A Quartet of Broadway Classics Coming From Masterworks

Back on April 5, we filled you in on the latest slate of reissues from Sony's Masterworks Broadway division, available as digital downloads or discs-on-demand from Arkiv Music. Next week, May 17, sees release of RCA Victor's 1964 Music Theater of Lincoln Center Recording of Franz Lehar's The Merry Widow, making its very first appearance in the CD age. The classic operetta is joined by four new releases returning to print: the Original Broadway Cast Recordings of Irving Berlin’s Mr. President and E.Y. "Yip" Harburg's The Happiest Girl in the World, as well as the 1964 New York World’s Fair Cast Recording of To Broadway, With Love, and the 1957 Studio Recording of Brigadoon, starring Jack Cassidy and Shirley Jones.

The reissue of the 1964 Music Theater of Lincoln Center Recording of The Merry Widow features American soprano and Metropolitan Opera star Patrice Munsel singing the title role, while the supporting cast includes Bob Wright, Joan Weldon and Frank Poretta. They are joined by Oscar nominee Mischa Auer (My Man Godfrey) and Tony nominee Sig Arno (Time Remembered). The operetta by Franz Lehar debuted in Vienna in 1905 (where else?) and made its Broadway debut two years later at the New Amsterdam Theatre, today home to Disney’s Mary Poppins. The Merry Widow remained a staple of the operetta repertoire, receiving regular New York revivals through the 1940s. Produced by Richard Rodgers, whose musical theatre innovations ironically led to operettas falling out of favor, The Merry Widow was conducted by Franz Allers (My Fair Lady, Camelot).

Though written in 1961, The Happiest Girl in the World has an operetta connection. Fred Saidy and Henry Mayers' book was based on Aristophanes' comedy Lysistrata, and Yip Harburg (The Wizard of Oz, Finian's Rainbow) adapted the score from the music of operetta favorite Jacques Offenbach. Cyril Ritchard (Captain Hook opposite Mary Martin’s Peter Pan) both directed and starred, and a young Lainie Kazan appeared. The Happiest Girl told the familiar story of the women of Sparta and Greece who, inspired by the goddess Diana, vow to withhold sex from their husbands until they promise to end their violence. Diana's uncle, the underworld leader Pluto, expectedly balks at the idea of peace and sets out to defeat her. Despite Harburg's typical wit and the musical's satire on the battle of the sexes, an Offenbach operetta wasn't a theatregoer's priority in 1961, and the show closed after 98 performances.

To Broadway with Love is the true curiosity of the bunch. The brainchild of Angus G. Wynne, Jr. (also the founder of Six Flags), the musical revue debuted in a specially-built 2,400-seat theatre at the Texas Pavilion of the 1964 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, New York. Ostensibly a salute to Broadway musicals, To Broadway with Love had a top-notch creative team. Morton DaCosta of The Music Man directed, and Donald Saddler (Wonderful Town, No, No, Nanette) choreographed. Original musical material was provided by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, the famed composer and lyricist of Fiddler on the Roof, She Loves Me and the Pulitzer-Prize winning Fiorello! The musical wasn't a success, closing after only 97 performances at the Fair. Some blame the fact that the show had a separate admission fee, others that it simply cost too much ($1,250,000.00). Perhaps the show offered too little Broadway, desipte its title. The 1940s are represented by six numbers ("There's No Business Like Show Business" and a shortened "Carousel Waltz" among them), the 1930s by one song, "F.D.R. Jones" from Sing out the News. The 1920s, 1950s, and 1960s are represented by nothing at all, hardly an enticement to audience members hoping to hear their favorite songs onstage. Thanks to Columbia's cast recording, though, the five original songs by Bock and Harnick live on.

1962's Mr. President marked Irving Berlin's final score for the musical stage, and the production starring Robert Ryan and Nanette Fabray eked out a respectable 265 performances before folding. President John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie actually attended the musical during its Washington, DC tryout, but the Kennedy association with another musical, Camelot, proved more lasting! Berlin's score offers some rousing songs, however, including the patriotic anthem that closes the show, "This is a Great Country." Hopes were so high that RCA even recorded a studio cast album with Perry Como, Kaye Ballard and Sandy Stewart singing Berlin's score with Philip J. Lang's orchestrations! (There’s my vote for an upcoming Masterworks reissue!) A far stronger score can be heard on the 1957 Studio Cast Recording of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's Brigadoon. Cassidy and Jones never sounded better than on this Goddard Lieberson-produced set, bringing to life such timeless songs as "Almost Like Being In Love," "Come to Me, Bend to Me" and "The Heather on the Hill." Susan Johnson and Portia Nelson make memorable appearances, too.

Hit the jump for track listings and more!

These releases will be accompanied by new album pages and unearthed photographs at the website of Masterworks Broadway. Track listings can be found below. Digital versions are available from the usual providers while made-on-demand CDs can be obtained at Arkiv Music!

The Merry Widow: Music Theater of Lincoln Center Cast Recording (RCA Victor LSO-1094, 1964 - reissued Masterworks Broadway, 2011)