| re: Merrily wish | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 06:58 pm EST 03/03/24 | |
| In reply to: Merrily wish - Bill45 11:58 am EST 03/03/24 | |
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| When JAY announced its issue of the two-CD version of the Leicester Haymarket Merrily, it was said that it would include the songs cut from the original for the revision. This did not happen, although on its Musicality of Sondheim release, "Honey" was included, sung by Michael Cantwell and Jacqeline Dankworth of the Leicester Haymarket production. It was accompanied by piano. So it would seem that at least one number was recorded. (Having bought the one-CD JAY, I never bought the two-CD as it had only an additional 10 minutes or so, much of that dialogue. The very full one-CD release was essentially musically complete.) Unlike the Lost in Boston recording of "Honey," which used the sheet-music published version of the song, the JAY recording came closer to presenting it as it was done in the show, with each part of the song a dialogue, with interjections throughout from the other singer. Unfortunately, again, the accompaniment was piano. And although closer on the JAY, it was still not how it was done in the show. In the show, "Not a Day Goes By" came in between the two parts of "Honey." So I don't know if all the cut songs were to be accompanied on piano. Perhaps those for which the original orchestration was easily available were to have been done with orchestra. But that would have been expensive, using that fuller orchestration than was otherwise heard on the recording. Anyway, it would be nice to have recordings of "Honey" (done fully with "Not a Day Goes By" in the middle) and "Darling!", but using the original orchestration, and "Thank You for Coming" (which was accompanied by piano only), along with "The Hills of Tomorrow" and "Rich and Happy," but I doubt any such recording will be done any time soon, if ever. It would, needless to say, be quite expensive. It would be nice if the long version of "The Hills of Tomorrow," published in the sheet music, but cut down well before previews even started, was included as an extra in our fantasy recording. Why Sondheim published that version is a bit of a mystery, except that I guess perhaps he felt that the show version was too short for sheet music. Anyway, there was a recording issued on LP on that album titled A Little Sondheim Music, from the Los Angeles Vocal Arts Ensemble, but that's never been issued on CD, and I'm a bit doubtful it ever will be. Who knows? Maybe a digital download someday. It's not very good overall. The singing is generally too heavy, but it's nice to have at least one recording of the long version of "The Hills of Tomorrow." And that is nicely done on the recording. |
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