Unheard scores...

[logan2]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 4:18pm

Thought it would be interesting to start a thread on those scores that either weren't recorded or so very rare that we still haven't heard them. Here's a few I have always wanted to hear:
Nefertiti - still can't find the lp after years of looking
La Strada - I have only heard the song Starfish from Unsung Musicals cd.
Smile - Revival anyone?
The Lieutenant - vietnam rock musical starring Eddie Mekka aka Carmine Ragusa.

[gherbert]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 4:21pm

A Joyful Noise with John Rait, a twelve performace flop in 1967, is one I have always wanted to hear. The score was taped through the sound system of the theatre, but that is it. I always wanted to hear Sherry! (from the same season), but that has been covered now!

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 4:22pm

Sherry, that was the show I got my hopes up for. I was waiting for the cast recording, I was so happy to see an all star cast. Nathan Lane, Bernadette Peters, but the cast just proved to me that sometimes a poorly written musical will always be just that, a poorly written musical.

[logan2]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 4:24pm

I forgot about A Joyful Noise - I would love to hear that one too.
Just thought of another one - Cry For Us All - the musical based on Hogan's Goat, the play where Faye Dunaway got her start.

[BroadwayDiva]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 4:28pm

I've always wanted to hear Jonathan Larson's "Superbia". It was a really cool concept (people have their limbs removed to fit into 32-inch TV boxes), and the music is a lot like that of TTB. The only song I know of in Superbia is "Come to Your Senses", which was changed a little for TTB.

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 4:30pm

Or Larson's, The Day JP Morgan Saved America, or something along those lines.

[BroadwayBound06]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 4:32pm

Did you actually say Smile? The women who played Maria Gonzales is now directing community theater in Chesterfield Virginia, I've been in two of her productions thus far.

On Superbia, if it would have done much better if it was 1984 as he had planned. To bad he couldn't get the rights to it, god bless his soul. Updated On: 6/19/04 at 04:32 PM

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 4:55pm

i wanted a recording of never gonna dance personally

[gherbert]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 5:37pm

I don't think Never Gonna Dance qualifies as an unheard score because it was a catalouge show and its songs are all recorded elsewhere. The only thing really lost is the performances, not the score.

Sumofallthings, I agree with you. Sherry! is not that reat of a musical and it is not rocket science to figure out why it flopped when it did. The title song, however, is top notch. Worth the whole recording.

[AnothaPartofMe]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 6:08pm

I have the Smile recording that was made specially for Howard Ashman... it's a wonderful score. I saw a local production of it-- and the story and music are really unique and entertaining. Would love to see it done on Broadway.

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 8:33pm

Anyone know anything about a show called 'Macbird?' A local director was telling me about it but I couldn't find a recording or really any information about it.

[gherbert]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 10:16pm

I forgot. I also really want to hear the score to Chu Chem, a high profile "double-flop" (it closed out-of-town in 1966 then came back in the eighties on Broadway and flopped again). I want to hear the 1966 version though when it still had the Molly Picon part in it. Gosh, I think it holds the distiction of being the only show to bill itself as the "Hebrew-Zen Musical." No recording exists.

P.S. If it seems to you that all the shows I am mentioning are from the 1966-1967 season it is no coincidence. It is my favorite Broadway season (yes, I have one) so I want to hear that score really badly: it is the only show from the season currently with no recording. And if you are asking, why is that your favorite season . . . that is a post for a different day.

[Jon]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 9:27am

MACBIRD was a late 1960's parody of MACBETH, with the lead roles modeled after President Lyndon Johnson and Ladybird (That's his wife, kids, not the dog on King of the Hill!)

I much prefer the one-man-show MACHOMER, in which an actor performed the entire script of MACBETH as done by characters from The Simpsons!

[POLisPOL]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 10:09pm

I will love to hear the original JEEVES by lloyd webber, not the remake with new music "BY JEEVES". It will be curious to see how Webber reused the music of the original jeeves in "tell me on a sunday", "sunset boulevard", "starlight..."

[Oscar Jaffee]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 10:27am

I would love to hear the score for the flop musical "A Time for Singing," mainly because I admire the work of composer John Morris, especially his haunting theme for "Young Frankenstein." I know his score was considered barely serviceable, but I'd still like to hear it.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 2:26pm

A Time For Singing did have a release on vinyl by the (then) minor Warner Brothers label. Those of use who own it or have heard it don't think it is weak at all. It just may not be the right score for a musical of How Green Was My Valley.

It is melodic, lush and beautifully sung.

I have heard the show was dreadfully staged and had the usual book troubles that most musicals seem to have. The story also contains death and poverty which are not real toe-tappers.

Still this music is lovely. One of the better forgotten flops. This recording begs a cd release.

Now an unrecorded and score that needs to be heard to remember just how bad it was is Into The Light.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 3:21pm

Homer Sweet Homer
Via Galactica
The Yearling
Lovely Ladies, Kind Gentlemen
Roza

I'll second Chu Chem, How Green Was My Valley, and A Joyful Noise.

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 5:19pm

DOTV
sigh

[lvpblues]

Posted: 6/22/04 at 12:35am

A Time For Singing
Donnybrook!

I was very fortunate to get tapes of the shows taken from the original LPs from a friend and I must say both shows have a lot going for them. I would love to see Encores tackle both, particularly a new recording of the former, as A Time For Singing was the precursor to the pop opera in the 1960s and half the score was left off the album.

Home Sweet Homer - a serious musical with this title? ye Gods!
Love Life
Regina
Something More
Cry For Us All - (all Joan Diener material would suffice - I have an obsession with her)
Updated On: 6/22/04 at 12:35 AM

[DefyingGravity2]

Posted: 6/22/04 at 10:56am

I'm still gonna have to be true to CARRIE. Though many have now heard it, it is generally an unheard score. ALso, i think the show was called "Queen of Hearts" i can't remember the name, but the music was beautiful (score by S. Schwartz) and hada agreat song called "Close upon the hour"