New Girl in Town (1957 Original Broadway Cast)
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Free Music Notes for New Girl in Town (1957 Original Broadway Cast)
Free Music Review: Why Anna Christie?
Hit: 3 Stars
It seems quite strange that a drama like Anna Christie would be the choice of writers of Broadway musicals! And the results also came out strange.
Although "New Girl in Town" ran for 431 performances and came out in the black financially, it really is not musical comedy material. Reviews were mixed at best, with no raves. Were it not for the standout, Tony winning performances of Gwen Verdon and Thelma Ritter, the show almost surely would have flopped.
A couple of numbers deserved to become popular singles. Most deserved to fade quickly from memory. "Ven Ve Valse" is a blatant knockoff of R & H's "Shall We Dance."
Still, this original cast recording merits a place on the shelves of Broadway enthusiasts, simply as a part of musical history, and of Gwen Verdon fans.
Free Music Review: NEW GIRL IN TOWN
Hit: 1 Stars
New Girl in Town has been one of my favorite musicals, ever since I saw it on a pre-Broadway run in Boston over fifty years ago. I have never understood why it does not seem to get revived. The CD is disappointing, in that one of the songs ---- Did You Close Your Eyes When We Kissed ---- is cut short in the middle of it. I do not know whether it is just a defective CD, or whether there was simply no room on the CD. If the latter, I don't see why they chose this particular song to cut short.Free Music Review: NEW RECORDING OF "NEW GIRL" RECOMMENDED . . . BUT WITH RESERVATIONS . . .
Hit: 4 Stars
Eileen Barton's 1950 recording of "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake" was songwriter Bob Merrill's very first pop hit, and he went on to create such pop classics as Rosemary Clooney's "Mambo Italiano," Guy Mitchell's "(There's a Pawnshop on a Corner in) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania" and Patti Page's mega-hit "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?" However, Merrill's major claim to fame (infamy?) was writing ". . . one of the most recognizable, most parodied, and (for non-Streisand fans) most irritating lyrics of all time: People/People who need people/Are the luckiest people in the world." (Marc Steyn, in an article posted on slate.com, dated April 9, 1998) Furthermore, writes Steyn, "Merrill is the man who single-handedly produced the worst songs of the decade and so debauched the currency of mainstream Tin Pan Alley that it had no moral authority to resist rock 'n' roll."
Well, excuuuse me, Mr. Steyn. I, among millions of others growing up in the 50s, really dug Bob Merrill's novelty songs, and I also thoroughly enjoyed the songs he wrote for his first Broadway score, NEW GIRL IN TOWN. How can anyone resist such rousing, toe-tapping, full-throated ensemble numbers like "Roll Yer Socks Up," "At the Check Apron Ball," "The Sunshine Girl (Has Raindrops in Her Eyes)," "There Ain't No Flies on Me," and "Chess and Checkers"? Novelty songs? Yes, and so are Marthy (Thelma Ritter) and the girls' reminiscences about their youthful "Flings" and Anna's (Gwen Verdon) recounting of her introduction to the wayward life by her Minnesota uncles and cousins "On the Farm." Merrill's score also includes a couple of lovely ballads: Mat's (George Wallace) "Look at `Er," Anna's "If That Was Love" and "It's Good To Be Alive," later reprised by Mat. Anna's father, Chris, (Cameron Prud'homme) sings the poignant "Anna Lilla" and with Anna leads the revelers in "Ven I Valse." In his liner notes, Victor Lewis complains that some of the songs ". . . are of a one-size-fits-all brand, and could have come from any up-beat musical." Who cares? They're terrific!
All the performances are terrific as well, earning for both Verdon and Ritter the 1958 Tony for Best Actress in a Musical (a tie) and a Best Featured Actor nomination for Prud'homme. The marvelous Robert Russell Bennett/Philip J. Lang orchestrations are a far cry from today's pathetic pared-down synthesizer/drum machine-dominated pit bands. Hal Hastings directs the whole thing with a seasoned hand.
So why doesn't this recording get a five-star rating? Well, it might have if Flare, in addition to Lewis' comments, had included the original CD booklet. Missing is a synopis of the musical and a cast listing; atleast the cover art has been faithfully reproduced. James Irvin's remastering has cleaned up much of the original RCA CD's muddiness, but at the same time has introduced a brightness that makes the tape hiss more apparent. On the positive side, now and again there is evidence of the three-dimensionality often associated with RCA's Webster Hall recordings. `Tis a pity Sony/BMG didn't reissue NEW GIRL and remaster it with the same attention to detail as they did with the Lincoln Center KING AND I and the 2oth anniversary revival of MY FAIR LADY. What a smashing recording this might have been.
Highly recommended - anyway.
Free Music Review: NEW GIRL IN TOWN
Hit: 4 Stars
'New Girl in Town' has long been out of print and now the girl has returned and welcome home. I had never heard the score before but it turns out it is a solid and surprisingly tuneful score, but the most surprising thing was Gwen Verdon the star of the show has only 5 numbers out of 18. This was Bob Merrills first Broadway show before his enchanting score for "Carnival" and he really shines on chorus numbers and who can resist a number with the lyrics "The Sunshine Girl has raindrops in her eyes" but he has also written a lovely duet called "Did You Close Your Eyes". Sometimes Mr Merrill can be clever but obvious when Thelma Ritter in a comic duet with her common law boyfriend sings "Larry the bartender says you aint fit to live with pigs but i said you are" and of course the boyfriend accepts it as a compliment.
RCA Victor first released the Broadway cast album of "New Girl..." but this reissue comes from some co in England called Flare-so it's now treated as an import with an import price and will probably go out of release a short time from now but if you are a completist this CD belongs on your shelf.
Free Music Review: So-so Musical Version of "Anna Christie"
Hit: 2 Stars
The 1957 musical "New Girl in Town", which featured Gwen Verdon and Thelma Ritter, is a very mixed bag. Based on Eugene O'Neill's brilliant play "Anna Christie", it tells the story of a young prostitute (Ms. Verdon) who returns to her native Sweden from the United States, where she has lived since age 5.
The score is by Bob Merrill, who was named the "Worst Songwriter Ever" by Spin Magazine shortly after his suicide in 1998. Although there are a multitude of clunkers, all of Ms. Verdon's numbers are killers. The best tune is "On The Farm", in which she goes through the sexual abuses she took at the hands of her cousins and uncles, and which led her to her life as a prostitute. Stephen Sondheim listed it as one of the 100 songs her wishes he had written.
Ms. Verdon, as usual, is perfection. This CD is now out-of-print, and copies that are found can be very expensive. Given that this isn't the greatest score, and it will probably never be revived again, I would say that it is for die-hard Gwen Verdon fans only.
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