Readers
Digest Presents: The Great Musicals -
Dashing
Heroes, Blushing Maidens
Louise Gold starred on Disc 1, Track 8, as Evie from Stop The World I Want To Get Off, The
Readers Digest, 2005.
Catalogue number: CD RDCD4841-2
Cast
Thomas Allen – as Fred Graham (from Kiss Me Kate)
Graham Bickley – as Joe Gillis (from Sunset Boulevard), and
others
Mary Carewe – as Eponine (from Les Miserables), and
others
Danielle Carson
Catherine Cox – as Pam (from Baby)
Ben Cramer
Lorna Dallas
Billie Daniels – as Serena (from Porgy And Bess)
Ivor Emmanuel
Edgar Fleet – as Frederic (from The Pirates Of Penzance)
Richard Fredericks
Ethan Freeman – as Tommy (from Brigadoon)
Cynthia Glover – as Mabel (from The Pirates Of Penzance)
Louise Gold - as
Evie (from Stop The World I Want To Get Off)
Stanley Grover
Lindsay Hamilton – as Gigi (from Gigi)
Alexander Hanson
The Heavenly Voices
Marilyn Hill-Smith – as Lizzie Curry (from 110 In The Shade)
Edmund Hockridge
Mike Holoway – uncredited as Littlechap (from Stop
The World I Want To Get Off)
Jason Howard – as Wild Bill Hickok (from Calamity
Jane), Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm (from A Little Night Music),
and, Gaylord Ravenal (from Showboat)
Janis Kelly – as Magnolia Hawks Ravenal (from Showboat)
Doug LaBrecque – as Vidal (from Sweet Charity)
Michael Law
Stephanie Lawrence – as Jenny Dillingham (from Aspects
Of Love)
The Lehman Engel Chorus
Adele Leigh
Emily Losser – as Philia (from A Funny Thing Happened On The Way
To The Forum)
Rebecca Luker – as Eileen (from Wonderful Town)
Robert Meadmore - as Sir Lancelot (from Camelot)
Anna Moffo
Margot Moser
Katrina Murphy – as Milly Pontipee (from Seven Brides For Seven Brothers),
and others
Caroline O’Connor – as Ado Annie Carnes (from Oklahoma!)
Catherine Porter – as Betty (from Sunset Boulevard), and
others
Ron Raines – as Johnny (from The Unsinkable Molly Brown)
Julia Shore
Don Stephenson – as Hero (from A Funny Thing Happened On The Way
To The Forum)
Martin Vidnovic – as Nick (from Baby)
Carl Wayne
Elisabeth Welch – as Annie Oakley (from Annie Get Your Gun)
Dave Willets – as George Dillingham (from Aspects
Of Love)
Production Team
Produced
by – The Readers Digest, 2005
Conductors –
Gerry Allison, Richard Balcombe, Richard
Benson, Lehman Engel, Matthew Freeman, Paul Gemignani, Julian Kelly,
Michael Law, Gordon Langford, Robert
Mandell, John Owen Edwards, James Walker, and, Martin Yates
Orchestras
– The
Gordon Langford Orchestra, The
Lehman Engel Orchestra, The National
Symphony Orchestra (aka NSO Ensemble),
The Philharmonic Orchestra, The Piccadilly Dance Orchestra, The Richard Benson Orchestra, The Robert Mandell Orchestra, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and, West End Theatre Orchestra
Compilation
Created by – Andrew Humphries
Assistant
Editor – Daniel Sankey
Technical
Manager – Jon Archer
Print And
Production by – Claudette Bramble
Booklet
Notes by – Stephen Barnard – The Write Line
Copy Edited
by – Richard Lutterloch
Designed by
– Andrew Briffett
Studio
Designer – Pauline Austin
Picture Credits – Arena Pictures
Track Listing
Programme 1
1. C’Est Moi (from Camelot) – Robert Meadmore with orchestra
conducted by Gerry Allison
2. Soon It’s Gonna Rain (from The Fantasticks)- Alexander Hanson, and, Catherine Porter, with the NSO Ensemble conducted by Martin Yates
3. Too Much In Love To Care (from Sunset Boulevard) – Graham Bickley, and, Catherine Porter, with The National Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Martin Yates
4. A Little Bit In Love (from Wonderful Town) – Rebecca Luker, with The National Symphony Orchestra conducted
by John Owen Edwards
5. With You (from Baby) – Catherine Cox, and, Martin Vidnovic, with orchestra
conducted by Paul Gemignani
6. Say A Prayer For Me Tonight (from Gigi)
– Lindsay Hamilton, with The National Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Martin Yates
7. Higher Than A Hawk (from Calamity Jane) – Jason Howard, with The National Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Owen Edwards
8. Typically English (from Stop The World I Want To Get Off)
– Louise Gold, and also Mike Holoway, with the NSO Ensemble conducted by Martin Yates
9. Goin’ Courtin’ (from Seven Brides For Seven Brothers)
– Katrina Murphy, and, Boys, with The National Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Martin Yates
10. I Cain’t Say No (from Oklahoma!) – Caroline O’Connor, with The National Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Julian Kelly
11. Lovely To Look At (from Roberta) – Graham Bickley, and, Katrina Murphy, with The National Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Martin Yates
12. Is It Really Me? (from 110 In The Shade) – Marilyn Hill-Smith, and The Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by
John Owen Edwards
13. Lovely (from A Funny Thing Happened On The
Way To The Forum) – Emily Losser,
and, Don Stephenson, with The National Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Richard Balcombe
14. Too Many Tomorrows (from Sweet Charity) – Doug LaBreque, with The National Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Martin Yates
15. I’ll Never Say No (from The Unsinkable Molly Brown)
– Ron Raines, with The National Symphony Orchestra
conducted by John Owen Edwards
16. In Praise Of Women (from A Little Night Music) – Jason Howard, with The National Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Owen Edwards
17. Were Thine That Special Face (from Kiss
Me Kate) – Thomas Allen,
with The National Symphony Orchestra conducted
by John Owen Edwards
18. My Darlin’ Eileen (from Wonderful Town) – Rebecca Luker, and Men, with The National Symphony Orchestra
conducted by John Owen Edwards
Programme 2
1. Sixteen Going On Seventeen (from The
Sound Of Music) – Mary Carewe,
and, Ben Cramer
2. On My Own (from Les Miserables) – Mary Carewe
3. The First Man You Remember (from Aspects
Of Love) – Stephanie Lawrence,
and, Dave Willets
4. Half A Moment (from Jeeves) – Carl Wayne
5. C’Est Manifique (from Can Can) – Edmund Hockridge, with The West End Theatre Orchestra
conducted by Matthew Freeman
6. Dearly Beloved (from You Were Never Lovelier)
– Danielle Carson, with The Piccadilly Dance Orchestra
conducted by Michael Law
7. I Won’t Dance (from Roberta) – Julia Shore, and, Michael Law, with The Piccadilly
Dance Orchestra conducted by Michael
Law
8. I Got Lost In His Arms (from Annie Get Your Gun) – Elisabeth Welch, with, Gordon Langford and his orchestra
9. I’m Old Fashioned (from You Were Never Lovelier)
– Lorna Dallas, with The National Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Martin Yates
10. The Blue Room (from The Girlfriend) – Margot Moser, and, Stanley Grover, with Robert
Mandell and his orchestra
11. No Other Love (from Me And Juliet) – The Heavenly Voices
12. There But For You Go I (from Brigadoon) – Ethan Freeman, with The National Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Martin Yates
13. Why Do I Love You (from Showboat) – Janis Kelly, and, Jason Howard, and, Chorus, with The National Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Owen Edwards
14. Oh Is There Not One Maiden Breast (from The
Pirates Of Penzance) – Edgar
Fleet, Cynthia Glover and Girls
Choir, with The Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra conducted by James Walker
15. Indian Love Call (from Rose Marie) – Anna Moffo, and, Richard Fredricks, with Lehman
Engel, his Orchestra and Chorus
16. My Man’s Gone Now (from Porgy And Bess) – Billie Daniels, with Lehamn Engel, his Orchestra and Chorus
17. Deep In My Heart (from The Student Prince) – Adele Leigh, and, Ivor Emmanual, with Richard
Benson and his orchestra
Mike Holoway is uncredited
on the sleeve notes, however he is clearly there on Programme 1, Track 8.
One wonders whether “Anna Moffo” could also be the singer listed on a couple of other
albums as “Anne Moffo”.
One wonders whether “Margot Moser” could also be the singer listed on another album as “Margaret Moser”
The track Typically English on this album is
from the JAY/TER recording of Stop The World I Want To Get Off,
on which Danielle Carson, Lindsay Hamilton, and, Katrina Murphy also sang. This of
course featured Martin Yates
conducting The National Symphony
Orchestra.
Thomas Allen, Graham Bickley, Ethan Freeman, and, Don
Stephenson’s recording credits include The Best Of Broadway Musicals.
This also involved The National Symphony
Orchestra, and, The Philharmonic
Orchestra; with maestros John Owen
Edwards, and, Martin Yates.
Thomas Allen, Graham Bickley, Ethan Freeman, Lindsay
Hamilton, Katrina Murphy, and, Don Stephenson’s recording credits
include Encore The Very
Best From The Musicals. This also involved The National Symphony Orchestra; with maestros Gerry Allison, Paul
Gemignani, John Owen Edwards,
and, Martin Yates.
Thomas Allen, Graham Bickley, Ethan Freeman, Alexander
Hanson, Janis Kelly, Emily Losser, Katrina Murphy, and, Catherine
Porter’s recording credits include Great Duets From The Musicals.
This also involved The National Symphony
Orchestra; with maestros John Owen
Edwards, and, Martin Yates. This
included another version of Too Much In Love To Care, also
involving Martin Yates and the NSO but with a different pair of
singers.
Thomas Allen, Graham Bickley, Michael Law, Katrina Murphy,
Julia Shore, and, Elisabeth Welsch’s recording credits
include Cole Porter – Night And Day
this also involved The National Symphony
Orchestra, and, The Piccadilly Dance
Orchestra; with the maestros Michael
Law, John Owen Edwards, and, Martin Yates. It was also produced by The
Readers Digest. This includes the same recording of Were
Thine That Special Face.
Thomas Allen, Ethan Freeman, Mike Holoway, Janis Kelly,
Caroline O’Connor, Catherine Porter, Ron Raines, Julia Shore,
and, Don Stephenson’s recording
credits include The History Of The
Musical. This also involved The
National Symphony Orchestra, and, The
Piccadilly Dance Orchestra; with the maestros Lehman Engel, John Owen
Edwards, and, Martin Yates.
Thomas Allen’s television
credits include an appearance on The
Ghost Of Faffner Hall.
Thomas Allen, Graham Bickley, Lorna Dallas, Stanley Grover,
Lindsay Hamilton, Marilyn Hill-Smith, Michael Law, Anna Moffo, Katrina Murphy,
Carl Wayne, and, Dave Willets’s recording credits
include The Great Musicals – Glamour And
Majesty. This also involved The Lehman Engel Orchestra, The National Symphony Orchestra, The Piccadilly Dance Orchestra, and, The Robert Mandell Orchestra; with
maestros Gerry Allison, Richard Balcombe, Lehman Engel, Michael Law,
Robert Mandell, John Owen Edwards, and, Martin
Yates. This was also produced by The
Readers Digest, so production team members: Andrew Humphries, David
Sankey, Jon Archer, Claudette Bramble, Steven Barnard of The Write Line, Richard Lutterloch, Andrew
Briffett, Pauline Austin, and, Arena Pictures were also involved with
it.
Graham Bickley has appeared
on stage in The Pirates Of Penzance
(Stage Production), with that company in The Pirates Of Penzance
(Gala Preview), and as part of that company in The Royal Variety Performance
(1982).
Mike Holoway also appeared
on stage in The Pirates Of Penzance
(Stage Production), and with that company in The Pirates Of Penzance
(Gala Preview).
Lorna Dallas also appeared
in The Royal Variety
Performance (1982).
Graham Bickley, Mike Holoway, Doug Labreque, Emily Losser,
Robert Meadmore, Katrina Murphy, Caroline O’Connor, and, Catherine
Porter’s recording credits include Simply
Musicals. This also involved The
National Symphony Orchestra; with maestros Julian Kelly, John Owen
Edwards, and, Martin Yates.
Graham Bickley, Ben Cramer, Richard Fredericks, Ethan
Freeman, The Lehman Engle Chorus,
and, Caroline O’Connor’s recording
credits include The Great Musicals – Wonderful
Tales, which Anna Moffo may also
have sung on. This also involved The
Lehman Engel Orchestra, and, The
National Symphony Orchestra; with maestros Gerry Allison, Richard
Balcombe, Lehman Engel, Julian Kelly, John Owen Edwards, and, Martin
Yates. This was also produced by The Readers Digest, so production
team members: Andrew Humphries, David Sankey, Jon Archer, Claudette
Bramble, Steven Barnard of The
Write Line, Andrew Briffett,
Pauline Austin, and, Arena Pictures were also involved with
it.
Mary Carewe, and, Dave Willets appeared in Chicago & Company.
Mary Carewe, and, Lorna Dallas appeared in Broadway To Brighton.
Mary Carewe, Lorna Dallas, Ivor Emmanuel, Ethan Freeman,
Stanley Grover, Marilyn Hill-Smith, Edmund
Hockridge, Stephanie Lawrence, Adele Leigh, Carl Wayne, and, Dave
Willets’s recording credits include The Greatest Musicals Of
The 20th Century, which Anna
Moffo, and, Margot Moser may
also have sung on. This also involved: The
Gordon Langford Orchestra, The
Lehman Engel Orchestra, The National
Symphony Orchestra, The Richard
Benson Orchestra, The Robert Mandell
Orchestra, and, The West End Theatre
Orchestra; with maestros Gerry
Allison, Richard Benson, Lehman Engel, Matthew Freeman, Gordon
Langford, Robert Mandell, John Owen Edwards, James Walker, and, Martin
Yates. This was also produced by The Readers Digest. It also includes
the same recordings of Half A Moment, and, C’est
Manifique.
Mary Carewe, and, Elizabeth Welch appeared in A Time To Start Living.
Danielle Carson appeared in Anything Goes (Stage Show), By Jupiter, Du
Barry Was A Lady (1993 Production), and, Red
Hot And Blue.
Lorna Dallas, and, Robert Meadmore appeared in Kids At Heart, which Stephanie Lawrence, and, Elisabeth
Welch may have appeared in.
Lorna Dallas, and, Robert Meadmore appeared in the Side By Side By Sondheim 25th Anniversary
Gala.
Lorna Dallas appeared in Happily Ever After. Her radio credits include
appearing on Let’s Do The Show Right
Here.
Ethan Freeman, and, Katrina Murphy’s recording credits
include On The Town, which also involved The National Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Owen Edwards.
Ethan Freeman appeared in One Touch Of Venus (2000 Production),
which also featured The Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra.
Robert Meadmore appeared in The Metropolitan Mikado, and a concert of
highlights from the Ratepayers
Iolanthe & Metropolitan Mikado, both of which were conducted by John Owen Edwards.
Louise Gold, and, Robert Meadmore appeared in The Soap Opera, which was composed and conducted
by Martin Yates.
Robert Meadmore appeared in Side By Side By Sondheim, the Side By Side By Sondheim 30th Anniversary
Gala, and, A Love Letter To Dan. He
may have appeared in Will Aid. His television
credits include Julia And Company.
Robert Meadmore appeared at Hubert Gregg’s Memorial Service,
for which Gordon Langford played the
piano.
Katrina Murphy’s recording
credits include Anything Goes (Recording)
– Website
Recommended Album, which also involved The National Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Owen Edwards.
Caroline
O’Connor’s recording credits include Cabaret, which
also involved The National Symphony
Orchestra conducted by John Owen
Edwards.
Caroline
O’Connor’s recording credits include Centre
Stage Showtime!. This also involved The
National Symphony Orchestra; with maestros Gerry Allison, John Owen
Edwards, and, Martin Yates.
Carl Wayne’s voice-work
credits include Spitting Image.
Richard
Balcombe conducted The Gondoliers.
Matthew Freeman
worked
on Noel/Cole: Let’s Do It, and it’s
album Noel/Cole: Let’s Do It
(Recording).
Julian Kelly conducted the
orchestra for Merrily We Roll Along
(Stage Production) and it’s album Merrily We Roll Along (Recording).
He has also conducted performances of Calamity Jane,
and, Follies.
Mary Carewe, Ben Cramer, Lorna Dallas, Stanley Grover,
Alexander Hanson, Doug LaBreque, Emily Losser, Catherine
Porter, Ron Raines, and, Elizabeth Welch’s recording credits
include The Great Musicals – Laughter And
Tears; This also involved The
National Symphony Orchestra; with maestros Richard Balcombe, Matthew
Freeman, Gordon Langford, John Owen Edwards, and, Martin Yates. This was also produced by
The Readers Digest; and production
team members: Andrew Humphries, Daniel Sankey, Jon Archer, Claudette
Bramble, Stephen Barnard of The
Write Line, Richard Lutterloch,
Andrew Briffett, Pauline Austin, and Arena Pictures were also involved.
Review
by Emma Shane
This
is one of those really mixed bunches, like most of these Readers Digest compilations
from the JAY/TER catalogue. All the
tracks are at least listenable to, and make decent background music. However
some are better than others, though that may be partly a matter of taste. Some
of the musical Theatre characters included on this disc seem rather incongruous
with the title. Can you really describe Annie
Oakley as a “blushing maiden”, or
for that matter Wild Bill Hicock as a
“Dashing hero”. I’m not too sure about Petruchio from Kiss
Me Kate either if it comes to that. While as for Stop The World I Want to Get Off’s
Evie, I’m not sure that she’s exactly a blushing maiden either (when sung by a
5ft9” tall redhead), even if she does sing sweetly.
Some
of the numbers on this album were certainly new ones to me. I very much enjoyed
Robert Meadmore’s C’Est
Moi, besides fitting wonderfully into the album, it also makes a jolly
nice change to hear Sir Lancelot rather than King Arthur. However I found Soon
It’s Gonna Rain, With You, and Too Many Tomorrows rather
dull. Lovely from A Funny Thing Happened On The Way TO The
Forum is a song I had heard before, twice, but it is not a standard, it
too fits in very well with the theme of the album and is very nicely sung.
While My Darlin’ Eileen finds Leonard
Bernstein going all Irish, and very jolly it is too.
Of
the more familiar pieces, I wasn’t too keen on Sixteen Going On Seventeen,
although it fits in very well with the theme of this album, the song, or this
interpretation of it, seems very dated. I’m sure it works very well within The
Sound Of Music, but I’m really not sure about taking this song out of
context and shoving it into compilation albums in general. I didn’t really care
for Edgar Fleet and Cynthia Glover’s rendition of Oh Is There Not One Maiden Breast. It’s
all very well if you like your G&S
done in a ‘Concert English’ fashion,;
but I for one would rather hear Rex
Smith and Linda Rondstadt (even
if they are not to the G&S purists
tastes). A similar problem arises with Marilyn
Hill Smith’s Is It Really Me? it seems to be a lot of vocal technique but
little else. I heard a much more convincing version of this song in the 1999 Lost
Musicals production of 110 In The Shade. Problems also
arise with Lovely To Look At. Graham
Bickley is generally a good singer, but his voice isn’t really powerful
enough to do this song justice. Although he does his best, he just can’t
compete with Howard Keel’s
magnificent performance in the film Lovely To Look At. I think that if JAY/TER were going to record this song
they would have done better to have it sung by Thomas Allen or Jason Howard.
However Graham Bickley does do a
good job with Too Much In Love To Care, which seems a better match for his
voice. As for Carl Wayne’s Half
A Moment, with an unidentified orchestra, well while this was
satisfactory, I wish they’d used Richard Long, and Cathy Sara’s version, if
only because the orchestra for that one was conducted by a vibrant lively
conductor who got rather more out of it; making it that much more interesting.
Even so, I don’t think this is by any means the best number in Jeeves,
as in my humble opinion that honour should go to Banjo Boy.
As
for the rest of the tracks, a part from a very dirgey sounding piece of Gershwin, My Man’s Gone Now. The
are all satisfactory performances, pleasant background listening, but nothing
outstandingly special. I was actually quite impressed by how informative the
sleeve notes where, concentrating mostly on the shows the songs came from, and
explaining the context, with few comments about these actual performances.
Given
how much I like Howard Keel, I was
surprised by how impressed I was by
Jason Howard’s performances on three tracks. His Higher Than A Hawk
although not up to the standard of the film, was nevertheless good, and his Why
Do I Love You was rather well done. The latter also had a super
performance by Janis Kelly who
really does put herself on a par with Kathryn
Grayson and Fredericka Von Stade
on that number! Meanwhile another very fine baritone, Thomas Allen does a reliably fine job with Were Thine That Special Face
(even if one isn’t quite sure that Fred Graham/Pretruchio exactly qualifies as
a “Dashing Hero”). While as for Louise Gold, although it is hard to
envisage her as a “blushing maiden”,
she does sing as sweetly as one on Typically English, and so fits in
very nicely to this compilation disc, she’s always done a good job with really classy
English accents, but how often does she actually get to use that properly in a
musical? (I don’t think parodies with puppets count). Terrific though she is at
doing gutsy belters, it’s nice to see this versatile lady get an opportunity to
use her sweeter tones.
Critics Comments
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Links about Dashing
Heroes, Blushing Maidens
