1967 Off-Broadway revival of By Jupiter is also a lot of fun.

[inception]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 1:34am

I really like the 1952 cast recording of Pal Joey. It has Elaine Stritch's performance of "Zip" that reportedly brought down the house every night.

[NoName3]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 2:06am

Babes in Arms - the 1951 studio recording is pleasant but far from complete with bland new orchestrations. It's a toss-up between the 1989 recording (which preserves concerts given at NJPAC and Town Hall in Manhattan) and the 1999 Encores recording. Both use the original orchestrations, have good casts, and include virtually the entire score. The 1989 recording omits "All Dark People Are Light On Their Feet" because the lyric is now considered racist. The Encores recording retitles it "Light On Their Feet" and omits only most of the lyric; Encores staged it as a dance number.

Boys From Syracuse - The 1997 Encores recording has no peer (Amazon incorrectly lists it as a studio recording). It includes virtually the entire score, including most of the dance music, and uses then newly restored orchestrations of the 1937 originals. The cast can't be beat -- Rebecca Luker, Debbie Gravitte, Sarah Uriarte Berry, Davis Gaines, Malcolm Gets, Danny Burstein, etc., etc., etc. The 1950s studio cast is a pleasant 2nd recording to have but despite excellent work from Portia Nelson and Jack Cassidy, it is again basically a highlights disc with bland orchestrations. The 1960's revival recording is fun but likewise it should be a second recording.

On Your Toes - the 1983 revival cast with Lara Teeter, the divine Christine Andreas, George S. Irving and Dina Merrill is heaven, with most of the extensive dance music and Hans Spialek's original orchestrations conducted by John Mauceri. The 1954 Bobby Van revival cast recording, which interpolates "You Took Advantage of Me" for Elaine Stritch, is excellent but it's definitely first choice for a second recording.

Pal Joey - a real toss-up between the classic 1950 Columbia studio recording with Vivienne Segal, the original Vera, and Harold Lang as Joey, and the 1995 Encores recording with Patti Lupone and Peter Gallagher. Many people used to think the 1950 recording is the cast recording of the 1952 revival because it has the same stars, but the recording's success is what led to the revival, which ran longer than the original production with Gene Kelley. The performances are iconic but the score is slightly abridged and the recording has mono sound. The 1995 Encores recording with Patti Lupone and Peter Gallagher is practically complete (and even includes a cut song) and is first rate all the way around but it still can't replace the earlier recording. You should have both.

The 1952 revival did receive a cast recording from Decca which was out of print for over 40 years. But Jane Froman and Dick Beavers replaced Segal and Lang because the latter two were under exclusive contract to Columbia. And since Columbia had its own recent recording with those two, it wasn't interested in doing the cast recording. The recording has cuts and the lyrics are bowdlerized -- the best things about it are Stritch and Helen Gallagher. An interesting third recording to have but definitely not first choice.

And as Wilmingtom suggested, Ella. Always.

Updated On: 11/13/14 at 02:06 AM

[StageStruckLad]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 10:15am

NoName, I see what you mean, but technically the Encores Boys From Syracuse is a studio recording since the cast went into a studio to record it. It wasn't recorded during a live performance, as in the Encores live recording of Pipe Dream. I guess it would have been more accurate to label it as "The Encores Cast Recording."

And what a great recording it is! Nothing makes me happier than hearing the original arrangement and orchestrations for "Sing For Your Supper."

[Fantod]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 10:25am

NoName3, thanks so much for those recommendations. Also, I believe the 1952 cast album was rereleased by Angel in 1993, though I haven't heard good things about it.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 12:41pm

I would also get a copy of Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers and Hart Songbook. It was the second of Ella's massive project of recording the songbooks of the great American songwriters, and it is filled with wonderful arrangements by Buddy Bregman.

They're not the Broadway arrangements, but since R&H songs were sung for decades by every pop and jazz singer in the world, Ella's collection of 34 songs becomes a baseline from which every other singer can be measured. The collection has the following songs:



Have You Met Miss Jones?
You Took Advantage Of Me
A Ship Without A Sail
To Keep My Love Alive
Dancing On The Ceiling
The Lady Is A Tramp
With A Song In My Heart
Manhattan
Johnny One Note
I Wish I Were In Love Again
Spring Is Here
It Never Entered My Mind
This Can't Be Love
Thou Swell
My Romance
Where Or When
Little Girl Blue
Give It Back To The Indians
Ten Cents A Dance
There's A Small Hotel
I Didn't Know What Time It Was
Everything I've Got
I Could Write A Book
Blue Room
My Funny Valentine
Bewitched
Mountain Greenery
Wait Til You See Her
Lover
Isn't It Romantic
Here In My Arms
Blue Moon
My Heart Stood Still
I've Got Five Dollars

If you've never seen or heard her sing R&H, here's a taste of "Manhattan," from a television broadcast a few years after the songbook was recorded.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 2:25pm

Another great thing about the Ella Songbooks is that they include virtually all the verses, which are often omitted from pop recordings.

[thommg]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 3:03pm

If you would like to hear a little different sound of Rodgers & Hart, you might try The Supremes Sing Rodgers and Hart. They did a R & H television special in the 1960s and recorded this LP. Originally conceived as a 2 disc set, it was released as just 1 disc. With the advent of the digital age, all the recordings have been released. Ted Chapin, of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization calls it "a guilty pleasure" in his liner notes.

[NoName3]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 3:16pm

I've loved The Supremes album since its first release and don't feel guilty about it at all.

Updated On: 11/13/14 at 03:16 PM

[Fantod]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 3:56pm

Thanks again all. Does anybody know if there is a good recording if By Jupiter, I'd Rather Be Right, or The Girl Friend?

[elmore3003]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 5:14pm

The "1989 (which contrary to the info at Amazon, was a studio recording, not a revival cast)" was actually a concert cast, performed in New Jersey and then at Alice Tully Hall for, as I recall, the Make A Wish Foundation. It was then recorded a week later, and some music that was not performed in concert, like the "Johnny One Note" ballet, was included.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 5:50pm

The '67 BY JUPITER is pretty splendid in my opinion. Don't know how complete or accurate to the original show it is though.

[NoName3]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 6:02pm

Thanks, Elmore. You're entirely right about the '89 Babes in Arms being a concert cast recording. I revised my original post.

Updated On: 11/13/14 at 06:02 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 6:19pm

The Supremes Sing Rodgers and Hart was one of the rare archaeological finds of my teenage years.

But I only saw these clips years later:



This one too:







The Supremes sing

[HorseTears]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 6:36pm

That Ella recording is amazing. For a decidedly un-Ella take on R&H, I adore the Dawn Upshaw recording. I think she gives some deeply sensitive readings to some absolutely gorgeous R&H songs.

The new arrangements add a welcome layer of psychological complexity - if you will - to these lovely songs, but remain truthful to the songs' original intent.



Updated On: 11/13/14 at 06:36 PM

[NoName3]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 7:28pm

The Dawn Upshaw album is wonderful, HorseTears.

Equally impressive are the two Rodgers & Hart albums by William Bolcom and Joan Morris:

http://bolcomandmorris.com/index.php?contentID=1150

http://bolcomandmorris.com/index.php?contentID=1149http://bolcomandmorris.com/index.php?contentID=1149

Unfortunately, when they were released on CD, they were combined onto one disc, which necessitated dropping 4 or 5 tracks:



Updated On: 11/13/14 at 07:28 PM

[NoName3]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 7:58pm

Fandtod, as far as I know, there's never been a full recording I'd Rather Be Right, not even as an old radio broadcast. "Have You Met Miss Jones" became a semi-standard and there are a number of recordings of it. And here is James Cagney as George M. Cohan as FDR performing "Off the Record" in Yankee Doodle Dandy:

[Fantod]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 8:02pm

That's the trouble with a lot of these old shows. I wish that somebody would do for Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart what they did with the wonderful Studio Cast Recordings of Gershwin Shows.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 8:50pm

^^^^^^
YES! With the recent recordings of ROBERTA & DEAREST ENEMY it seems like they're starting to make those types of recordings again, after almost 20 years of just a few here and there.

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 9:14pm

To return to The Boys From Syracuse, here is a wonderful Youtube clip of Rebecca Luker, Debbie Gravitte and Christine Ebersole performing "Sing for Your Supper" from the Encores production. Rebecca and Debbie were in the Encores' cast; Christine is filling in.

The audio is from the cast album and also the Encores' highlights album. I'm afraid I don't know if this was the Encores' staging of the number, or even what TV production included it, but I'm sure someone here will know.

There is also a live version of Luker, Audra McDonald and Mary Testa singing this, but Audra fans are upset that Audra has the role that had no solo. Who can blame them?


Sing for Your Supper: Rebecca, Debbie and Christine

[Fantod]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 9:44pm

NoName3, because you were so helpful before, if you had to chose between the '89 and '99 recordings of Babes in Arms, which one would you go for?

[NoName3]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 10:01pm

Honestly, I'd buy whichever I could find cheaper. Or consider favorite vs. disliked cast members. Compared to each other, they each have their own very minor strengths and weaknesses. I never bought the Encores because I've had the '89 since it was first released. I saw the Encores production and loved it, and a friend lent me the recording for a few days not too long after it was released. It's great. It's one of those recordings that if I ever win the lottery and can buy everything on my wish list, I'll get it, but it just wasn't in any way a must have upgrade over what I had. Maybe someone else with a different opinion will chime in for you. Art is long, money is short, ya know? I guess it's odd for me since I do have multiple recordings of many shows I love just as much.

Updated On: 11/13/14 at 10:01 PM

[Fantod]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 10:06pm

Well I decided on the '89 recording because I like the cover art better

[NoName3]

Posted: 11/13/14 at 10:14pm

Resurrect the thread after you get it and let us know what you think, Fantod. I can't imagine you'll be disappointed.