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| CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 07:49 pm EST 01/01/19 | |
| In reply to: re: ‘‘Tis the season; of “Here’s Love”’s unsung small treasures - BroadwayTonyJ 11:13 pm EST 12/31/18 | |
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| My post should have read: Over the last 19 years, a Chicago area theater has done 3 productions of Here's Love during the Christmas season (in 2000, 2010, and 2018). | |
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| re: CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 09:28 pm EST 01/01/19 | |
| In reply to: CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area - BroadwayTonyJ 07:49 pm EST 01/01/19 | |
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| Your earlier post, combined with Jax’s posts, persuaded me to listen to the OBCR, including the tracks that I'd never listened to before. It is nice that Masterworks Broadway keeps these on youtube, although it’s not always easy to find the complete playlists in order. (I think I’ve figured out that you have to include a principal cast member’s name in your search, e.g., Here’s Love Janis Paige Original Broadway cast, in order to easily find the complete playlist.) Anyway, there are a few decent numbers in there, apart from "You Don't Know," and they are mostly the ones that the critics liked. I can see how "That Man Over There" and "My State" must have played well in the theatre. Even “Pine Cones and Holly Berries / It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” comes off well enough on the recording. So now I would say that not all of the score is awful, and it does seem like both “That Man Over There” and “My State” were played for a certain degree of intentional absurdity in the original production. Still, even “That Man Over There,” though a decided highlight, would have profited from less repetition in the lyric. It was surprising to me to hear how well Paul Reed sang. It probably shouldn’t have surprised me since I had at some point come across some operettas, including some Gilbert and Sullivan, among his credits. There’s a passage in it that musically makes me think of “The Ruler of the Queen’s Navy,” not that it’s identical or that it’s really anything much like a G and S patter song. Anyway, Reed comes off very well on the recording. Btw, there’s a really noticeable little flub during “My State.” I’m surprised that Goddard Lieberson chose that take (or decided to leave it at only one take). Unfortunately, some of the score remains something like unbearable to me, and Craig Stevens should have been dissuaded from sustaining any notes. :) |
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| re: CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 11:36 am EST 01/04/19 | |
| In reply to: re: CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area - AlanScott 09:28 pm EST 01/01/19 | |
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| I should have mentioned that I really enjoyed Paul Reed's performance on the recording also. Regarding the score, the '63 LP listed 2 numbers on the song list that were not present on the recording: "The Plastic Alligator" and "Nothing in Common". When I saw the show in 2010, I found neither song to be memorable, but one of them was just plain God awful -- it was a patter song somewhat in the style of numbers from The Music Man -- which made it so out of place in a show about the true meaning of Christmas in a Manhattan setting. Anyway I've gotten Here's Love off my bucket list. I'll still probably listen to the CD again next year, but I am glad that the 2 unrecorded songs aren't on it. |
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| re: CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area | |
| Posted by: Alcindoro 03:18 am EST 01/05/19 | |
| In reply to: re: CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area - BroadwayTonyJ 11:36 am EST 01/04/19 | |
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| I have long nurtured a burning desire to hear "The Plastic Alligator". Well, maybe not exactly burning. Or a desire. But I've just always been curious. I was hoping when the CD came out they would have found the tapes. But, alas, no. I've also always wanted to hear "A Sense of Love and Honor" from ANYA. It's not on the LP or CD, but my copy of the LP has it listed, and there's even a timing for it. It's based on Rachmaninov's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini". You know, that beautiful melody once enamored of figure skaters everywhere. Also known by Philistines everywhere as "Love Theme from SOMEWHERE IN TIME". I'm serious. |
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| re: CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 05:00 am EST 01/08/19 | |
| In reply to: re: CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area - Alcindoro 03:18 am EST 01/05/19 | |
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| There's a good chance that "The Plastic Alligator" was not recorded. In those days, it was common for the jacket and gatefold, if there was one, with everything, including the song list, to be prepared and ready for LPs to put inside before the recording was even made. This is why several cast recordings of the period list songs that were not recorded. I'm not sure but it may be that all the recordings on which this happened were Columbias. Re Anya: This is a different case. I would think that the two songs listed were recorded. For starters, there are those timings. And it was recorded early, possibly before previews began. If you scroll down to the Trivia & History notes on the linked page, you'll see some info on this. |
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| Link | Anya cast recording |
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| re: CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area | |
| Last Edit: BroadwayTonyJ 02:15 pm EST 01/05/19 | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 02:14 pm EST 01/05/19 | |
| In reply to: re: CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area - Alcindoro 03:18 am EST 01/05/19 | |
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| I was 15 years old when I purchased the Here's Love LP in '63. I too was curious about "The Plastic Alligator" and "Nothing in Common". The '92 Sony Broadway CD release has the same numbers as the LP, although the liner notes refer to "Plastic Alligator" as a song of advice Shellhammer sings to his sales clerks to help them get shoppers to buy an over-stocked Christmas toy. You can find a performance of the song on YouTube from a high school production. I just watched it -- it's actually very well done, even delightful. The number is a combination of recitative and singing -- the melody is very similar to that of "That Man Over There". When I saw Here's Love some years ago, the number (performed, of course, by mature adult actors portraying sophisticated Manhattanites) came across as being pretty stupid. I think it works a lot better when you having enthusiastic high schoolers doing it. I've noticed that as early as '98 Columbia Broadway Masterworks began re-issuing much expanded releases of classic Broadway musicals on CD. Recordings of L'il Abner, House of Flowers, Anyone Can Whistle, Gypsy, South Pacific, Finian's Rainbow, Sound of Music, Cabaret, West Side Story, On the Town, Annie, A Chorus Line, and many others were re-released with material that was not on earlier CDs. To my knowledge Here's Love has never received an expanded release. Regarding Anya, Walter Willison states in the CD liner notes that the original LP jacket was printed before the show began performances and contained a number of errors (like listing songs that apparently were either cut or reworked). The song you mention is not listed on IBDB. In addition, Kritzerland's reputation for issuing never before released material on its CDs of Broadway musicals and movie soundtracks is pretty much unmatched in the industry. Most likely if it's not on the Anya CD, it doesn't exist |
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