Cast Recording (2000) ( )

Product Summary Label: Drg UPC: 00021471262520 Release Date: 5/23/2000 Buy.com Sku: 60402915 Item#: M9TVCV Format:  CD Song Listing Disc 1 Song Title Sample 1. Overture ~ Original Cast 2. I'm Shooting High - Malcolm Gets/Debbie Gravitte ~ Original Cast 3. Exactly Like You - Patrick Wilson/Marcus Neville ~ Original Cast 4. On The Sunny Side Of The Street - Barbara Cook ~ Original Cast 5. Comin' In On A Wing And A Prayer - Malcolm Gets/Ensemble ~ Original Cast 6. Doin' The New Low Down - Lillas White ~ Original Cast 7. Lovely Way To Spend An Evening, A - Patrick Wilson/Debbie Gravitte ~ Original Cast 8. I Walked In - Jennifer Smith ~ Original Cast 9. Love Me As If There Were No Tomorrow - Barbara Cook ~ Original Cast 10. When Love Goes Wrong - Lillas White/Rachel Cohen ~ Original Cast 11. I Must Have That Man - Barbara Cook ~ Original Cast 12. Don't Blame Me - Barbara Cook ~ Original Cast 13. South American Way - Malcolm Gets ~ Original Cast 14. I Can't Give You Anything But Love - Malcolm Gets ~ Original Cast 15. Music Stopped, The - Patrick Wilson ~ Original Cast 16. I Got Lucky In The Rain - Patrick Wilson/Debbie Gravitte ~ Original Cast   Album Notes and Credits Notes & Personnel Info Music composed by Jimmy McHugh. Lyrics written by Harold Adamson & Dorothy Fields. Principle cast includes: Barbara Cook, Malcolm Gets, Debbie Gravitte, Lillias White. Recorded at Avatar & Sound On Sound Studios, New York, New York. Includes liner notes by Sherman Yellen. Personnel: Jay Berliner (guitar); Andy Stein (violin); Seymour Red Press, Lawrence Feldman, Harvey Estrin (woodwinds); John Frosk (trumpet); Jack Gale (trombone); William Mays, Mark Hummel, Lee Musiker (piano); Ronald Zito, John Redsecker (drums). Audio Mixer: Cynthia Daniels. Liner Note Author: Sherman Yellen. Recording information: Avatar Studios, New York, NY; Sound on Sound, New York, NY. Photographer: Jimmy McHugh. Lucky in the Rain is a book musical, that book written by Sherman Yellen, whose Broadway credits include The Rothschilds and Rex, that uses for its score existing songs from the catalog of veteran songwriter Jimmy McHugh (1895-1969) composed with lyricists Ted Koehler, Dorothy Fields, Harold Adamson, and Al Dubin. (There is also one song, "When Love Goes Wrong," by Adamson and Hoagy Carmichael.) Yellen's story, set in Paris in 1927, concerns the romantic and professional adventures of reporters for an American newspaper as they interact with such real historical figures as Gertrude Stein, Josephine Baker, and Isadora Duncan. The musical was produced at the Goodspeed Opera House, a major regional theater in East Haddam, CT, in the summer of 1997, where it received favorable notices from the national press. Unfortunately, that was that until this studio-cast recording made by DRG Records two and a half years later. There is a plot summary in the CD booklet as well as liner notes by Yellen, but in practice the recording is basically a Jimmy McHugh songbook. Peter Matz's orchestrations lend musical consistency to songs written over a period of decades, and the cast performs them in a theatricalized way. But the lyrics speak of love, the joy of dancing, and other issues without a hint of particular characterization, and the recording contains no dialogue. Also, the assignments of character are not strict by any means. Barbara Cook, for example, is cast as Gertrude Stein singing "On the Sunny Side of the Street," but doubles as Isadora Duncan with "Love Me as If There Were No Tomorrow." "Don't Blame Me" is supposed to be sung by a fictional character, Zach, but once again the singer is Cook, as the notes advise, "forget gender here, it's all about artistry." Indeed, and forget the story, too. Instead, just enjoy Cook and her fellow singers including Debbie Gravitte, Malcolm Gets, and Patrick Wilson doing their best with McHugh's greatest hits. ~ William Ruhlmann Producer: Sherman Yellen; Wally Harper Engineer: Cynthia Daniels   Technical Info Release Date : 05/23/2000 Original Release Date : 2000 Catalog ID : 12625 Label : DRG (USA) Number of Discs : 1 Studio/Live : Studio Mono/Stereo : Stereo SPAR Code : n/a UPC : 00021471262520    Product Image