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Babes in Arms
1999 Studio Cast
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| Cast |
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Don Correia, Priscilla Lopez, Michael McCormick, Donna McKechnie,
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| Songs |
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Music Sample
- Overture
- Where or When [Lyrics] - Campbell, David
- Babes in Arms - Ojeda, Perry Laylon
- I Wish I Were in Love Again - Fitzgerald, Christo
- Light on Their Feet - Irby-Ranniar, Scott
- Way Out West - Anderson, Melissa R
- My Funny Valentine [Lyrics] - Dilly, Erin
- Calhoun's Follies (Intro) - Anderson, Melissa R
- Johnny One Note [Lyrics] - Anderson, Melissa R
- Johnny One-Note Ballet
- Imagine - Anderson, Melissa R
- All at Once - Campbell, David
- Peter's Journey Ballet - Cahoon, Kevin
- The Lady is a Tramp [Lyrics] - Dilly, Erin
- You Are So Fair - Fitzgeraldd, Christ
- The Lady is a Tramp [Lyrics] (Reprise) - Dilly, Erin
- Finale - Company
Recording year: 1999 Label: DRG 94769 Length:
68:56
Conductor: Rob
Fisher
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| Reviews: |
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Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart returned from a discouraging half-decade
sojourn in Depression-era Hollywood to embark on their golden period, with
eight musicals opening in five years. Four of these scores remain among
the best in their respective fields: the musical comedy/ballet hybrid On
Your Toes; the farcical musical The Boys from Syracuse; the sophisticated-but-dark
Pal Joey; and -- topping the list for all around rambunctiousness -- Babes
in Arms. (And all this was before the amazing Rodgers teamed up with Oscar
Hammerstein for Oklahoma! , Carousel, and more!)
These shows were all revived during Rodgers's lifetime, although the
composer in each case saw fit to allow musical alterations and all-new
orchestrations. Since the death of Rodgers in 1979, all have been restored
(as accurately as possible) to their original musical form and recorded,
with generally pleasing results. The most indispensable, perhaps, are
City Center Encores 1997 production of Boys from Syracuse (DRG 94767)
and, now, their 1999 Babes in Arms.
Broadway has seen any number of hit-filled musicals in its time, but
Babes has one of the most glorious scores: "Where or When [Lyrics],"
"My Funny Valentine [Lyrics]," "The Lady is a Tramp [Lyrics]," and "Johnny
One-Note" are understandably well-known; "I Wish I Were in Love
Again," "All at Once," "Imagine," and "You
Are So Fair" are almost equally deserving. (The show is saddled with
a problematic libretto, about a bunch of kids who put on a show in a barn.
Encores and the Estates wisely entrusted the rewrites to John Guare, who
did a fine, unobtrusive job. This Babes was staged with just the right
touch and impressively choreographed by Encores artistic director Kathleen
Marshall.)
This disc is sparked by the insouciant charm of Erin Dilly (in the role
originated by child movie star Mitzi Green). Dilly conveys a warm personality
and a sense of humor, and surely has a career ahead of her if she so wishes
-- she's due on Broadway in April in Boublil-Schonberg's Martin Guerre.
The disc is also buoyed by the exceptional playing of Rob Fisher and his
Coffee Club Orchestra. The lively original orchestrations by Hans Spialek
are full of wonderful little solos from the woodwinds and flutes, as well
as some colorful work from the two pianos. All of this comes across beautifully,
making this disc a joy to listen to. The rest of the cast -- including
the up-and-coming Australian discovery David Campbell as Val (of "Funny
Valentine" fame), Christopher Fitzgerald and Jessica Stone as the
comedy couple, and Melissa Rain Anderson as the belter -- all do well;
some appear to be considerably stronger on disc than they were in the
theatre.
An earlier restoration of Babes in Arms -- a 1989 concert version conducted
by Evans Haile and recorded at Alice Tully Hall -- is presently still
available on CD (New World NW 386-2). That disc, which features fine performances
by Judy Blazer and Jason Graae, is certainly commendable; but this new
one -- with singers young enough to actually play these roles on stage
-- takes precedence. And what a score!
Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's Babes in Arms, a musical about the children
of vaudevillians who put on a show, ran for eight months on Broadway in
1937 and was loosely adapted into a 1939 movie starring Judy Garland and
Mickey Rooney that retained only two songs from the score. For the most
part, record companies were not recording original cast albums or original
motion picture soundtracks in the 1930s, but several songs from Babes in
Arms were recorded shortly after the show opened, with "Where or When [Lyrics]"
becoming a chart-topping hit and "The Lady is a Tramp [Lyrics]" also scoring
in the charts. In later years, "My Funny Valentine [Lyrics]" and "I Wish I Were in Love Again" joined the
ranks of standards. In the early 1950s, Columbia Records and RCA Victor
each produced studio cast versions of the show on 10" LPs (and, for
what it's worth, the film soundtrack has turned up on vinyl as well). But
it wasn't until New York's Encores! series of concert versions of vintage
musicals revived Babes in Arms in 1999 that an opportunity for a real cast
album came up. Encores! specializes in restoring original orchestrations,
which in this case means that Hans Spialek's charts were heard for the first
time since 1937. That helped with one of the challenges any revival of Babes
in Arms faces: How to re-acquire those familiar songs from generations of
nightclub performances by classic pop singers and make them sound fresh.
Another advantage going back to the original score gave the revivers was
that the songs are longer in their initial versions, with "Where or When [Lyrics]," for example, having two introductory verses (for each part of
what was a duet originally) that are not usually heard. But clinching the
success of the production was the decision to follow the original idea of
the show and cast it with new, young talent. Names like Erin Dilly, David
Campbell, Melissa Rain Anderson, Christopher Fitzgerald, and Jessica Stone
may not have rung any bells on opening night, but that enabled them to approach
the material without the audience having any preconceptions. All those positive
aspects of the revival carry over to the cast album. Snippets of dialogue
and plenty of long-unheard ballet music rejoin the familiar tunes, along
with some Rodgers Hart obscurities that deserve to be better known, especially
"All at Once," a song about the quick maturing of children, and
the hilarious comparison between the West and New York, "Way Out West"
("on West End Avenue"), which contains lines like, "There's
not much buffalo, but lots of bull." Meanwhile, songs like "My Funny Valentine [Lyrics]" and especially "The Lady is a Tramp [Lyrics]"
(with several extra verses) sound as good as ever. Rodgers Hart usually
are remembered for their songs, not their shows, but this recording of Babes
in Arms goes a long way toward making a case for them as writers of whole
musicals, while re-confirming the appeal of their tunes.
William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
Rodgers and Hart's Babes in Arms is the archetypal "let's put on a
show in a barn!" musical. When Encores! decided to revive it, they
picked a mostly unknown cast to match the characters' young age. Happily,
the gamble paid off, especially considering the astonishing number of showstopping
songs that pepper the ditzy book. Erin Dilly and Australian cabaret star
David Campbell play the lead ingenues, and Dilly does well enough by "My Funny Valentine [Lyrics]" and "The Lady is a Tramp [Lyrics]." But Melissa
Rain Anderson steals the show with brassy renditions of "Way Out West"
and "Johnny One-Note." A 1989 recording of the musical may have
stronger performances overall (Judy Blazer has brass and sass!), but more
Rodgers and Hart is always better.
Elisabeth
Vincentelli - Amazon.com
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| Link |
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Original Broadway Production
Film Version
Studio cast 1990
Studio Cast 1951
Babes In Arms F.A.Q.
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