A Lot of Listening to Do
Last month, I asked, “What original cast album do you believe you’ve listened to the most?” Howard Gradet wrote, “That’s a very interesting question. No one’s ever asked me that question. Let me think about that question.” Get the reference? I know Nick Montesano does, because he said that Two Gentlemen of Verona is his most-played cast album.
I’ll devote all three columns this week to what you wrote in but, alas, I can’t include everyone, for more than 200 people answered. Today, I’ll concentrate on those who chose well-known titles; on Wednesday, the unexpected choices; and on Friday, the creative person(s) whose shows got the most mentions. (Wanna guess his or her identity?)
I’m astonished at how many people are dead-certain about what their most-played album is. Val Addams wrote, “Too bad cast albums don’t have odometers on them as cars do,” but many of you don’t seem to need one. Those who started their e-mails with the words “without a doubt” included John Petrikovic ( Nine ) and Frank Soldo (The Fantasticks). Both Aviva Rothschild and Donald Butchko wrote, “Oh, that’s an easy one,” though she chose On the Twentieth Century and he chose Into the Woods.
Robert Diamant declared, “Undoubtedly, the mono My Fair Lady.” Jason Flum stated, “If we’re looking at the last five years, it’s for sure The Last 5 Years.” Now I know why so many of you do so poorly on my Broadway University exams: You’re listening to one recording and neglecting all others! At least Mameleh wrote, “Mine is probably a three-way tie: Sweet Charity, Follies, Guys and Dolls.” That’s more understandable — but shouldn’t Mameleh’s most-played album be the recently released Mameleh?
Many of you who lived during the era when we all set needles down on vinyl proved your love by stating how many records you wore out. Chris Leavy mentioned three Subways Are For Sleepings, while Geoffrey Mark claimed he went through six 1966 Annie Get Your Guns. Joebnow reported, “I had to replace Half a Sixpence, Roar of the Greasepaint, and Anyone Can Whistle because they started skipping. Remember skipping?” But LPs weren’t the only fragile recordings. Said Jim Lockwood, “I wore out tapes of Assassins and City of Angels.” Added Chuckz, “Jesus Christ Superstar, first as an 8-track of the Broadway highlights, until that tape broke and I made a copy of someone’s soundtrack cassette.” Those who believe CDs are indestructible should heed Chelsea Jones: “My Ragtime concept CD is now worn and tattered.”
Phil Reischick noted, “I played the LP of A Chorus Line so often that, when the CD was finally released, the additional sections sounded totally out of place. The show, which opened the year after I left home, changed my life.” Susan Berlin had a similar reaction (“That record got me through a lot of dark times”), as did Cathy Jones: “By the time I was seven, I knew every word, including ‘Dance: 10; Looks: 3.’ I probably didn’t understand all the words, and was under strict orders from my parents not to sing it in front of my grandmother.”
Rich Smreker wrote, “I have Dinah Shore to thank for mine. In the ’70s, I wasn’t the musical theater devotee I am today. But in the fall of ’75, Shore’s afternoon show featured Gwen, Chita, Jerry, Fosse, Kander and Ebb, as well as Liza from the new Broadway hit Chicago. The show was an epiphany. I immediately ran out, bought the cast album, and have never looked back.” Byron Kolln instead opted for the recording of the Broadway revival: “Yes, Peter, I know your feelings about this production; but for younger people like me, it was our first introduction to this heavenly score. I bought the album during intermission, and the CD stayed in my Discman for seven months. I still listen to it — but since I bought the OBC, the revival album has taken a backseat.” (Aha, Byron! My feelings about the original production’s superiority aren’t so enigmatic to you now, are they?)
Larry Blank proclaimed his favorite: “Camelot. It’s true, it’s true. The crown has made it clear. After hearing that ‘Camelot’ arrangement so many times, I thought Robert Russell Bennet was the greatest orchestrator who ever lived. I found out later that it was actually written by Phil Lang.” Mark Somers wrote, “Because they were the first two [albums] we had, I played South Pacific and The Sound of Music every day. I thought every musical starred Mary Martin.” James W. Shults had a different perception: “When I was a child, we had two cast albums, Bloomer Girl and Oklahoma! I thought Celeste Holm was the biggest star in the world.” Hpmaraka mentioned two stars from Mame: “Without a proper stereo, I couldn’t understand why poor Bea Arthur wasn’t allowed to sing as loud as Angela Lansbury in ‘Bosom Buddies.’ How I thanked my parents when they bought a stereo that let me hear that particular song in all its glory.”
Craig Dawson wrote, “I grew up in a household with no stereo and parents with no interest in theater, but they loved to dump me at the movies. I loved West Side Story and The Sound of Music, and when I got my first job at 16, I bought a stereo and the soundtracks. I played them constantly. (I was also the best Anita and Maria in West Hartford.) When I made the change to CDs, the first ones I acquired were — you guessed it — the soundtracks of West Side Story and The Sound of Music.”
Two more stories: one endearing, one bittersweet. Louis Rosenthal wrote, “Before we had our daughter, the answer was My Fair Lady. However, Emily, our two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, loves the London cast album of Fiddler on the Roof and asks to listen to it in the car every time we drive. I think it says a lot about the universality of musical theater when a little Jewish-Chinese-American toddler sings about the tailor Motel Kamzoil.”
Finally, Morrie Enders wrote: “1776. When my wife Dawn was alive, we’d play the tape or, later, the CD, and sing along at the top of our voices from beginning to end. It was always in the car on our trips. Now I still take it along on every trip, and when I sing ‘Yours, Yours, Yours,’ I still duet with Dawn in my heart.”
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[To contact Peter Filichia directly, e-mail him at pfilichia@theatermania.com]
