Original Broadway Cast, 1974 (A&M, 2LPs/Decca) (4 / 5) This musical, based on Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac, boasts a wonderful translation and adaptation by Anthony Burgess, whose exquisitely poetic book and lyrics hew closely to his previously existing translation of the classic play. Also outstanding is the music of Michael J. Lewis — melodic, stirring, and well suited to the story, even if the orchestrations by Philip J. Lang fall short. Christopher Plummer gave one of his greatest performances as Cyrano, and though the quality of his singing voice is not great, it’s more than good enough for the type of songs Lewis and Burgess crafted for the character, which are far more dependent on acting ability than sheer vocal prowess.  On the other hand, Leigh Beery as Roxana (as the character’s name is spelled in the musical) is an excellent singer; her performance of “You Have Made Me Love” is, in fact, one of the finest renditions of a musical theater ballad ever recorded. This gorgeous, relatively unknown song is a gem as worthy of fame as “Some Enchanted Evening,” for it’s just as romantic and stirring. The cast recording, mixed like a 1960s pop album, has a tinny sound quality and lacks vibrancy. But it does include much of the show’s dialogue, magnificently acted by Plummer, who justly won a Tony Award for his performance. One can only hope that Cyrano will someday be revived with an actor of Plummer’s caliber in the leading role. — Gerard Alessandrini

Original Broadway Cast, 1970 (Project 3) (3 / 5) This was composer Mitch Leigh’s follow-up to Man of La Mancha, and it was a long way from Spain to Brooklyn. The show was in trouble out of town — there was a temporary title change to Who to Love? — and it lasted only nine performances on Broadway. However, the score, with lyrics by William Alfred and Phyllis Robinson, often lives up to what this musical was trying to be: a semi-operatic version of Hogan’s Goat, William Alfred’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play about love and betrayal in the world of 1890s Brooklyn politics. Although the source material might have been better served by a completely sung-through approach, many of the songs are effective, and the performers handle them well. Joan Diener does a beautiful job with “Verandah Waltz,” “How Are Ya Since?” and “Who to Love?” There is strong legit singing from Steve Arlen in “The End of My Race” and Robert Weede in “The Mayor’s Chair.” Tommy Rall and Helen Gallagher do their best with some mediocre material, and the three urchins who narrate the story are entertaining in “The Broken Heart or the Wages of Sin” and “The Cruelty Man.” A few important songs are missing from this album, and others are heard in abridged form. The recording is available on CD as a rare, high-priced import.  — Jeffrey Dunn

Original Broadway Cast, 1992 (Angel) (2 / 5) This is a faux revival cloned from the DNA of a vintage musical, with a score drawn from the Gershwin songbook. Ken Ludwig’s book for Crazy for You is sort of based on the 1930 Gershwin hit Girl Crazy, transferring a standard, let’s-put-on-a-show plot to the Wild West. It’s hard to get very excited about the disc, which is really only a collection of Gershwin standards with a few rarities tossed in, but William D. Brohn’s orchestrations have real zing, and the cast is fun. As a New York millionaire who dreams of Broadway stardom and ends up putting on a show in Deadrock, Nevada, Harry Groener is a model of period style, tossing off “I Can’t Be Bothered Now” and “Nice Work If You Can Get It” with delightful ease. Jodi Benson plays his feisty cowgirl love interest with intensity, and her heartfelt vibrato is put to good use in “Someone to Watch Over Me” and “But Not for Me.” There are amusing contributions from Bruce Adler as a Yiddish-accented producer and Michele Pawk as Greener’s overbearing fiancée. The show’s heart is in its production numbers, such as “Slap That Bass” and “I Got Rhythm,” during which Brohn’s vivacious arrangements build to a state of ecstasy. It’s always more fun to hear a new score in a new show but, of its kind, Crazy for You is about as good as it gets. — David Barbour

Original Broadway Cast, 1938 (Musicraft/Pearl) (3 / 5) The Cradle Will Rock, produced by John Houseman and directed by Orson Welles, was created under the auspices of the WPA’s Federal Theatre Project. What was to have been its opening performance at the Maxine Elliott Theatre was blocked by guards who were ordered to close down the controversial show. The company and audience then marched to the Venice Theatre on 59th Street, where the premiere took place with the actors performing from the house as composer-lyricist-librettist Marc Blitzstein played a lone piano on a bare stage. For two weeks, performances continued without sets and costumes and with solo piano accompaniment. When the show reopened six months later for a Broadway run, it was recorded; this may well be considered the first original Broadway cast album ever. It includes narration and accompaniment by composer/lyricist Marc Blitzstein, and the score sounds like no other. Heavily influenced by Brecht-Weill works, Blitzstein turned his classical training toward creating an agitprop piece about the Great Depression. It offers musical theater songs, protest songs, pastiche numbers, recitative — whatever would engender audience response to the unpleasant truths being revealed. The performances on this vivid recording are full of passion. Olive Stanton is vulnerable in the historic “Moll’s Song” and later grabs you with “Nickel Under the Foot.” As Larry Foreman, Howard Da Silva delivers a powerful “Leaflets,” leading into the title song with an effective mixture of humor and outrage. As Ella Hammer, Blanche Collins sings “Joe Worker” with appropriate defeat in her voice. Other highlights are “Honolulu” (a spoof of tropical songs), the satirical “Art for Art’s Sake,” and the sarcastic “The Freedom of the Press.” These recordings, documents of great historic value, are available on CD in the two-disc Pearl set Marc Blitzstein: Musical Theatre Premieres, which includes the 1941 cast album of No for an Answer (featuring a young Carol Channing) and The “Airborne” Symphony, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. — Jeffrey Dunn

Off-Broadway Cast, 1964 (MGM, 2LPs/no CD) (3 / 5) Two notable aspects of this revival were its superb direction by Howard Da Silva and the contribution of Leonard Bernstein as musical consultant. Gershon Kingsley’s piano playing and musical direction are crisp and driving. Nancy Andrews, who dominates the first half as Mrs. Mister, rips into her material with gusto and great pipes. In the second half, Jerry Orbach as Larry Foreman sings with power and outrage, especially in the title song. Also impressive are Gordon B. Clarke, Joe Bova, and Rita Gardner. — J.D.

Original London Cast, 1985 (Polygram/JAY, 2CDs) (3 / 5) This production reawakened interest in The Cradle Will Rock when The Acting Company presented it Off-Broadway, again directed by Howard Da Silva, and then took it to London. Each performance began with John Houseman recounting the saga of the show’s cancellation in 1937; that 12-minute prologue is recorded here. At the piano is musical director Michael Barrett, a Bernstein protégé. Randle Mell is a powerful Larry Foreman, and Michele-Denise Woods as Ella Hammer stops the show with “Joe Worker.” Patti LuPone’s rendition of Moll’s “Nickel Under the Foot” is one of her finest recorded performances, searingly honest and faultlessly nuanced. Other standouts are David Schramm, Casey Biggs, and Leslie Geraci. This is an often exciting, concise recording of the piece; the first disc of the set consists entirely of Houseman’s narration. It should be your first stop in getting acquainted with this groundbreaking musical.  — J.D.

Film Soundtrack, 1999 (RCA) (1 / 5) Tim Robbins’ film Cradle Will Rock (no “The”) tells the story of the original production intermingled with other plots concerning art and censorship. About half of this CD is devoted to songs from the original show; the other half is new music composed for the film by David Robbins. “Moll’s Song” (sung by Emily Watson), “Croon Spoon” (Eddie Vetter and Susan Sarandon), “Honolulu” (Erin Hill, Dan Jenkins, Vicki Clark, Tim Jerome), “Reverend Salvation” (Vicki Clark and Chris McKinney), “The Freedom of the Press” (Henry Stram and Tim Jerome), and “Art for Art’s Sake” are all here in unedited form, plus Audra McDonald’s compelling rendition of “Joe Worker.” (Other songs in the film are not on the CD.) In the notes for the recording, David Robbins writes: “The arrangements you hear are, for the most part, Blitzstein’s original orchestrations.” This may be technically true, but because the orchestra here consists of only 12 instruments with a single violin, the score has more of a Brecht-Weill sound than the operatic heft that Blitzstein intended. The disc begins with an awful rendition of “Nickel Under the Foot,” heard in the film over the end titles, but don’t let this one disgraceful track keep you from exploring the pleasures of the recording.  — J.D.

Live Performance at Opera Saratoga, 2018 (Bridge) (4 / 5) This is the first and, to date, only complete recording of the full score of The Cradle Will Rock with the original 1937 orchestrations by Blitzstein restored, and it’s a revelation in that regard. Overall, the orchestrations are fuller, more melodic, less “spikey” than one might expect, giving credence to Jeffrey Dunn’s comment (as stated above) that Blitzstein was going for more of an operatic sound rather than a minimalist, Brecht/Weill flavor with this work. Of course, that grand operatic heft is heightened here by the casting of singers with “legit” voices, and also by the fact that the excellent live recording exhibits a fair amount of natural reverb. The cast is strong, led by Christopher Burchett as Larry Foreman, Ginger Costa-Jackson as Moll, Matt Boehler as Mr. Mister, Audrey Babcock as Mrs. Mister, and Justin Hopkins as Reverend Salvation. Conductor John Mauceri leads a crackling, energetic performance that seems geared more towards entertaining the audience than “alienating” us in the Brecht/Weill fashion.  — Michael Portantiere

Broadway Cast, 1943 (Decca) (4 / 5) This Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart treasure was belatedly transferred to CD and is now available in beautifully restored, remarkably clear sound. The wonderful 1927 show benefits greatly from the new songs written by the team for this 1943 revival to augment the original score. Included here are some of the last lyrics ever penned by Hart, who died shortly after the revival opened. Among the numbers retained from the original production are the standards “My Heart Stood Still” and “Thou Swell,” charmingly performed by Dick Foran and Julie Warren. It’s fun to hear the actual singing voice of Vera-Ellen, who was always dubbed in Hollywood films; her quirky sound is ideal for this soubrette role. “On a Desert Island With Thee” and “I Feel At Home With You,” her duets with Chester Stratton as the stalwart Sir Galahad, are punchy and humorous. Furthermore, this recording offers Vivienne Segal as Morgan Le Fey, a role that was beefed up for the revival. Her extended version of “To Keep My Love Alive,” one of the new songs, makes it clear why Segal was an acclaimed leading lady of her era. The two other “new for the revival” songs are Segal’s “Can’t You Do a Friend a Favor?” (a duet with Foran) and “You Always Love the Same Girl” (a lusty duet sung by Foran and Robert Chisholm as King Arthur). This CD also includes “It Never Entered My Mind” and three other songs from Rodgers and Hart’s Higher and Higher, performed by Shirley Ross. As if that weren’t enough, The Incomparable Hildegarde’s recordings of four songs from By Jupiter were added, making this revival CD an indispensable Rodgers and Hart compendium. That said, it’s regrettable that Decca chose not to record the one other notable new number written for the 1943 revival of Connecticut Yankee, Segal’s “This Is My Night to Howl.” — Jeffrey Dunn

Television Soundtrack, 1955 (AEI) (1 / 5) This version of A Connecticut Yankee was one of a series of 1950s television presentations of Broadway musicals. Based on the 1943 Broadway revival, the TV book was adapted by William Friedberg, Neil Simon, Will Glickman, and Al Schwartz. Included are several songs written for the revival, such as the elusive “This Is My Night to Howl” and “Ye Lunchtime Follies.” The sound quality of the recording is rather poor, but leads Eddie Albert and Janet Blair sing well, although “My Heart Stood Still” is painfully slow. The tempo is also off for the comedy song “On a Desert Island With Thee,” which seems to have been mistaken for a ballad. Several choruses of “To Keep My Love Alive” have been cut but are not missed, given Gale Sherwood’s humorless performance. On the other hand, this album provides a rare opportunity to hear Boris Karloff singing (not very well) as he joins Albert in “You Always Love the Same Girl.” There is a bonus track of “My Heart Stood Still” as performed in the British revue One Dam Thing After Another by Jessie Matthews.  — J.D.

Original Broadway Cast, 1970 (Columbia/Sony) (5 / 5) A shocking musical when it first opened, and still an insightful if somewhat dyspeptic view of modern romantic relationships, Company explores the games, angst, loneliness, and badinage of love and marriage in an alternately brittle and heartfelt manner. In a sense, it’s a revuesical — a string of nonlinear scenes built around a single theme. When it first burst onto Broadway, the show was revolutionary: no chorus, no legs (save Donna McKechnie’s in the dance number “Tick Tock”), no salve for the tired businessman. Instead, it boasted one of Stephen Sondheim’s most brilliant scores, Jonathan Tunick’s ingeniously metallic orchestrations, Boris Aronson’s architectural sets, George Furth’s sharp book, and Hal Prince’s sparse, savvy staging. The original cast album, produced by Thomas Z. Shepard, is a marvel of clean, no-nonsense theatricality, an exemplary souvenir of a momentous turn in the history of musical theater. (Company unfortunately led to numerous second-rate imitations by Sondheim wannabes.) The highlight of the recording is “The Ladies Who Lunch,” exclaimed by Elaine Stritch in career-capping fashion. Other standouts in the cast are Pamela Myers, Beth Howland, and Teri Ralston. The album preserves the performances of central character Bobby’s songs by Dean Jones, who left the cast shortly after the show’s opening. Larry Kert took over for Jones, and his wonderful renditions can be heard on the “Original London Cast” recording of Company. Since that cast was pretty much identical to the Broadway cast, sans Jones, all the label did was take out his vocals and slap in Kert’s. If you can find the album, listen closely and you’ll hear ghosts of Jones’ voice in the background. Spooky!  — Ken Bloom

Broadway Cast, 1995 (Angel) (2 / 5) The cast members here are not up to their counterparts in the company of the original production. Somehow, the performances aren’t as cynical or pointed, and that definitely includes Boyd Gaines as Bobby. Debra Monk is an exception: She isn’t quite as hard-bitten a Joanne as Elaine Stritch, but she comes close. Others in the cast who were notable names at the time and/or became so in future include Danny Burstein, Kate Burton, Diana Canova, Veanne Cox, Charlotte d’Amboise, John Hillner, Jane Krakowski, and LaChanze. Company is a hard show to revive because it was so much of its time, and we’re still close enough to that era to know when a production doesn’t capture the right flavor. That’s the major flaw of this recording. — K.B.

London Cast, 1996 (RCA) (2 / 5) Face it: Americans don’t do Shakespeare all that well, and the English can’t get American musical theater quite right. They’re fine with falling chandeliers and helicopters, but less well versed in U.S. attitudes, accents, and performance style. This Company is rather subdued, and none of the cast members sound really comfortable in their roles; they all seem too concerned with impersonating Americans rather than inhabiting their characters. Although Bobby is the focal point of the show, he is not the most interesting character — but at the end, he’s got the bang-up number “Being Alive,” in which he has to be really honest with himself and the audience. Adrian Lester just doesn’t make it; he’s more of a cipher who substitutes technique for honest emotion at his big moment.  — K.B.

Broadway Cast, 2006 (Nonesuch) (4 / 5) The inclusion of so much spoken dialogue on this recording allows the listener to appreciate a brilliant acting choice made by Raúl Esparza in the role of Robert. When speaking, he affects the studied cool of a stereotypical, rather jaded New Yorker, but when he sings, Esparza brings forth all of the emotions lying beneath the surface, culminating in a searingly intense, cathartic performance of “Being Alive.” Standouts among the rest of the cast are Elizabeth Stanley’s April as heard in “Barcelona” and Heather Laws’ Amy as heard in “Getting Married Today,” while Barbara Walsh gives a smart account of “The Ladies Who Lunch,” a song that will always be irrevocably associated with Elaine Stritch. The recording features new orchestrations by Mary-Mitchell Campbell; they were played by the actors themselves in this sleek, minimalist production directed by John Doyle, who had previously set forth the same actors-doubling-as-musicians concept in the 2005 Broadway revival of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. To this listener’s ears, Campbell’s work here is stellar, and indeed, she won a Drama Desk award for her efforts. [Note: This Company opened on Broadway on November 29, 2006, but the cast album was released in 2007.] — Michael Portantiere

London Cast, 2019 (Arts Music) (2 / 5) One’s reaction to this recording will depend largely on how one feels about the concept of the production it represents, a radical revisal of the musical that opened on Broadway in 1970.  Whereas Company as originally written was set at the time of the show’s premiere and told the story of a 35-year-old, single, male New Yorker and his relationships with five married couples and three of his girlfriends, here the time period has been shifted to the present (i.e., circa 2019), and the central character is now a woman called Bobbie. The genders of the girlfriends have also been switched, so they are now boyfriends, and the couple that endures all that pre-wedding drama in “Getting Married Today” is now a gay male couple.  Though this version of Company received many favorable notices in London, some critics (and audiences) felt that the retrofitting of the show did not work at all, either in terms of the sex changes or the updating of the action. Some of Stephen Sondheim’s rewrites of lyrics he wrote 50 years ago are clever, but others may displease fans of the originals; many of the changes were made to accommodate the gender switches, some for other reasons. The re-conception of “You Could Drive a Person Crazy” is a total misfire, and there are several egregious revisions of various lyrics in other songs. (“Poor Baby” includes one of the worst examples: “Robert ought to have a woman” is now “Bobbie ought to have a fella.”)  In the midst of all this, Rosalie Craig brings a lovely voice and charming personality to Bobbie’s songs on the cast album. American musical theater superstar Patti LuPone reprises the gender-maintained role of Joanne, miscast as she was when she first essayed the part in the New York Philharmonic’s 2011 staged concert performances of Company. The rest of the cast varies in terms of singing ability and their facility at American accents; if there weren’t some references to the fact, you probably wouldn’t guess that this show is supposed to be set in New York City.  The orchestrations are not as full as the originals, but quite alright in themselves. [Note: This production later transferred to Broadway, with an entirely different cast other than Patti LuPone, and managed an eight-month run there but did not yield another cast album.] — M.P.

Original Broadway Cast, 1969 (ABC-Paramount/MCA) (1 / 5) It’s terrible, fascinating, and possibly the most unreviewable of all cast recordings. Alan Jay Lerner cooked up this musical bio of Coco Chanel and somehow got Katharine Hepburn to star. The result is a camp hoot as viewed from many different angles. Hepburn’s singing makes Lauren Bacall sound like Joan Sutherland; she ends up in a statistical dead heat with Bette Davis for the title of least vocally qualified star in Broadway musical history. Just listen to her gamely navigate Lerner’s tongue-twisting lyrics (“Should I drive myself to drink / For some ruffians who think / That chic is someone riding on a camel?”) while a drumbeat struggles to keep her in some kind of rhythm. Furthermore, the show is a museum of dated social attitudes: Lerner constantly raps Chanel on the knuckles for putting a career before love, and much of the action focuses on Coco’s pathetic attraction to a young model, Noelle, whom she views as a surrogate daughter. (As Noelle’s boyfriend points out, “To me this emporium / Is sex in memoriam / Where feelings are frozen / And face lotion flows in your veins.”) Furthermore, Chanel’s nemesis is Sebastian (René Auberjonois), a screaming queen of a dress designer described in the original liner notes as “almost male, almost female, almost human.” His number “Fiasco,” in which he hyperventilates in triumph over Coco’s flop showing, is best described as grisly. And yet — André Previn’s music is jazzy, impudent, and often gorgeously romantic in the style of his years at MGM; Lerner’s lyrics have much of his old urbanity; and Hepburn’s star power burns through everything. You’ve got to hear this album once, even if you never want to hear it again.  — David Barbour

Original Off-Broadway Cast, 1989 (RCA, 2CDs) (4 / 5) To one set of critics, this four-person revue of songs by composer David Shire and lyricist Richard Maltby, Jr. was a long-overdue outpouring of material from a gifted, underappreciated team; to another, it was largely an evening of self-involved, spoiled yuppies whining in song. Both viewpoints are correct. The two dozen numbers on this double-CD set, representing the entire show, are impeccably crafted, with music and lyrics that are melodic, intelligent, humorous, and reflective. But many of the characters that sing them are unappealing: well-off, urban thirtysomethings yammering yards of pentameter about health crazes, Muzak, and personal discovery. So while there’s some first-rate stuff here — “Miss Byrd,” “One of the Good Guys,” “The Bear, the Tiger, the Hamster, and the Mole,” each the equivalent of a self-contained,  one-act play — there are also such odes to emotional self-indulgence as “Next Time,” “I Wouldn’t Go Back,” and “Like a Baby.” Uneven as the musical program is, there’s a saving grace in that this is one of the best-sung cast albums of the ’80s. Brent Barrett, at the peak of his powers, puts over even the second-tier songs with assurance and thrilling high notes. Sally Mayes’ natural warmth and comedic skill shine in “You Want to Be My Friend?” and “Back on Base.” The prodigiously talented Lynne Wintersteller’s “Life Story” is one of the most affecting show-tune tracks of the ’80s. Even Richard Muenz, normally a ham, keeps his preening in check until the heavy-breathing “If I Sing.” The cast is also splendid collectively — hear how gorgeously they harmonize in “She Loves Me Not” — and the album’s arrangements, augmented from the stage production to include a swinging combo, lend color. Closer Than Ever may have lacked the sense of discovery that marked the earlier Maltby-Shire revue Starting Here, Starting Now, but as a recording, it’s consistently better sung.  — Marc Miller

Off-Broadway Cast, 2012 (JAY, 2CDs) (4 / 5) The York Theatre Company revived Closer Than Ever in 2012, and the run of the show kept being extended, a hopeful sign that some theatergoers still have taste. The four vocalists — Jenn Colella, George Dvorsky, Christiane Noll, and Sal Viviano — are accomplished pros all, and Colella in particular pours a lot of feeling into everything she sings. But you may miss Lynne Wintersteller’s elegance and Brent Barrett’s high notes, and you’ll probably miss the other version’s orchestrations, here reduced to piano, bass, and drums. On the bonus side, we get two new Maltby-Shire songs. “There Is Something in a Wedding” feels schmaltzy coming from this duo, but “Dating Again,” the plaint of middle-aged singles diving back into the dating pool, is wry and wonderful. I’d go with the 1989 album if I could have only one, but there’s plenty of pleasure here as well. And the best of the songs hold up beautifully,  with lyrics discreetly updated in spots. –– M.M.

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Original Television Cast, 1957 (Columbia) (5 / 5) In the age of television’s big-cast, major-hoopla “spectaculars,” one program stood out as a truly gala event: Rodgers and Harnmerstein’s Cinderella, starring Julie Andrews. Forget the Fairy Godmother; here, the magic was in the score and the star. Broadcast on March 31, 1957, Cinderella still stands as one of the most-watched programs in television history. Those were the days of live TV (the show survives in a kinescope, later released to home video) and of quick turnover for cast albums; this LP was actually in stores six days prior to the telecast! R&H’s Cinderella may not be their greatest achievement, but the team produced a fine score that is romantic and funny by turns, and the album is wonderful. Naturally, Andrews dominates. Wistful when singing “In My Own Little Corner,” rapturous in “A Lovely Night,” this great star is utterly believable as a fairy tale heroine. Nearly everyone else in the cast is up to her level, with only Jon Cypher as the Prince seeming a tad out of his league. Kaye Ballard and Alice Ghostley are very funny as the stepsisters — not hateful, just buffoonish in an endearing way. Dorothy Stickney and Howard Lindsay are sweet as the King and Queen, and Edith (Edie) Adams is a Fairy Godmother almost as young and charming as her cinder-smudged charge. Listening to this souvenir of a long-vanished era of TV entertainment, you think: “It really hasn’t gotten better, has it?”  — Richard Barrios

Original London Cast, 1958 (Decca/Bayview) (2 / 5) Although it was written for television, Cinderella soon found its way onto the stage in productions that were usually fleshed-out with additional material, as in this recording. Rodgers and Hammerstein normally kept close tabs on major foreign productions of their work, but in this exceptional case, the property was sold outright for a Christmas pantomime at the London Palladium. A beloved British tradition, the “panto” format was pretty much set in stone — a star comedian, special music-hall material, comic drag — and all shows had to conform. Oddly enough, a version of the Cinderella story had been presented at the Palladium some years earlier, with the title role played by –Julie Andrews. (That was before she became famous as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.) But here, the star was the young Tommy Steele in a role that R&H never dreamed of: Buttons, a servant with a thick Cockney accent. The added songs are English-music-hall pop.  While all of these changes diminish the heroine’s role, Cinderella still fares pretty well as performed by Yana, a British pop singer and TV personality of the time. As the prince, Bruce Trent is given an additional R&H gem, “No Other Love” — a song from the Broadway show Me and Juliet, with a melody Rodgers originally composed for Victory at Sea, a TV documentary about naval combat during World War II! There are other changes here and there but, fortunately, the drag stepsisters are not as campy as might have been feared. All in all, the recording is a curiosity at least, and sometimes more. — R.B.

Television Cast, 1965 (Columbia) (1 / 5) The 1957 Cinderella telecast was a tremendous success, but since it wasn’t preserved on videotape, it quickly passed into legend. Eight years later, the property was ripe for remake — albeit without Julie Andrews, who was by then a big Hollywood star. Hammerstein had died, and the new production very much reflected the Rodgers-alone aesthetic: extremely “sincere,” no sly winks at the story, the whole of it done with solemnity. Changes such as turning “A Lovely Night” from a quartet into a solo were not improvements, and the interpolated “Loneliness of Evening” (cut from South Pacific) makes the show seem all the more funereal. As Cinderella, teenager Lesley Ann Warren tries to fill some very large glass slippers. While she displays a certain charm, her singing here is thin and uncertain, and she is not yet the assured performer she would later become. Stuart Damon’s prince is well sung but stodgy, and Celeste Holm is a synthetic Fairy Godmother. Only Pat Carroll and Barbara Ruick escape the gloom, but they have less opportunity to shine than did Ballard and Ghostley. Despite its inadequacies, the show was rerun numerous times. (In 1997, another TV version aired, with a cast headed by singer Brandy, Paolo Montalban, Bernadette Peters, Whitney Houston, Jason Alexander, Victor Garber, and Whoopi Goldberg. That production was commercially released only on home video, not on CD.) — R.B.

Broadway Cast, 2013 (Ghostlight) (2 / 5) You can’t keep a good score (or a familiar, beloved story) down. As noted above, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s made-for-TV fairy tale was adapted for the stage within a few years of that first sensational telecast, and numerous productions have followed. The most ambitious effort came with the show’s Broadway premiere in 2013, featuring a new book by Douglas Carter Beane. The King and Queen were omitted (or exiled), Cinderella was given a you-go-girl sense of empowerment, and once again there were songs from elsewhere in the R&H catalogue. (“Loneliness of Evening” came this time with altered lyrics.) The production was heavy on dazzle, the costumes won a Tony, and the show ran on Broadway for two years. Not surprisingly, the main virtue of this recording is the score, add-ons and all. Fortunately, there are some good voices singing it. While Laura Osnes does not always phrase with the utmost grace, her crystalline tone is both attractive and appropriate. Santino Fontana makes an endearing, truly charming prince, while Victoria Clark is luxury casting as the Godmother. Also in the deluxe realm is the marvelous Harriet Harris, though her stepmother doesn’t have much to do on the album. While never challenging Julie Andrews and the rest of the 1957 team, this is still Rodgers and Hammerstein, reasonably well performed — and that puts it well ahead of most of its Broadway competition. — R.B.

Studio Cast Recordings from the 1960s (Angel) (4 / 5) Chu Chin Chow was a huge success on the London stage, where it ran from 1916 to 1921. A Broadway production, which had a shorter run, opened in 1917. Billed as a “Musical Tale of the East,” this was an extravaganza with an ensemble of 64, plus eight children! Chu Chin Chow was “the show to see” for British soldiers on their way to fight in The Great War. The CD combines cuts from two recordings of songs from the score, one from EMI and the other from World Record Club, that were first issued on LP in the late 1950s-early ’60s. EMI gave most of the male vocals to the excellent bass-baritone Inia Te Wiata, and there were new orchestrations by Brian Fahey; World assigned the songs per the show, and used the original arrangements. Frederic Norton’s music is lush and melodic in a quasi-Oriental style, while Oscar Ashe’s lyrics are less inventive, for the most part. Basically the story of “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” with numerous additional plot lines and characters, the show is rather delicious nonsense. Beginning with the stately opening “Here Be Oysters,” the riches keep coming: the elegiac “Cleopatra’s Nile,” the comedic “When a Pullet Is Plump” and “Mahbubah,” the martial “We Are the Robbers of the Woods,” the heart-rending “I Long for the Sun,” and the exuberant “I’Il Sing and Dance,” among others. As a bonus, the CD contains several songs performed by members of the original 1916 cast, plus a couple from the 1934 film soundtrack. These recordings waft us back to a bygone theatrical era the likes of which we may never see or hear again. — Jeffrey Dunn

Original Broadway Cast, 1960 (Columbia/DRG) No stars; not recommended. Maureen O’Hara, in her only musical, is Christine FitzSimmons — an Irishwoman who journeys to India and falls in love with her son-in-law, an earnest doctor named Rashil Singh (her daughter is, thankfully, dead), only to realize that they are from Different Worlds. With lyrics like “Why, Shiva, do you desert me?”, this dreary soap operetta sounds like an amateur theatrical staged by the U.N. Security Council. There’s even a “UNICEF Song,” in which a pack of cute Indian tykes sing about the joys of vaccination. Pearl S. Buck and Charles K. Peck, Jr. were the luckless librettists; Paul Francis Webster’s lyrics are given to clunky meditations (“Where is the medicine for sorrow?”), and Sammy Fain’s music sounds like the score of an unreleased Douglas Sirk film. Broadway wise-crackers Nancy Andrews and Phil Leeds, inexplicably cast as Indians, sing a couple of comedy relief numbers about the differences between East and West, and then there’s the indescribable “The Lovely Girls of Akbarabad.” O’Hara’s singing is unexpectedly lovely, and one or two of the melodies are quite nice, but the rest of it is pure curried corn.  — David Barbour

Original Broadway Cast, 1975 (Arista) (5 / 5) Perhaps not fully appreciated during its initial run of only two years in the mid-1970s, the John Kander-Fred Ebb-Bob Fosse musical Chicago is now recognized as a model Broadway show of its kind, thanks in large part to the revivals and the film version noted below. The central role of Roxie Hart would have been a perfect fit for Gwen Verdon in her prime; indeed, Verdon and her frequent collaborator/sometime husband Fosse had been trying to get a Chicago musical off the ground for years before it finally happened. By that time, Verdon was really too old for the role and was having vocal problems that eventually caused her to take a hiatus from the show. (She was replaced, spectacularly, by Liza Minnelli.) Still, despite these handicaps, Verdon brings her notable brand of charisma  — which earned her four Tony Awards over an extraordinary career — to Roxie, as heard on this original cast recording. Her partner, Chita Rivera, will always remain the definitive Velma Kelly in the minds of many theatergoers and cast album devotees. Jerry Orbach is ideal as Billy Flynn — smooth in “All I Care About,” sexy in “Razzle Dazzle,” and hilarious in “We Both Reached for the Gun.” M. O’Haughey is a riot as Mary Sunshine and has all of the required high notes, while Barney Martin’s Amos Hart stands up well in comparison with such later, terrific exponents of the role as Joel Grey, Nigel Planer, and John C. Reilly.  Ralph Burns’ orchestrations are exemplary, and conductor Stanley Lebowsky does a bang-up job. — Michael Portantiere

Broadway Cast, 1996 (RCA) (2 / 5) Here’s a cast album that unfortunately does a disservice to the production it represents. Inspired by a rapturously received City Center Encores! concert version of Chicago, the 1996 Broadway revival was thrilling, largely due to Ann Reinking’s hot-hot-hot choreography in the style of her mentor Bob Fosse. But listening to the recording without the visual component highlights the fact that the vocal performances of all three of the leads are unsatisfying in one way or another. Never famous as a chanteuse, Reinking is in terrible vocal health here as Roxie Hart, sounding so raspy throughout that it almost hurts to hear her. On top of that, her weird mannerisms of pronunciation are distracting; for example, her spoken line “Nobody walks out on me!” sounds like “Nobody walks out on Mae!” Also, it’s clear that the key of “My Own Best Friend” was damagingly lowered for this production and the recording because this Roxie would not have been able to get through the song otherwise. As for Reinking’s co-stars: Although the timbre of James Naughton’s voice is perfect for Billy Flynn, he has some pitch issues, and while Bebe Neuwirth is vocally strong as Velma Kelly, her performance is somewhat lacking in sex appeal and humor. On more positive notes, Marcia Lewis is sassy as Mama Morton, Joel Grey is felicitously cast as Amos Hart, and the band really swings under Rob Fisher. — M.P.

London Cast, 1998 (RCA) (4 / 5) This audio memento of the London edition of the City Center Encores!/Broadway Chicago revival is markedly superior to the album reviewed immediately above. In terms of vocal strength, Ruthie Henshall is the most impressive Roxie Hart on records. Many will find the performance of the Roxie-Velma duet “My Own Best Friend” on this album to be the best ever recorded. (Gwen Verdon’s delivery of the song on the original album is tremulous, and the number had to be transposed downward for Ann Reinking to get through it at all in the New York revival.) While Henshall as Roxie and Ute Lemper as Velma are terrific singers, both leading ladies do sound somewhat stilted in their spoken lines, probably because they were working to tone down their thick accents — Henshall’s British and Lemper’s German. Henry Goodman is suavity personified as Billy Flynn, and he sports a decent American accent, as do Meg Johnson (Mama Morton) and Nigel Planer (Amos Hart). C. Shirvell fakes some of the high notes in Mary Sunshine’s “A Little Bit of Good,” but then really knocks one out of the park in the final phrase of the song. The score is conducted by Gareth Valentine with more style than British conductors normally bring to American musicals, perhaps partly because Valentine worked under the supervision of Rob Fisher. — M.P.

Film Soundtrack, 2002 (Epic) (4 / 5) Like the Chicago movie itself, this soundtrack CD is almost too good to be true. Renee Zellweger, who apparently had no real training or experience as a singer (or dancer!) prior to being cast as Roxie by director Rob Marshall, is just right for the part; her sexy, kewpie-doll voice can rise to an impressive belt when she needs it to do so, as at the end of “Funny Honey” and elsewhere. Catherine Zeta-Jones was a musical theater performer in England before becoming a movie star, and is therefore in her element as Velma. (She won an Academy Award for her performance.) Richard Gere, who did a couple of Broadway musicals early in his career, sings with charming artlessness as Billy. John C. Reilly is a fully sympathetic Amos, while Queen Latifah is so well cast as Mama Morton that the role might almost have been written for her. The excision of some of the stage musical’s songs — most notably, “My Own Best Friend” — is regrettable, but what’s here is very well done. And the album does include the Zeta-]ones/Latifah duet “Class,” cut from theatrical release prints of the movie. On top of everything else, Doug Besterman and Larry Blank did a superb job of adapting Ralph Burns’ original orchestrations for the soundtrack.  — M.P.

Original London Cast, 1991 (London) (4 / 5) Because of its biblical subject matter and the sheer volume of music and lyrics that Stephen Schwartz wrote for the piece, including a large amount of choral music, Children of Eden might almost be thought of as an oratorio, except that it does have a fair amount of spoken dialogue. (The book is by John Caird.) Act I tells the story of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel in the Garden of Eden; Act II is about Noah and family before, during, and after the Ark. Both tales are given a postmodern psychological spin, showing how patterns of familial dysfunction are repeated down through the ages. Highlights of the score include the magnificent opening chorale, “Let There Be,” Eve’s “The Spark of Creation,” and the lovely title song. Children of Eden was originally developed as a workshop production of the Royal Shakespeare Company, directed by Caird and with a cast including Ken Page as Father (i.e., God), Martin Smith as Adam, Shezwae Powell as Eve, Adrian Beaumont as Cain, Francis Ruffelle as Yonah, and Ruthie Henshall as Aphra. As it turned out, the show opened in the West End at the Prince Edward Theatre in January 1991, receiving largely negative reviews and running only three months. For many years, this cast album was one of the rarest in the catalogue, partly because there were production problems with the CD edition, but fans of the score may now find it available in other formats. The performance is excellent overall, recorded in a rich and exciting acoustic, with top vocal honors going to Page, Powell, and Beaumont. — Michael Portantiere

American Premiere Recording, 1998 (RCA, 2CDs) (4 / 5) This complete recording of an extensively revised version of Children of Eden is the cast album of a well-received production at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey. The cast is headed by William Solo as Father, Adrian Zmed as Adam/Noah, Stephanie Mills as Eve/Mama Noah, Darius de Haas as Cain/Japheth, Hunter Foster as Abel/Ham, Vincent D’Elia as Seth/Shem, and Kelli Rabke as Yonah. Throughout the recording, Zmed displays a strong, ringing tenor voice that will come as a pleasant surprise to those who know him primarily as a TV actor (or even from his work in the notorious movie Grease 2, which was not exactly a great showcase for him). And it’s always a tremendous pleasure to hear Mills, best known for originating the role of Dorothy in The Wiz; one only wishes that she had more shows and cast albums to her credit. A major highlight of the recording is de Haas’s intense performance of a vastly improved and much more compelling version of Cain’s “Lost in the Wilderness,” so heavily reworked that, for all intents and purposes, it’s a new song. Rabke does a fine job with the moving “Stranger to the Rain” and duets persuasively with de Haas in another beautiful song, “In Whatever Time We Have.” To date, Children of Eden has not had a commercial staging on or off Broadway in New York City, but it was given a fine benefit concert performance at Riverside Church in 2003.  –– M.P.

Studio Cast, 1984 (RCA, 2CDs) (5 / 5) Dramatically incoherent but musically brilliant, Chess concerns the fierce rivalry between an American chess champion (here sung by Murray Head) and his Russian opponent (Tommy Körberg), a rivalry complicated by nasty Cold War politics and by the fact that both men become romantically involved with a Hungarian woman named Florence (Elaine Paige). The music is by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, who wrote the songs for their mega-famous pop group ABBA; the lyrics are by Tim Rice, best known for his work with Andrew Lloyd Webber. The lyrics as heard on this concept album of Chess are occasionally ungrammatical (“We wish, no must, make our disgust at this abuse perfectly clear”), but there are also many wonderful turns of phrase (“I see my present partner in the imperfect tense”). Frankly, the music is so great that even if the lyrics were not as good as Rice’s, Chess would probably still have gained a huge following. In a score that’s exciting, moving, and witty by turns, highlights include the Russian’s soul-searching “Where I Want to Be” and passionate “Anthem”; the American’s searing “Pity the Child”; and Florence’s angry “Nobody’s Side” and wistful “Heaven Help My Heart.” Also check out the extended “Mountain Duet,” a falling-in-love duet for Florence and the Russian, and “I Know Him So Well,” in which Florence and Svetlana (Barbara Dickson), the Russian’s wife, commiserate. The performances of Körberg and Paige have never been surpassed, and if Head tends to scream more than sing at the top of his range, that’s not inappropriate to the character he portrays. The other two soloists on the recording are Denis Quilley (a round-toned Molokov) and Bjorn Skiffs (a sexy Arbiter). As conducted by Anders Eljas, who also provides terrific orchestrations, the London Symphony Orchestra and The Ambrosian Singers sound magnificent. The recording level of the original CD transfer of this performance was unusually low, but happily, that has been remedied for the most recent release. — Michael Portantiere

Original Broadway Cast, 1988 (RCA) (3 / 5) It’s generally agreed that Chess flopped on Broadway because of the ineptly crafted book that Richard Nelson wrote around the score in a vain effort to make dramatic sense of it all. Happily, none of his work is included on this recording. Tim Rice reworked his lyrics extensively for the Broadway production, but most of the changes are not improvements. Some songs were added, most notable among them the hauntingly lovely “Someone Else’s Story.” Beautifully sung by Judy Kuhn as Florence, that number alone would justify the purchase of this recording, but there is much more to recommend it. Philip Casnoff as the American chess champ (now named Freddie) is superb; in his amazing performance of the extremely rangy and taxing “Pity the Child,” he maintains full vocal control while not stinting on the song’s outsize emotions. Also, in contrast to Murray Head, Casnoff sounds American (which he is), and that’s important in terms of the plot. The late David Carroll brought a major voice to the role of the Russian champ (now named Anatoly), and his accent is excellent. Overall, this single CD of highlights from the score has its many pleasures, even if it certainly does not supplant the original recording. — M.P.

Swedish Concert Cast, 1994 (MONO, 2CDs) (4 / 5) This album was released in Sweden on Benny Andersson’s label MONO, drawn from concerts that were recorded live at Eriksbergshallen in Gothenburg, Sweden in August 1994, with an all Swedish cast singing in English. A major attraction here is Tommy Körberg returning to the role of the Russian chess master, which he created on the concept album of Chess.  If anything, he sounds even better here, equally solid from a vocal standpoint and even more emotionally engaged — perhaps in part because this is a recording of a full concert performance before a live audience, rather than a studio album recorded piecemeal. Married couple Anders and Karin Glenmark, who were background singers on the concept recording, are here promoted to the leading roles of Freddie Trumper and Florence Vassy, and they do very well by their assignments. Anders Eljas, conductor of the original recording, is happily on hand as well, leading the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Chorus plus three band members from ABBA: Rutger Gunnarsson, Lasse Wellander, and Per Lindvall, all of whom also played on the concept album. As of this writing, this recording is out of print and extremely expensive to purchase if you can find it at all, but you might be able to seek out an excerpt or two on YouTube or elsewhere to sample it. — M.P.

Danish Touring Cast, 2001 (Scanbox, 2CDs) (4 / 5) The performance captured here is so fine that this recording would be worth buying even it were less complete. In the role of Anatoly, Stig Rossen sounds a lot like the original, Tommy Körberg — and that’s meant as a great compliment. As Florence, Emma Kershaw may not have quite the voice of her predecessors; still, she’s impressive, especially in the more lyrical sections of the score. (Note that “Someone Else’s Story” is here given to  Svetlana, sung persuasively by Gunilla Backman.) The two-disc set contains quite a lot more material than had previously been recorded, but the not-so-great news is that some of the songs are sequenced in a questionable order that apparently more or less replicates their sequencing in the original London stage production of Chess, which did not yield a cast album. For example, the rage-filled “Pity the Child,” powerfully delivered by Zubin Varla, occurs toward the end of Act I rather than in the middle of Act II, thereby making the songs that follow it seem anticlimactic — even Rossen’s heartfelt rendition of “Anthem.” On the plus side, the recording boasts a large orchestra and choir conducted by Mikkel Rennow, and the sound quality is first rate. (Note: Following the initial release of this two-disc set, Andersson and Ulvaeus objected to the recording of some musical sequences without authorization, so they were removed for a subsequent edition.)  — M.P.

Royal Albert Hall Concert Cast, 2009 (Reprise, 2CDs) (4 / 5) Fans of Chess can be happy that, even if there has not yet been a completely satisfying presentation of the show as a fully staged musical (or pop opera) with full sets, costumes, etc. — including the original London and Broadway productions — there are several excellent recordings of the score. Presenting the work as a staged concert seems to have become viewed as the wisest choice since the failure of the Broadway production, and this live recording is an audio document of one of the best efforts in that form. Josh Groban and Adam Pascal had previously proven to be pretty much ideal in the roles of the Russian and American chess champs Anatoly Sergievsky and Frederick Trumper in a benefit concert of Chess for The Actors’ Fund of America that was presented on Broadway as a one-night-only event in 2003, and here they reprise those roles in triumph, both perfectly cast in terms of vocal timbre and personality. The male leads are joined by Idina Menzel as Florence Vassy, and even those who are not usually enamored of Menzel’s nasal style of vocal production may feel that this role is a very good fit for her; to these ears, she sounds equally good in the ballads and the more rock-belty sections of the score.  Marti Pellow’s singing of the Arbiter’s song is a little too mellow of tone for that intense character, but David Bedella and Clarke Peters are both very strong as Molokov and Walter De Courcy, and Kerry Ellis sounds lovely as Svetlana, who gets to sing “Someone Else’s Story.” There is some new or unfamiliar material here, and the song order isn’t quite the same as any previous production or recording — but Chess enthusiasts should be used to that by now. The very large chorus and orchestra perform excitingly and impeccably under conductor and musical advisor David Firman.  (Note: This performance is also available on video, which may be purchased as a DVD along with the 2CD set, or separately.) — M.P.

Original Off-Broadway Cast, 1983 (John Hammond Records/DRG) (2 / 5) I find librettist Michael Colby to be extremely talented, with more natural gifts as a lyricist.  (His shows are through-sung.) Here set to music by Gerald Jay Markoe, Colby’s lyrics are clever, carefully rhymed, and properly accented. But, invariably, 20 minutes into each of Colby’s shows, I want to wring his neck. The plotting of his musicals is always silly and goes too far, leaving amusement behind. In effect, his cleverness calls repeated attention to itself, which becomes tiresome. Charlotte Sweet is a musical about a young woman whose mother, “a chronic shiverer,” has smothered under the many “Layers of Underwear” (song title) that it took to try to warm her up. Paying for all that underwear has put the family in debt to the unbelievably evil Barnaby Bugaboo, who loves Charlotte and who runs a music-hall show filled with singing schizophrenics and lunatics. Charlotte has a freakishly high voice, and Barnaby agrees to cancel the family’s debt if she will join his Circus of Voices. She does so. Eventually, Barnaby destroys her voice, and then he addicts her to balloons filled with helium so that she can still hit the high notes. All kinds of people dress up as other people and, at the end, just about all the characters are killed before it’s revealed that they weren’t really (killed, that is). Clever isn’t enough for this kind of writing; you have to be actually funny, which is a very different thing and which, I’m afraid, Charlotte Sweet isn’t.  — David Wolf

Original Broadway Cast, 1969 (Capitol/Angel) (1 / 5) The hero and heroine are called Orphan and Angel. The villain is a bloated millionaire named Edgar Allen Rich. The production was designed to resemble a workshop.  Its title notwithstanding, Celebration is nothing to celebrate; indeed, it’s one of Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt’s less successful experiments. Taking its structure “from an. ancient Sumerian ritual play,” and with an underlying theme of the passing of the seasons, Celebration is a flower-power fable pitting youth and goodness against wealth and experience. As reviewer Walter Kerr put it, “I’m surprised the over-50s in the house didn’t retire as a group to the lobby and shoot themselves.” Michael Glenn-Smith is Orphan, who wants the grasping Mr. Rich (Ted Thurston) to give him a garden. Rich manufactures all things artificial — flowers, fruit, foundation garments — and is only interested in having his way with the winsome Angel, played by a somewhat earthier-than-usual Susan Watson. The show starts off strongly with the percussive title number, sung by master-of-ceremonies Keith Charles, and Glenn-Smith scores with his first number, “Orphan in the Storm.” JimTyler’s orchestrations are fairly inventive throughout. But Jones’ narrative is too predictable, and the songs quickly wear out their welcome. This recording belongs in a time capsule. — David Barbour

Original Broadway Cast, 1945 (Decca) (4 / 5) This landmark musical is not the most popular of the Rodgers and Hammerstein canon in terms of the number of productions, but it may well be the most beloved and respected. A dramatic musical fantasy that ponders the power of love lasting beyond death, the show is said to have been the favorite of its composer, Richard Rodgers. Indeed, this is one of the most melodic and dramatic scores ever created for the musical theater,  including opera, comprising such now-classic songs as “If I Loved You,” “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over,” “When the Children Are Asleep,” “What’s the Use of Wond’rin,” Billy Bigelow’s “Soliloquy,” and the beautiful anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” Oscar Hammerstein’s lyrics are equally rich as Rodgers’ melodies and harmonies. Therefore, any competent recording of Carousel reaches the stratosphere of musical delight. The original Broadway cast album was released on 78-rpm records and is heavily truncated; it’s also an antique in some ways, including sound quality, as compared with subsequent efforts that capture the beauty and passion of the musical far more successfully. What this recording does have to offer is the powerful, spine-tingling vocal performances of the very first Billy Bigelow and Julie Jordan: John Raitt and Jan Clayton. Although Raitt’s later recording of the score (reviewed below) has advantages over this one, his original performance is definitive. Some of the other singers of principal roles — Jean Darling as Carrie, Eric Mattson as Mr. Snow, Christine Johnson as Nettie Fowler, and Murvyn Vye as Jigger Craigin — sound a bit arch, and some of the tempi are rushed. Still, this is an invaluable time capsule that deserves a place of honor in any Broadway show album collection. — Gerard Alessandrini

Original London Cast, 1950 (Columbia/Encore) (4 / 5) The few recordings of songs from Carousel that were made by the original London cast add up to only about 16 minutes of music. Billy Bigelow is sung by Stephen Douglass, who went on to a successful career on Broadway, starring in Damn Yankees and other shows. He sounds wonderful here, and so does Iva Withers as Julie Jordan. Although both are a bit mannered in style, their beautiful voices lend much to the great Rodgers and Hammerstein songs. Too bad that more of the score wasn’t recorded in those long-ago London sessions. (Note: the Encore label CD release of these recordings, pictured here, also includes excerpts from Oklahoma! and Annie Get Your Gun with members of the original London casts.) — G.A.

Studio Cast, 1956 (RCA) (3 / 5) This recording contains much more music than the original cast album of Carousel, and it captures Don Walker’s orchestrations in excellent hi-fi (but not stereo) sound. Conductor Lehman Engel does a fine job of coaxing theatrical performances from his operatic leads, Robert Merrill and Patrice Munsel, and the young Florence Henderson is in her element as Carrie. Also on hand is George S. Irving as Jigger Craigin. The album was quite satisfactory in its day, and although it has been superseded by subsequent releases, it’s still a joy to listen to in its own right. — G.A.

Film Soundtrack, 1956 (CapitolAngel) (5 / 5) This recording achieves the nearly impossible: Can you think of any other Hollywood film soundtrack album that is the definitive version of a great Broadway show score? It features inspired, brilliantly expanded orchestrations by Edmund Powell and the 20th Century Fox scoring department under the supervision of Alfred Newman. The stereophonic sound heard on the remastered CD edition is mostly outstanding. Perfectly cast as the lovers, Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones deliver Rodgers and Hammerstein’s songs with artistry and unpretentious acting. As in the film soundtrack of Oklahoma! they offer stellar examples of how to perform American musical theater songs; their singing is melodic and strong, yet it sounds like a natural extension of their speaking voices. Among the film’s supporting cast, Robert Rounseville as Mr. Snow and Claramae Turner as Nettie are vocal powerhouses. Barbara Ruick as Carrie and Cameron Mitchell as Jigger are possessed of less”legit”voices, but they give character performances loaded with personality. This album also contains the best-ever recording of the “Carousel Waltz”; under Newman’s direction, it’s a thrilling performance of an arrangement/orchestration that at once elaborates upon, yet remains faithful to, the original. The expanded soundtrack CD includes the songs recorded for the film but not used in the finished release (“Blow High, Blow Low” and “You’re a Queer One, Julie Jordan”) as well as all of the ballet music and the spectacular main title cut, an artfully edited version of the “Carousel Waltz.” If you had to choose only one recording of this magnificent musical to own, this would be it. — G.A.

Studio Cast, 1962 (Command/no CD) (2 / 5) What makes this recording notable is the cast. Alfred Drake was the original Curly in Oklahoma! and here proves what a natural he was for the part of Billy Bigelow. Listening to him sing these songs, you might think that he had created the role. Roberta Peters is vocally if not dramatically well suited to Julie Jordan, and none other than Claramae Turner is Nettie, recreating her role from the movie. The gorgeous-voiced Lee Venora is a fine Carrie, and the opera star bass-baritone Norman Treigle is Jigger. Sturdy casting aside, this album offers a re-orchestrated version of the score that stresses stereo effects over musicality; the added xylophones and other excessive percussion seem silly and annoying by today’s standards, and the sound quality of the recording is extremely bright. On the whole, this is sort of a Muzak version of the score and, therefore, a curiosity. — G.A.

Music Theater of Lincoln Center Cast, 1965 (RCA) (4 / 5) This first stereophonic stage cast album of Carousel, though skillfully recorded and mixed, to some extent lacks the theatricality that a recording drawn from a theatrical production should exhibit. Richard Rodgers himself was the revival’s producer, and we can assume his preferences are reflected here. Impeccably conducted by Franz Allers, the score sounds glorious, and the performances are solid: Eileen Christy is an appealing Julie, Susan Watson a soubrettish Carrie, Reid Shelton a charming Mr. Snow, and the always impressive Jerry Orbach a colorful Jigger. Rounding out the fine cast is Katherine Hilgenburg as Nettie. But what gives this album importance is the fact that it offers “Living Stereo” recordings of Billy Bigelow’s songs as sung by the original Billy, John Raitt. Here, the timbre of Raitt’s voice is different from what is heard on the 1945 album — not better or worse, just different in that he sounds more like a tenor, less like a baritone. Some may prefer this interpretation, but the operatic thrill of the original is missing. Still, this is a lovely recording overall. — G.A.

Studio Cast, 1987 (MCA) (3 / 5) In this fairly complete but oddly lackluster recording, Barbara Cook’s phrasing and acting as Julie Jordan are superb, but her rich, mature voice lacks the vulnerability that only a young ingenue can bring to the role. Opera star Samuel Ramey is a full-bodied Billy Bigelow, yet his “legit” sound plays against the more impetuous, youthful facets of the character. Sarah Brightman is quite charming as Carrie. The disc includes the rarely recorded “Geraniums in the Winder,” along with a complete version of”If I Loved You.” “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” are powerfully sung by Maureen Forrester. Yet, overall, the recording is unexciting. Perhaps that’s partly because the new orchestrations lack theatrical drive, although they are conducted with professionalism and precision by Broadway veteran Paul Gemignani.  — G.A.

London Cast, 1993 (First Night) (3 / 5) Director Nicholas Hytner’s imaginative production of Carousel for the Royal National Theatre yielded this cast album. In the role of Billy Bigelow, Michael Hayden sounds pretty much the same here as he does on the recording of the subsequent Lincoln Center Theater production, also directed by Hytner but with an otherwise different cast. Hayden’s colleagues on the London album include Joanna Riding, Meg Johnson, Katrina Murphy, and Clive Rowe. Martin Yates conducts the score with feeling, but many listeners will feel that the 1994 disc reviewed below has supplanted this one if only through greater star power in some of the supporting roles. — G.A.

Broadway Cast, 1994 (Angel) (4 / 5) Here is a stirring aural document of the Lincoln Center Theater production of Carousel. As he had done in London, director Nicholas Hytner proved again that the piece was much more than a quaint folk musical. Audra McDonald was thrust into Tony Award-winning stardom with her performance as Carrie; every nuance of her excellent interpretation is captured on the recording. Sally Murphy makes a fine Julie Jordan, Eddie Korbich is delightful as Mr. Snow, and opera star Shirley Verrett is outstanding as Nettie Fowler. The newish orchestrations are excellent, if not as large as the originals, and all of the choral numbers sound glorious in digital stereo. The star of the show in London and New York was Michael Hayden, who brought solid acting and a vibrant sexuality to the role of Billy Bigelow. Unfortunately, most of that doesn’t translate to the recording, and Hayden’s vocal limitations overshadow his charisma. For that reason alone, this cannot be considered the definitive cast album of Carousel. Still, as a memento of a great production and a fairly complete recording of the score in digital sound, it’s very worthwhile. — G.A.

Broadway Cast, 2018 (Craft Recordings) (4 / 5) Although this big Broadway revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s most dramatic musical was fairly well received by critics and audiences alike, it only ran for five months. The cast recording is mostly excellent, and will be enjoyed by many listeners for years to come. As revised by Jonathan Tunick, the orchestrations are beautifully mixed and sound quite stirring, plus the recording includes much of the thrilling dance music that was heard in the show to accompany its fine new choreography. The vocal stars of the album are Joshua Henry as Billy Bigelow and Jessie Mueller as Julie Jordan; their performances are nearly perfect, coming through with even more vibrancy as recorded than they did in the theater. Also on hand to deliver a very fresh, Tony Award winning performance is Lindsay Mendez as Carrie Peppridge. Alexander Gemignani as Mr. Snow hits the bullseye vocally and in his fine characterization. But the outstanding performance here is Joshua Henry’s, his superb baritenor voice ringing out loud and clear. In fact, his is the best recorded performance of Billy Bigelow since Gordon Mac Rae and John Raitt.  A beautiful soprano from the opera world, Renée Fleming, makes for a stalwart Netttie Fowler in the standards “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over” and “You’lll Never Walk Alone.” However, the trills and descants she adds to these songs, particularly the finale reprise of the latter, mar the genius of Richard Rodgers’ melodies. Especially since Fleming’s antics can be heard in the album’s final track, they create a poor last impression of an otherwise highly enjoyable recording.  — G.A.

Studio Cast, 2024 (Chandos, 2CDs) (5 / 5) This is an excellent, revelatory new recording of the complete score of Carousel. Fans of the show will be amazed and enlightened by the cohesiveness and stature of the score as presented in its absolute entirety; musical director/conductor John Wilson has outdone himself here as a modern-day master of mid-20th century American musical theater. The original orchestrations by Don Walker, played by the Sinfonia of London and recorded in state-of-the-art digital sound, come through as miles above any other Broadway orchestrations of the era. They sound symphonic and yet folksy (in the best sense), full and rich, yet never overpowering. As for the singers, they perform every note written by Richard Rodgers exactly as indicated by the composer – no back phrasing or talk-singing here, which also results in ultimate clarity of Oscar Hammerstein’s lyrics. Nathaniel Hackmann, as Billy Bigelow, delivers one of the best performances of this role on records, with a very “legit” sound that’s gorgeous to hear. His “Soliloquy” and the frequently cut song “The Highest Judge of All” are thrillingly sung, and his acting (as best as one can tell from an audio-only recording) is also very effective. Mikaela Bennett is lovely as Julie Jordan, and further upping the classiness of the recording as Mr. Snow is Julian Ovenden, letting his tenor voice soar and delightfully hamming up the role just a bit. (Ovenden usually plays baritone leading men roles, and has rarely had a chance to show off his high-tenor bravado and his sense of humor as he does here.) Sierra Boggess and Francesca Chiejina are also quite fine as Carrie and Nettie Fowler, respectively. But the major triumph of this recording is its note-completeness, which extends to all of the encores and all of the dance music (arranged by Trude Rittman), as well as the entr’acte and exit music. Even the scene change music is included, to great effect; it’s often grand and sweeping, and it propels the action magnificently. When you hear this score in its full, unedited glory, you understand what a great step forward Carousel was in the development of the perfectly integrated musical. This recording also demonstrates clearly that Rodgers and Hammerstein did not take their mega-success with Oklahoma! for granted, and how strongly committed they were to expanding the parameters of musical theater. — G.A.

Original Broadway Cast, 1961 (MGM/Polydor) (3 / 5) Is there an odder Broadway musical than Carnival? Even with an all-American creative team, its sensibility — alternately sentimental, stark, and raucous — is distinctively French. In Michael Stewart’s book for the musical, based on the film Lili (from a Paul Gallico novella), Anna Maria Alberghetti is the waifish heroine who joins a traveling carnival after the death of her father. She’s dazzled by the philandering magician Marco the Magnificent (James Mitchell), but real love is waiting in the form of Paul (Jerry Orbach), a disabled war vet who has given up dancing to become a puppeteer. Paul can only express his feelings for Lili through his puppets, and the fact that this conceit doesn’t make you scream is a testament to the authors’ skills. Bob Merrill’s melodic score blends whimsical music-box melodies, big dramatic arias, and comedy numbers into a surprisingly persuasive whole. He effectively dramatizes Lili’s vulnerability (“Mira”) and wonderment at the marvels of the carnival (“Yes, My Heart”) as well as Paul’s inner torment(“Everybody Likes You,” “Her Face”), while also making room for broadly farcical songs like “Humming” and “Always, Always You” for Mitchell and Kaye Ballard as his jealous girlfriend. The show’s most famous song, “Love Makes the World Go Round,” is a haunting little tune. Merrill, who spent much of his career working on flops or serving as Jule Styne’s lyricist, was an underrated talent, as this unique, often wrenching piece reveals. A large set of CD bonus tracks includes the composer delivering demo versions of five numbers, plus four pop covers by, among others, Richard Chamberlain and Mel Tormé.  — David Barbour

Original Broadway Cast, 1943 (Decca) (4 / 5) It’s easy to understand why Carmen Jones was such a hit on Broadway in 1943. Not only was it a novelty — an Americanized opera with an all-black cast — it was also valid on its own terms.  In writing the book and lyrics, Oscar Hammerstein adhered quite closely to Bizet’s opera Carmen. This was no jazzing-down of the score, but there were some bright vernacular equivalents: a factory that makes parachutes (it was during WW-II, remember) instead of cigarettes, a prize fighter (Husky Miller) in place of a toreador (Escamillo), and so on. The opera’s arias, ensembles, and choruses were adapted with great skill; for example, the famous quintet lost none of its spirit and dash in being revamped as “Whizzin’ Away Along de Track.” The show had spoken dialogue rather than recitatives, and what might now seem dated, jarring, and even offensive to some ears — “dat” and “dis” for “that” and “this,” and so on — was seen as candid at the time. As heard here, some cast members show the strain of singing this demanding material several times a week. Others seem intent on proving that this, too, is an opera! But, overall, the album is excellent. Muriel Smith, reportedly a knockout onstage, would be a good Carmen under any circumstances; she sings with fire and conviction. The rest of the company is pretty much up to her standards, with Luther Saxon offering a beautifully sung “Dis Flower.” The commitment level of the performance in general more than makes up for the recording’s minor flaws. (There’s a fun bonus track: Kitty Carlisle’s “Beat Out Dat Rhythm on a Drum.”) — Richard Barrios

Film Soundtrack, 1954 (RCA/no CD) (4 / 5) Otto Preminger’s movie version of Carmen Jones was daring on numerous fronts: a Hollywood film of an opera (albeit with spoken dialogue), an all-black cast, and a forward look at sexuality. It was a huge success. For movie purposes, a smaller-scale vocal approach than would be heard in an opera house or on Broadway was deemed necessary. Still, like the film itself, this recording works very well on its own terms. Setting the tone as Carmen is the 20-year-old Marilyn Horne, her first name listed in the credits as “Marilynn.” In voice and style, Horne is closer here to Dorothy Dandridge — the on-screen Carmen, and a pop singer of some merit — than to the later Horne, who was to become one of the greatest mezzo soprano divas of the 20th century with her rich low notes and electrifying Rossini roulades. Most of the remainder of the movie cast was dubbed as well, including two other pop singers, Harry Belafonte (by LeVern Hurcherson) and Diahann Carroll (by Bernice Peterson). As Cindy Lou, OlgaJames sings with warmth and sincerity even if she ducks a high note in her big aria, “My Joe.” Pearl Bailey avoids any such problem by singing “Beat  Out Dat Rhythm on a Drum” down in her own range; aided by no less than Max Roach on drums, she makes it a piece for the ages. Herschel Burke Gilbert’s musical arrangements are superb, and even though Dandridge’s scorching Carmen needs to be seen, this aural record of the movie is a winner. (Technical note: Although the score was recorded in stereo and may be heard that way on home video releases of the film, the soundtrack LP has never been issued in true stereo.)– R.B.

Studio Cast, 1967 (WRC/DRG) (2 / 5) Another opera diva, Grace Bumbry, built a sizable part of her career on Bizet’s Carmen and turned to the gypsy’s American sister in the recording studio. The result, if not theatrical, sounds beautiful. Bumbry had one of opera’s most luscious voices, and she could be a compelling dramatic performer as well. As Ms. Jones, her tone is plush, but the fire is there only intermittently. Since this recording is very much a “Diva Gets Down” kind of event, the supporting cast takes a back seat; in the case of Joe, that’s just as well, for George Webb is a milquetoast in voice and manner. Bumbry demolishes him in the last scene without so much as chipping her nail polish. The others fare better, and it’s worth noting that the veteran Elisabeth Welch gets to do “Beat Out Dat Rhythm,” which is again transposed down from the original score. She’s good, but Pearl Bailey still wins the prize. This is an acceptable Carmen Jones in true stereo, but a few minutes of either previous recording will show you what’s missing. — R.B.

Original London Cast, 1991 (EMI) (1 / 5) It took nearly 50 years for Carmen Jones to cross the Atlantic, and she picked up some baggage for her trip to the Old Vic. The show in its original version was felt to be old-hat, resulting in this glossy production by Simon Callow, with reduced orchestrations and a jazzed-up overture. There were rapturous reviews, numerous awards, and the production had a long run — but, apparently, it was an experience far better suited to live viewing than home listening. At least two factors make this recording unsatisfying: drastically cut-down orchestrations, and back-and-forth switching between the lead singers. Wilhelmenia Fernandez and Damon Evans sing Carmen and Joe in Acts I and IV, while Sharon Benson and Michael Austin do so in Acts II and III. Though all are committed to the task at hand, some fall a bit short. Fernandez has a warm tone but faulty diction. Even more unfortunate, Benson makes “De Cards Don’t Lie” sound nice, light, and even-tempered. (Yes, this is the number in which the cards foretell Carmen’s death!) Evans is a slightly more substantial Joe than the reedy Austin, whose “Dis Flower” is a trial. Karen Parks gets through “My Joe,” and Gregg Baker, another genuine opera singer, is a decent Husky.  — R.B.