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 Sakarian (from Baby)
Ben Cramer
Lorna Dallas
Billie Daniels – as Serena (from Porgy And Bess)
Ivor Emmanuel
Edgar Fleet – as
Frederic (from The Pirates Of
Richard Fredericks
Ethan Freeman – as Tommy (from Brigadoon)
Cynthia Glover –
as Mabel (from The Pirates Of
Louise Gold - as Evie (from Stop The World I Want To Get Off)
Lindsay Hamilton – as Gigi (from Gigi)
Alexander Hanson (as Matt from The Fantasticks)
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)
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 (from Seven Brides For Seven Brothers), and others
Caroline O’Connor
– as
Catherine Porter – as Betty (from Sunset Boulevard), and, Luisa (from The Fantasticks)
Ron Raines – as Johnny (from The Unsinkable Molly Brown)
Don Stephenson – as Hero (from A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum)
Martin Vidnovic – as Nick Sakarian (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,
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
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
7. I Won’t Dance (from Roberta) –
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,
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,
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,
Graham Bickley has appeared on stage in The
Pirates Of Penzance (Stage Production), with that company in The Pirates Of
Penzance (Gala Performance), The Pirates Of Penzance
(Gala Preview), The Pirates
Of Penzance (Benefit 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,
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.
He has gone on to take part in Shopping
With The Stars 2008.
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,
Thomas Allen, Graham Bickley, Danielle Carson, Lindsay Hamilton, Doug
LaBreque, Caroline O’Connor, Ron Raines, and, Elisabeth Welch’s recording credits include Magic Of The Musicals. This also involved
the National Symphony Orchestra;
with maestros Gerry Allison, Julian Kelly, John Owen Edwards, and, Martin
Yates.
Doug LaBreque, Katrina Murphy, Caroline O’Connor, and, Ron Raines’s recording credits include The Best Of The Musicals; This also
involved the National Symphony Orchestra
/ NSO Ensemble, with maestros Gerry Allison, Julian Kelly, John Owen
Edwards, and, Martin Yates.
Alexander Hanson may have taken part in Thing A Thon.
Alexander
Hanson, and, Dave Willets went
on to take part in Shopping With The Stars 2009.
Danielle Carson, Ethan Freeman, Stephanie Lawrence, Robert Meadmore, Caroline O’Connor, Ron
Raines, and, Elisabeth Welch can
also be heard on 100 Hits Musicals;
accompanied by The National Symphony
Orchestra, with maestros Julian
Kelly, John Owen Edwards, and, Martin Yates.
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
