The Music Man (1957 Original Broadway Cast) [Angel Reissue] | Meredith Willson, Barbara Cook, ......

The Music Man (1957 Original Broadway Cast) [Angel Reissue] | Meredith Willson, Barbara Cook, ... | We need a new remaster, nonetheless

classical music:

The Joy of Music L... Dangerously Yesterday Beethoven: The Com... The Music Man (195...

	The Music Man (1957 Original Broadway Cast) [Angel Reissue] Meredith Willson, Barbara Cook, ... Angel Records, 1992 average customer review:based on 41 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

One of This Country's Finest Musicals Beautifully Re-Mastered

THE MUSIC MAN opened on Broadway on December 19, 1957 to rave reviews from the critics, adulations from the captivated audiences, and the beginning of a long run. This wondrous musical is an 'opera' of sorts in that the piece is not a series of songs connected by the usual musical comedy spoken dialogue. Meredith Willson wrote the music and lyrics in such a way that there is not an extraneous note or word that doesn't contribute to the totality of the work.

Despite the multiple reincarnations of this brilliant show both on film and recording, none of them compares to this original cast. Imagine Barbara Cook (lithe, and new) as Marian the Librarian: Cook still reigns as one of our finest voices on the stage and cabaret rooms today. Robert Preston is not only rich in personality he also delivers the immensely complex patter songs with deft authority. And the Buffalo Bills add the multiple barbershop quartet numbers with authentic sound and professionalism.

This musical holds all of the joys and imaginations and longings that we all hold so dear in our memories of how things used to be - and it is so terrific to return to that stage of ecstasy again. This is a must own CD. Grady Harp, November 06

for more information click here

We need a new remaster, nonetheless

A very interesting photo on the liner booklet's back cover demonstrates the one real flaw in this otherwise classic recording: it shows Robert Preston at the album sessions singing at two mikes, a fat Neumann with a Capitol flag and a skinny one, probably an AKG. This can only mean Capitol recorded this in simultaneous mono and stereo takes. With all that knob twiddling the balance had to go off, a problem not entirely corrected by the reissue engineer Bob Norberg, whose remasterings of Ol' Blue's Capitol mono output have earned scorn from some Sinatraphiles for their slight fake echo and stereo effects. (He remastered just about every album in the Broadway Angel series; the monos all appear to have the echo and stereo.) I guess we should be happy to have this in any form at all given how the other majors turned it down. Capitol was late and indifferent to the cast album trade, and it only had three hits before making its monumental closing botch of "Follies." However the label approached it it's still a great and exciting score perfectly performed. Who could have imagined a hit musical with a barbershop quartet? And if only all women could sing like Barbara Cook! Who says you can have too much of a good thing?

With the show's fiftieth anniversary coming up (!) now would be a good time for a remaster. (I know, I know, I'm tired of paying repeatedly for the same product too, but this deserves it.) It should include a second disc with the 1959 Capitol documentary LP "And Then I Wrote 'The Music Man'", where Meredith Willson and his wife Rini detail the eight years of trials and rewrites behind the show. Nor would it hurt to have bonuses like Willson's original take on "Till There Was You" (called "Till I Met You," which Fran Warren evidently first sang on "The Big Show") or a few licensed pop balladeers of the day -- and maybe examples like the 70s jingle for the late lamented Oldsmobile ("Oh ho the new Oldsmobile is a -- comin' down the line...."). It must also include Willson's contentious JFK physical fitness tune "Chicken Fat", recorded about the time "The Music Man" was filmed and available only on oddball Web music sites, where Preston yells and grunts himself into an athletic -- passion. (I keep thinking Allan Sherman recorded a full version of his notorious parody "76 Sol Cohens", but I guess he didn't.) The whole thing should end with a live public-radio performance from 1980 or 1981 where Willson led the superb Detroit Concert Band in "76 Trombones" and "The Stars and Stripes Forever" -- an apt and brilliant finish.

No, I have not forgotten the Beatles, but I fear neither have their lawyers.

for more information click here

Music Man

The original cast recording brings back the memory of the live production I saw which will always be superior, in my opinion, to the movie version. However, the movie was one of the better "reproductions" of this genre.

Great sound quality

I bought the Angel reissue based on Mark Andrew Lawrence's advice, and the sound quality is GREAT. I grew up listening to this as an LP, and after listening to this CD have finally been able to figure out some of the lyrics that puzzled me for years. If you are looking for an original cast recording of The Music Man, I heartily recommend this version.

for more information click here

Music, music, musicman!!

There is only one music man and that is Robert Preston. He dominates the whole scene with his brash over the top personna. Barbara Cook is SO YOUNG, yet finishes up taming this loud,unfettered individual. The whole musical evokes the spirit of Meredith Wilson's Marching Band and makes you want to keep on marching forever!!

reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

products you might be interested in