Original Broadway Cast, 1956 (RCA/Arkiv) (4 / 5) While it didn’t create as big a sensation as New Faces of 1952, this revue boasted another impressive roster of  performers. Front and center is T.E. Jones, a gifted mimic, comedian, and female impersonator, who opens the album as a boozy, befuddled Tallulah Bankhead. A grab bag of material written by various songwriters is performed by such talents as big-voiced belter Amru Sani, the slyly hep Tiger Haynes, baritone John Reardon, ingenue Inga Swenson, and the comediennes Billie Hayes and Jane Connell. (The latter’s performance of “April in Fairbanks” recalls the beloved “Boston Beguine” of the 1952 edition.) A young Maggie Smith is uproariously funny in “One Perfect Moment,” a love ditty in which her voice becomes more piercing as her rapture escalates. “Isn’t She Lovely?” is best of all, a devastating parody of a Bankhead-headlined edition of the Ziegfeld Follies that had been a recent flop. The wordplay here is hilarious, and so is Reardon’s turn as a dreadful, off-key revue tenor. Note: This cast album is also available on a Stage Door CD that includes Eartha Kitt in Mrs. Patterson, a curiosity from 1954.– Richard Barrios

Original Broadway Cast, 1952 (RCA/Jasmine) (2 / 5) Broadway once thrived on clever little revues in which clever young people satirized whatever was topical along the Great White Way and in the news. Once considered the height of sophistication, they might as well be written in Sumerian for all that they have to offer modern audiences — with, of course, a few songs and skits as timeless exceptions. New Faces of 1952, created by a legion of writers including Sheldon Harnick, is considered a classic of the genre, perhaps because it launched so many careers. Alice Ghostley sings “The Boston Beguine,” a moody Latin ballad about the city of beans and Brahmins, and a pre-Hogan’s Heroes Robert Clary romps as a romantic Frenchman in “Lucky Pierre.” A minor presence on the cast album is Paul Lynde, who had very little musical material in the show. It’s all very cute and negligible. Among the most enjoyable items, Virginia de Luce performs “He Takes Me Off His Income Tax,” while Eartha Kitt sizzles her way through the faux-French “Bal Petit Bal” and vamps as a world-weary playgirl in “Monotonous.” — David Barbour

Original Off-Broadway Cast, 1998 (RCA) (4 / 5) Those who find much of William Finn’s work too abrasive should check out this moving and original musical about serious illness. In collaboration with librettist James Lapine, composer-lyricist Finn brings comedy and feeling to this most unlikely subject. Malcolm Gets stars as Gordon, a frustrated songwriter; when he’s diagnosed with a brain tumor, his family and friends rally around. The score mixes Finn’s neurotic, hilarious brand of kvetching with some ballads that reflect a new-found serenity in his work. Among the comic highlights are “And They’re Off,” a recounting of Gordon’s troubled family history; “Poor, Unsuccessful, and Fat,” the lament of a nurse (Michael Mandell); and “The Homeless Lady’s Revenge,” sung by a resourceful derelict (Mary Testa). The album’s real gems are “The Music Still Plays On,” a torch song delivered by Gordon’s mother (Penny Fuller); and the final ballad, “I Feel So Much Spring,” in which many aspects of Gordon’s life come into harmony. There’s also good work from Chip Zien as a malevolent TV host, and amusing contributions by the pre-star Kristin Chenoweth. In the role of Gordon’s lover, Norm Lewis fills in for original cast member Christopher Innvar (who left the show due to vocal problems) and offers a dreamy performance of the love song “Sailing.” — David Barbour

Original Broadway Cast, 1959 (ColumbialDRG) (2 / 5) This investigation of beatnik culture ran for only 23 performances, and you’ll know why when you hear the cast album. With a jazz quartet instead of an orchestra for instrumental accompaniment, and with song titles like “Man, We’re Beat,” The Nervous Set comes across more like a faded topical revue than a book musical about love among Greenwich Villagers. The libretto is by Jay Landesman and Theodore J. Flicker. The score, by Tommy Wolf and Fran Landesman, did yield a couple of attractive numbers in “The Ballad of the Sad Young Men” and “Fun Life” (“Shakespeare was a hack / So we read Kerouac!”). There’s also a charming counterpoint duet, “What’s to Lose/Stars Have Blown My Way,” and the introspective “Laugh, I Thought I’d Die.” But the comedy numbers are painful, especially the kinky “How Do You Like Your Love?” and the repetitive “Party Song.” The cast isn’t loaded with distinctive voices, although ingenue Tani Seitz’s singing has a sweet, sad quality. A very young Larry Hagman gets a country-western hoedown, “Travel the Road of Love,” but the song is only one curio in an album filled with them. — David Barbour

Original Los Angeles Cast, 1998 (Cafe Pacific) (3 / 5) Obviously, the cast album can’t capture the raison d’être of this popular revue. Yet it does help make conceiver-director Robert Schrock’s case, as described in his notes for the recording, that Naked Boys Singing! is not a salacious show but, rather, a simple celebration of nudity. When you hear these charming songs (by various writers) about nakedness in settings ranging from a bris to a locker room, you’ll understand why many people who have seen the show feel it’s more cute than crude. Still, with sometimes explicit mentions of male privates — most hilariously in “Members Only” and “Perky Little Porn Star” — even the recording is for mature audiences only. Other comic highlights include “The Naked Maid,” “Nothin’ but the Radio On,” and a tribute to one-time movie sex symbol Robert Mitchum. Naked Boys also has its more serious moments, notably the lovely ballad “Window to Window,” about two men looking at each other from separate apartments and contemplating meeting. — Brooke Pierce