COMPLIMENTARY COPY
Published Weekly By Joel Sater Publications www.antiquesandauctionnews.net
VOL. 44, NO. 16 FRIDAY APRIL 19, 2013
Collecting Broadway Musical Cast Albums By Donald-Brian Johnson
“Get out those old records, Those old phonograph records, The ones we used to play so long ago. What if they sound scratchy? The tunes, they really were catchy Remember when you used to love them so?” Carmen Lombardo, 1951
Q
uick, now: what’s the last Broadway tune you can recall that propelled itself up the pop music charts? Was it Judy Collins’ plaintive “Send in the Clowns” (“A Little Night Music”)? Barbra Streisand’s soulful “People” (“Funny Girl”)? Maybe it was The 5th Dimension’s rousing “Aquarius”/”Let the Sunshine In” (“Hair”), or perhaps Louis Armstrong, cheerfully growling out “Hello, Dolly!” (guess what show that’s from). Nowadays, you won’t find Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and the rest of the chart-toppers peppering their releases with Broadway ballads. They know what sells, and show tunes aren’t what fans are
But, once upon a time, they did. “Say It With Music” “People Will Say We’re in Love”. . . “76 Trombones”. . . “The Impossible Dream”. . . “Tomorrow”. . .”I Could Have Danced All Night”. . . You may never have seen a Broadway musical in your life. You may have a tin ear. A voice like a frog. But, there’s no denying it: you know these songs. You know them because, for decades, these showstoppers, and countless more like them, were what popular music was all about. Nowadays, we call them “the standards.” They were popularized by big bands, belted out on the radio, and given the Hollywood treatment. Bing, Frank, and Perry sang them. So did Judy, Doris, and Dinah. For entertainers of the mid-twentieth century, Broadway was an inexhaustible gold mine. Performers gave their unique “takes” on show tunes, and we happily listened to the results. On records. “Records.” There’s a quaint old-timeyness to the word, as much of the past as spats and buggy whips. But almost until the millennium, when CDs and other digital storage media made them passé, records ruled. “LPs,” (and their even mustier predecessors, the “78s”), were how America got its music. If you wanted to hear the latest hit song, there was no downloading. You bought the record and switched on the hi-fi. And, if you wanted to hear the latest Broadway hit songs, “just as performed on the New York All the original Broadway cast - except star Ethel Merman, under contract to another record label, and replaced here by stage,” you bought the “original cast album.” Dinah Shore. “Call Me Madam,” 1950, RCA. $15-20. “Give My Regards To Broadway” The earliest cast albums were recorded in England, and were, oddly enough, of American shows with their London casts (“Show Boat,” in 1928, was one of the first). Until the introduction of the LP (“long play”) record in 1948, recording a show was an unwieldy process. A 78-rpm disc could only hold between 3-1/2 and 4-1/2 minutes of music per side. Recording a show’s entire score would have required many more 78s than the 5 or 6 that could conveniently be packaged in a set. Less notable songs went unrecorded (or, at any rate, unreleased). Features considered nonessential, such as overtures, instrumental breaks, and verses, were truncated, or eliminated. And, while leading performers were usually called upon to repeat their stage successes for listening posterity, the chorus and orchestra were often just assembled for the recording, and had no connection to the stage presentation. In 1943, Decca released the first recording that could truly be billed as featuring the “original Broadway cast”:
“Annie Get Your Gun” original Broadway cast, with cover art of star Ethel Merman. 1946, Decca, $25-30.
clamoring for. Of course, there are occasional anomalies. Susan Boyle enters a TV talent contest. Her angelic “I Dreamed a Dream” (from “Les Miserables”) bowls over the judges; in true duckling-into-swan fashion, Susan becomes an overnight sensation. Anne Hathaway goes for a grittier “Dream” in the film version, racking up awards and standing ovations (Hey - when’s the last time you saw that in a movie theater?). Their well-deserved accolades prove newsworthy simply because the events themselves - folks singing show tunes, making the world sit up and take notice - seem such oddities. Things like that just don’t happen every day.
An original “Carousel” set of 78s. 1945, Decca. $40-50.
to record. The debut of the LP, with a playing time of 40 to 50 minutes, meant that more of a show’s score could be preserved, in approximately correct running order - all on one disc. There were the hits, such as “West Side Story,” “South Pacific,” and “My Fair Lady”; the semi-hits, such as 1960’s “Wildcat,” (its main selling point, TV’s “Lucy” (Lucille Ball), croaking her way through the bouncy “Hey, Look Me Over”); and lots and lots of no-hits-at-all, such as “I Had a Ball,” starring non-singing comic Buddy Hackett, and a musicalization of “Gone With the Wind,” (known as “Scarlett” (Continued on page 2)
Even flop shows have the occasional memorable song. The 1977 studio cast album, 18 Interesting Songs From Unfortunate Shows, captures some of the best. Take Home Tunes, $25-30.
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” As before, the leads were the Broadway originals - but so were the chorus, the orchestra, and even the conductor. Issued as a set of 78s, “Oklahoma!” sold over one million copies. If you saw the show and loved it, reliving the musical thrills was now as close as your record player. (And if you couldn’t get tickets, you could at least hear what everyone else was talking about!) The Broadway cast album was in its ascendency. . .and a new collecting trend was born. “There’s No Business Like Show Business” The worldwide stage sensation that went on to thrill movie audiences: “Les Miserables,” original London cast. 1985, First Soon, it seemed as if every show was being committed Night. $5-10.
The baby boomers’ TV favorite, “Peter Pan,” first thrilled audiences on Broadway. 1954, RCA. $15-20.