My Fair Lady: The Complete Show Album (Rondolette Records)
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- Опубліковано 13 вер 2024
- My Fair Lady, virtually every budget record label in existence made some My Fair Lady cover album of their own. This is the third Eli Oberstien release I own connected to my Fair Lady; with this video's upload, all three of those releases are now online.
This album does not have every single song from the Broadway musical. However, it has every song released on the official 'Complete' My Fair Lady album released by Columbia records at about this same time period. You can tell that illustration on the cover featured here was likey trying to imitate the face of the figure shown controlling Professor Higgins on the album cover of the official Columbia records release from the original cast. Regardless of the aforementioned issues, this album is noteworthy.
I OCR'd the liner notes, since Rondolette was a classier Oberstien label, which featured liner notes and stereo recordings. I have tried to remove any OCR artifacts from the transcript.
'STEREOPHONIC SA144
MY FAIR LADY
Adapted from Bernard Shaw -Pygmalion" Book and Lyrics by ALAN JAY Lerner • Music by FREDERICK. LOEWE Production staged by MOSS HART Choreography and Musical Numbers by Hanya Holm • Production designed by Oliver Smith Costumes designed by Cecil Beacon Musical Director Richard Muller-Lampertz • Musical Arrangements by Robert Russell Bennett Dance Music Arranged by Trude Rittman
SELECTIONS INCLUDE:
Overture------------------------------------------------Orchestra
Why Can't the English----------------------------Lawrence Chelsi and Group
Wouldn't It Be Lovely------------------------------Alberta Hopkins
With A Little Bit of Luck -------------------------Tom O'Leary
Rain in Spain-------------------------------------------Alberta Hopkins, Lawrence Chelsi, and Tom O'Leary
I'm An Ordinary Man--------------------------------Lawrence Chelsi
I Could Have Danced All Night-----------------Alberta Hopkins and Girls
Ascot Gavotte------------------------------------------Orchestra and Chorus
On the Street Where You Live-------------------Eddie Ruhl
You Did It------------------------------------------------- Tom O'Leary and Lawrence Chelsi
Show Me--------------------------------------------------Eddie RuId and Alberta Hopkins
Get Me to the Church on Time------------------Tom O'Leary
A Hymn to Him------------------------------------------ Lawrence Chelsi and Tom O'Leary
Without You----------------------------------------------- Alberta Hopkins
I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face-----------Lawrence Chelsi.
MY FAIR LADY Is the musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion'. The integration of the songs into this wonderful hit show, which opened in New York on March 15, 1956, did not interfere with it but enhanced it in every way. The lyrics of Mr. Lerner fit the situation beautifully. Mr. Loewe's singable and danceable melodies have made this one of the biggest and best musical comedies of our time. The plot of MY FAIR LADY closely follows that of Shaw's enduring comedy-the story of the flower girl taken in hand by Henry Higgins and his friend Colonel Pickering and their training of her in speech and deportment to where she is passed off as a duchess at a court reception is fine theater The ending where Higgins sings 'I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face,' and threesies that Eliza has broken through his iced reserve and is likely to become the professor's wife, is something everyone will remember after having seen this musical show.
LAWRENCE CHELSI, who sings the part of Henry Higgins, Has been on most of the important television programs and was featured with Celeste Holm, Rise Stevens, June Havoc, etc... He was Patrice Munscl's partner in their cafe act in Las Vegas at the New Frontier Hotel CHELSI is one of the foremost American actors of the comedy snip:, has ins; appeared in 'Tonight at 8:30', was awarded the best performance of the year for Wintergreen For President', was in "Of Thee, I Sing,' appeared in "'Up in Central Park,' "Finian's Rainbow, 'and many others He has recently been chosen to sing at the Beirut Festival in Germany.
ALBERTA HOPKINS was originally soloist with Fred Waring and his orchestra and was then engaged for "Student Prince at the Summer Festival in Warwick, Rhode Island. She has appeared with the St. Louis Municipal Light Opera Company, has been a soloist at Radio City Music Hall, and at present is studying grand opera under Giovanni Martinelli.
TOM O'Leary went to school in Texas and made his debut in opera in -The Bartered Bride' He is one of the great young bass voices. He has appeared in -Guys and Dolls' and in the motion picture "State Fair" with Gordon MacRae. He is at present studying opera in Italy and has sung the leading bass parts in most of the major opera houses. Basically, you will find that the comedy of this great big American shines through his singing.
A product of the RONDO RECORD CORPORATION, Union City, New Jersey'
Consider a visit to www.myfamilygen.com today!
In the late 90’s I spent several months in cardiac rehab in LA, and one of my exercise mates was a man who had a long and storied successful career as a music director, including network shows like the Carol Burnett show. As a young singer, he performed on many of these knock-offs, and had some great stories. He did a Higgins; perhaps this is it! He said they were virtually sight-reading the songs - the goal was to get these pressed and into Woolworth’s, 5 and Dimes, department and grocery stores before customers knew enough to realize these weren’t the cast albums! Tempos were fast, songs were left out, orchestrations were based on piano-vocal sheets smuggled out of rehearsal, all the faster to process the product in an assembly-line fashion, and move on to the next. And yes, he said, they often played multiple characters - perhaps unaware, since they didn’t know the context of the songs! For years I played piano for the incredible Marni Nixon, whose voice you hear when Audrey Hepburn performs the numbers in the film - this Eliza reminds me of Marni. While Lerner & Loewe probably despised these knock-off albums, the fact is much of their brilliance comes shining through, despite the rushed production and under-informed cast of overworked one-take journeymen & women of the cast. Thank you SO MUCH for posting!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience with us all!
What a fabulous set of circumstances. You can tell that it had an effect on you that allowed you to do more looking into the history and the facts. To find the light during dark days is a gift. Bless you although you've already been blessed
This must be the album I grew up with - thinking it was the official soundtrack album!
It’s great to hear this!
Glad you appreciate it
So nice thanks.
Ciao from Italy.
Glad you appreciate it!
@@TheWorldOfBudgetVinylRecords really nice Thanks.
Anytime
My Grandparents had this recording. It is well sung and played. Alberta Hopkins was on several of these budget priced albums. I think she sang on the King & I recording. She had a good career.
Thanks for sharing your memories!
The drawing on the cover is intended to look like George Bernard Shaw, the author of "Pygmalion" the book (and later play and movie) which Lerner and Lowe based MY FAIR LADY upon. It's actually a very poor copy of what is part of the Original Broadway Cast album.
In response to the two missing songs... Maybe they couldn't wait to get married?
Otherwise, this is a better than average knock-off show tunes LP. The expansive stereo separation is hampered by the cheap vinyl pressing, but otherwise the recording shows some technical professionalism and a fairly wide sound field. The real standout here, however, are the highly creative arrangements -aided by the equally creative stereo separations - , which heroically disguise the rather small orchestra.
The major weakness is the by-the-book college musical level performance of the (obviously American) vocalists. They all sing pleasantly enough and hit their notes, but the performance is strictly mechanical. There is little or no sense of "feeling" behind any of it. The lack of an actual chorus, too, is felt in such numbers as 'With a Little Bit of Luck' and 'I Could Have Danced All Night' - but on the 'Ascot Gavotte' number the antiphonal stereo recording and clever arrangement of the cast across the separate channels ingeniously conceals that there are (as far as I could discern) no more than eight vocalists in total.[Eliza, Henry/Freddie (same vocalist?), Pickering/Doolittle (same vocalist?) and three or four assorted voices].
The bottom line is this is an entertaining and ambitious budget performance.
It would be interesting if the original master tapes could be located and remastered to digital, thus freeing the excellently engineered recording from the disastrously noisy vinyl.
Very nice comment, I appreciate it.
Great review
Just you wait Henry Higgins was left out and also I'm getting married in the morning unless I went deaf on those two.
This is correct
Good I didn't go deaf.Thank you.The recording was great by the way.
"Get Me To the Church On Time".
I just began listening and read that they left all those key issue songs out and now I must go on my search to find the original soundtrack.
any chance of coming up with the Rondo-lette version of Take Me Along? Thanks.
Sadly one is known to exist.
@@TheWorldOfBudgetVinylRecords if anyonoe finds it, it is you!
I'm pretty sure I have heard all the My Fair Lady recordings Eli Oberstein released... that isn't on any release on his discography I am aware of.
The LP is pretty good. Couldn't they pay someone to do a drawing for the cover. The lettering is so basic too.
I think the minimalist approach was appropriate in this case. The mono release has a more appealing jacket then it's stereo counterpart.
Bjr je préfère la version française
Great! I don’t understand French beyond a handful of words and phrases… also it was originally an English language musical and that is my native language, so I prefer the original version.