Masterworks Broadway is reopening the vaults for the latest two titles in its series of made-on-demand cast recording reissues, and proving that there truly is nothing like a Dame – one Dame Judi Dench, to be exact.  Dench, about to be seen on the big screen in the latest 007 epic Skyfall,  headlines the long out-of-print 1968 London Cast Recording of John Kander and Fred Ebb’s Cabaret, due from Masterworks and Arkiv Music on November 13, just days following the U.S. release of Skyfall.  Cabaret is preceded by the October 22 release of Walter Kent and Kim Gannon’s 1951 Broadway musical Seventeen.

Masterworks' upcoming reissue marks the first authorized CD-era release of 1951’s Seventeen.  The musical featured a score by the team of Walter Kent and Kim Gannon (“I’ll Be Home for Christmas”) and produced by television’s Uncle Miltie, Milton Berle.  The coming-of-age musical set in Indianapolis circa 1907 was written by Sally Benson (Meet Me in St. Louis) based on a story by Booth Tarkington.  It starred Kenneth Nelson, later to find wider fame as the original Matt in The Fantasticks and Michael in The Boys in the Band.  Burt Bacharach’s first wife, Paula Stewart (Wildcat, Let It Ride!), had a small part as a singer in the orchestra and as an understudy.  Though the musical only managed a 182-performance run, it wasn’t without its charms, which should sparkle more than ever in the new remastering from the original tapes.  You’ll find Seventeen available through Arkiv Music and Amazon.com (digital download and CD-R) on October 22.

After the jump: Judi Dench comes to the Cabaret, and we have track listings for both titles!

Though only in her early thirties, Judi Dench was already a first lady of the British stage when director Harold Prince cast her as Sally Bowles in the first London production of Cabaret.  She was a member of the Old Vic Theatre Company for four years between 1957 and 1961, and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company late in 1961.  Dench had honed her craft in repertory productions that took her over the world, priming her for a West End triumph in Cabaret.  Critic Sheridan Morley reported, “At first she thought they were joking. She had never done a musical and she has an unusual croaky voice which sounds as if she has a permanent cold. So frightened was she of singing in public that she auditioned from the wings, leaving the pianists alone on stage.”  But Dench was cast, indelibly bringing her own style to the character originated in the 1966 Broadway production by Jill Haworth and later immortalized onscreen by Liza Minnelli.  Dench was joined by Barry Dennen as the Emcee, the role created by Joel Grey, and by Lila Kedrova (Zorba the Greek, Torn Curtain) as Fraulein Schneider. Dennen earned the Evening Standard Award for his performance, and went on to portray Pontius Pilate on the original concept recording of Jesus Christ Superstar and its 1973 film adaptation.  Cabaret played a run of 336 performances in London, and has returned time and again to the West End, as on Broadway, in reimagined revivals.  The Original London Cast Recording of Cabaret, last available on CD as a hard-to-find import from Sony West End, arrives on November 13 from Masterworks Broadway via Arkiv Music and Amazon.com!

A pre-order link isn't yet available for Cabaret; we will update once a link is active!

Seventeen: The Original Broadway Cast Recording (RCA Victor LOC-1003, 1951 – reissued Masterworks Broadway, 2012)

1. Weatherbee’s Drug Store
2. This Was Just Another Day
3. Things are Gonna Hum This Summer
4. How Do You Do, Miss Pratt?
5. Summertime is Summertime
6. Reciprocity
7. Ode to Lola
8. A Headache and a Heartache
9. Ooh, Ooh, Ooh, What You Do to Me!
10. The Hoosier Way
11. I Could Get Married Today
12. If We Could Only Stop the Old Town Clock
13. After All, It’s Spring

Cabaret: The Original London Cast Recording (CBS U.K. 70039, 1968 – reissued Masterworks Broadway, 2012)

1. Willkommen
2. So What
3. Don’t Tell Mama
4. Telephone Song
5. Perfectly Marvellous
6. Two Ladies
7. It Couldn’t Please Me More
8. Tomorrow Belongs to Me
9. Entr’acte
10. The Money Song
11. Why Should I Wake Up
12. Married
13. Meeskite
14. Finale Act One
15. If You Could See Her
16. What Would You Do
17. Cabaret
18. Finale