FrontRow, when my grandmother was getting rid of HER mother's old 78s, she gave me the player and her collection, since I used to as a kid always play them. They're at my parents now, but I remember it was four records, and one side was a medley from Desert Song, another from Rose Marie, another from No, No Nanette and I can't for the life of me remember what the other was. All recorded with old acoustic microphones in the 1920s.
FrontRow, when my grandmother was getting rid of HER mother's old 78s, she gave me the player and her collection, since I used to as a kid always play them. They're at my parents now, but I remember it was four records, and one side was a medley from Desert Song, another from Rose Marie, another from No, No Nanette and I can't for the life of me remember what the other was. All recorded with old acoustic microphones in the 1920s.
Those are the ones! NANETTE and ROSE MARIE were back to back on one 12-inch disc. I thing DESERT SONG had Gems from COUNTESS MARITZA on the reverse. All these titles were recorded eclectically (with microphones.) Those done before 1924 were recorded acoustically and it does make it difficult to make out the lyrics.
Yours came from your Great Grandmother, Mine were originally collected by my Grandfather whose extensive library 78-rpm and Lp show albums were passed along to me after he died. I was so glad when the VLOC 78's made it onto Cd. My RIO RITA/MY MARYLAND record has cracked over the years.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks." Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
I know they pressed a vinyl version but to my knowledge never commercially released it. There are copies floating around but I think it still qualifies as "lost".
Front row center brings up a good point about the lost Lerner and Lowe shows. It makes you wonder particularly about Alan Jay Lerner's long career, and how poorly served so many of his shows are by partial or nonexistent cast albums. That sorry list includes: What's Up The Day Before Spring Love Life 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Lolita My Love Carmelina
I know his lyrics can veer from brilliant to embarrassing, (and Sondheim took multiple chances to disparage his work in the Hat books,) but the gaps here just make me all the more curious to hear whatever gems there are in those lost works.
Carmelina does have a semi-original cast recording. Cesare Siepi did not participate, and Paul Sorvino sang his role, but Georgia Brown and several other principals are present. There are a few floppo numbers, but some gorgeous songs as well, especially "Someone In April" and "One More Walk Around the Garden".
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
If you want to talk literally lost scores... the Roundabout production of Little Me stored its orchestra parts in a basement after the production closed. When the basement flooded, the orchestra parts, which had never been digitized, were all destroyed.
Tams-Witmark still licenses the revival version if specifically asked, but they send you the revival script and a score found online (my somewhat shoddy scan from about a decade ago, actually) of the piano-conductor score.
"Hot September", a show that never made it to Broadway (closed in Boston) and was the musical version of "Picnic" had many good songs. I was amazed a couple of years ago to see a cd was being sold on ebay. I thought maybe it was going to be a bootleg of a performance, but it turned out to be a recording with piano that the cast ( or most of them) had made after the closing notice - or maybe even after the closing. It also included a couple of songs recorded by artists, including Frank Sinatra, who did "Golden Moment" a lovely ballad from the show, no doubt anticipating a hit show. It was actually the first show I saw and I loved it - so sorry it failed to make it. Maybe if I had seen other shows before it, I would not have enjoyed it so much, but who knows?A most unusual cd at any rate to turn up for a show that closed out of town in 1966! Now if anyone DOES have a bootleg of a performance or just an audio recording of one I will pay BUCKS for it. Anyone....?
The 1962 score is not lost at all. The 1998 version only exists in piano score since the orchestrations were destroyed by flooding, and NOTHING except vocal lead sheets for the new numbers appears to remain from the 1982 version.