Me and Juliet (1953 Original Broadway Cast)
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Music CD Cover
Composer: Richard RodgersComposer: Oscar Hammerstein II
Performer: Isabel Bigley
Performer: Bill Hayes
Performer: Joan McCracken
Performer: Ray Walston
Performer: Mark Dawson
Edition: Music CD
Format: Cast Recording, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2007-09-18
Music Label: Flare UK
Soundtracks:
- Overture
- A Very Special Day
- That's The Way It Happens
- Marriage Type Love
- Keep It Gay
- No Other Love
- The Big Black Giant
- It's Me
- Intermission Talk
- It Feels Good
- We Deserve Each Other
- I'm Your Girl
- Finale
Free Music Notes for Me and Juliet (1953 Original Broadway Cast)
Free Music Review: "MINOR" RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN RESURRECTED BY THE BRITS . . . .
Hit: 3 Stars
"In 1952 Richard Rodgers suggested to Oscar Hammerstein that as a change of pace they might write a musical comedy. The experience of writing four hugely popular shows was bound to colour any future work that was to be written, and the result was a highly successful musical hybrid. The story is set in the theatre world and theatre people, revolving around the inner mechanism of a musical show and two sets of lovers, who inevitably find happiness before the final curtain." -- The Guide to Musical Theatre
"Here, as in every musical production, Rodgers and Hammerstein have again attempted something new. Thackeray subtitled VANITY FAIR 'A Novel Without a Hero.' This is a musical comedy without a hero. Rather, the hero is the theater itself." -- George R. Marek, LP liner notes
One might also add, "This is a musical comedy with a book so corny, clichéd, and banal (Wait. "Banal" is the word one critic used when referring to the score!), that it could have been written as a joint project of a high school creative writing class. (If you're lucky - as I am - to have a copy of SIX PLAYS BY RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN, you'll be able to read it for yourself. Why lucky? Because "used" copies are selling for outrageous prices on amazon.com.) Even so, ME AND JULIET had a respectable run (for its time) of 358 performances.
"Banal" might be too harsh when describing the score. Yes, there are some lyrics that will make you groan: "I wake up each morning/With a feeling in my heart/that today will be a very special day./I keep right on clinging/To that feeling in my heart/Till the winds of evening blow my dreams away." or "When first I laid my longing eyes on you/And when you smiled and murmured 'Howd'you do?'/The room became a dream-enchanted place." Reminds me of those famous lyrics from a 70's troubadour named Lobo: "When I saw you standin' there/I 'bout fell out of my chair/And when you moved your mouth to speak/I felt the blood go to my feet."
However, Hammerstein redeems himself with "Intermission Talk" and "Marriage Type Love" and "Keep It Gay," if you're partial to 50s "inspirational" pop lyrics. The music? Rodgers borrowed the best melody in the show - "No Other Love" - from his score for the NBC series "Victory at Sea." The rest of the tunes aren't bad; it's just that you've heard them before in those other "four hugely popular shows." (Incidentally, the songs are in the same order as on the LP, which means that the numbers in Act I are not in show order; that is: (1) A Very Special Day (2) That's the Way It Happens (3) Overture to Me and Juliet (4) Marriage Type Love (5) Keep It Gay (6) The Big Black Giant (7) No Other Love (8) It's Me (9) Intermission Talk. I guess that's why God gave us a programming key.)
The singers? Bill Hayes is quite fine in his only Broadway role; Joan McCracken (OKLAHOMA, BLOOMER GIRL, BILLION DOLLAR BABY) is her usual wisecracking self, which is good; Mark Dawson uses his fine baritone to great effect in "It Feels Good," even though the song might remind you of Billy Bigelow's "Soliloquy;" Isabel Bigley's performance does nothing to answer the question: "How did she ever get the lead in GUYS AND DOLLS?;" and Ray Walston (SOUTH PACIFIC) doesn't get to sing at all!
The sound? 1950s vintage RCA, although a LOT better than my LP, which was released in "Electronic Stereo," a bad idea if there ever was one. According to Flare, "This original cast recording has been out of print for some time, and Flare is proud to make it available again, after the most careful digital remastering, which has restored the sound to its inherent brilliance." Obviously, the occasional distortion was on the master tape. The liner notes by Lewis Sussex are short and informative.
Though not top-drawer Rodgers & Hammerstein, ME AND JULIET deserves a spot on your shelf along with the rest of their shows.
Me and Juliet (1953 Original Broadway Cast) Poster
This Rodgers & Hammerstein musical enchanted audiences in '53, with its songs No Other Love and Keep It Gay becoming instant classics. Bonus versions of those two by Perry Como are here along with That's the Way It Happens; It's Me; It Feels Good , and the rest of the original cast recording. Long out of print on CD!Broadway & Vocalists Music CDs
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