Julie Andrews in My Fair Lady, 1958 Original London Cast Recording

[Elphaba]

Posted: 2/4/06 at 7:48pm

Amazing....

They'll be Spring every year, without you.
England will still be here, without you.

[*MuSiCaLs_FaN*]

Posted: 2/4/06 at 8:33pm

yes Julie IS amazing!!! Have you got the collectors addition with the interview they did after they finished the recording? it's fab!!!! I love her!!

[greenegirl87]

Posted: 2/4/06 at 8:44pm

That was my very first cast recording :]

[Elphaba]

Posted: 2/4/06 at 8:50pm

yes, it's wonderful.

[sidneybruhl]

Posted: 2/4/06 at 8:52pm

One of my favorite cast recordings. I have the Broadway and the London cast.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 2/4/06 at 9:01pm

The Broadway recording, though it's recorded in mono, is a little snappier.

[fflagg]

Posted: 2/4/06 at 9:07pm

And to think she LOST the Tony to Judy Holliday in the feeble BELLS ARE RINGING.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 2/4/06 at 9:35pm

"Without You" is such an amaaaazing song. I need to get this cast recording, it's sad that I haven't.

[NCGuy]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 1:09am

I think Julie's marvelous on both, but I prefer the Broadway recording too (I don't know that I have any valid criticisms of the London album, though...the original is so ingrained into my brain that the London recording just sounds "off" to me).

fflagg, Bells Are Ringing isn't one of my favorites either, but I don't think there's any shame in losing an award to Judy Holliday!
Updated On: 2/5/06 at 01:09 AM

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 4:11am

I too prefer the 1956 original Broadway cast.

The first album was taped just days after the show opened on Broadway 50 years ago next month! Columbia did not begin recording cast albums in stereo until December of that year, so when teh show moved to Lndon with the three star players (Harrison, Andrews & Holloway) intact, they went into a London recording studio and re-taped the entire album in stereo. The stereo (London cast) has a gold colured jacket and a big STEREO FIDELITY banner across the top. The original has the same logo but against a white background.

The stereo version has some technical problems including a good deal of distortion throughout. When you listen on headphones you hear a fuzziness that is most noticable in the orchestral passages. Also the tempos are a bit brisker: the full album proper runs almost 2 minutes shorther than the New York cast album. (In early stereo days it wasn't possible to fit as much music onto a side as with mono pressings. The movie sountrack of CAROUSEL lost the first half of the Carousel Waltz on stereo Lp pressings.)