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Short Takes, Broadway Edition: Stage Door Celebrates Alfred Drake, Kritzerland Reissues "Streets of New York" and More

April 8, 2019 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

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With his rich baritone and intense looks, Alfred Drake (1914-1992) defined the classic Broadway leading man.  Originating roles in such landmark musicals as Oklahoma!, Kiss Me Kate, and Kismet, Drake won Tony and Drama Critics Awards, and was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame.  But despite his many appearances on cast recordings, Drake has never headlined a solo CD...until now.  The U.K.'s Stage Door label has announced the April 26 release (May 3 in North America) of Lucky to Be Me: A Life in Music, a 2-CD set that will earn a spot on every musical theatre fan's shelf.  The 51-track collection has one disc entitled The Studio Recordings (including selections from the aforementioned musicals as well as tracks from West Side Story, Roberta, On the Town, and Carousel) and one disc of Demos, Live Performances, and Other Rarities sourced from the late Drake's personal archives.  This disc features rare live appearances, rehearsals, practice recordings, and even auditions representing Drake's performances from musicals and operettas throughout his career; later shows like Kean and Zenda are even represented.  Theatre historian George Dansker has worked with Stage Door in compiling this first-of-its-kind anthology of Broadway's consummate leading man.  Pre-order now at Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.!

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But that's not all coming from Stage Door and Alfred Drake.  Sing Out, Sweet Land! opened on Broadway at the International Theatre in the final days of 1944 and resided there for 104 performances.  Starring Drake, Burl Ives, Juanita Hall (South Pacific), Bibi Osterwald, and Alma Kaye, the musical by critic Walter Kerr featured a score of traditional folk tunes as well as original material by John Mundy, Edward Eager, and Elie Siegmiester.  Decca recorded the musical for an album of 78s, later reissued on 10-inch vinyl LP.  Stage Door's CD premiere of this rare cast album is joined by another Decca rarity: the 1950 studio cast recording of Kurt Weill's Down in the Valley starring Drake and Jane Wilson.  Weill, who supervised the recording, composed original choral music to support another array of classic folk melodies such as "Down in the Valley" and "The Lonesome Dove."  This release, made possible via current U.K. public domain laws and part of the labels' Collectors' Series, is limited to 500 units.  Like Lucky to Be Me, the two-for-one release of Sing Out, Sweet Land!/Down in the Valley arrives in stores on April 26 and can be ordered at Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.!

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Kritzerland has another pair of new show music releases currently available for pre-order.  First up is the original cast recording of the all-too-little-known 1963 off-Broadway musical The Streets of New York.  With book and lyrics by Barry Alan Grael and music by Richard B. Chodosh, the show featured David Cryer (father of Two and a Half Men star Jon) and Ralston Hill, as well as (unheard) standbys Julia Migenes and Conrad John Schuck.  Though the cast album (recorded in 1964) was previously reissued on CD in 1995 by AEI, Kritzerland has given the sound a considerable sprucing-up courtesy of mastering engineer James Nelson.

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The label is also bringing together the incidental music for three plays on a special CD: Elmer Bernstein's Laurette, Laurence Rosenthal's Rashomon, and Alex North's Death of a Salesman.  (North would later adapt many of his themes for the film version.)  All three of these short but powerful scores have been issued on Kritzerland before - the former paired with Bernstein's score to Prince Jack, and the latter two together.  But for this release, the label has enlisted restoration specialist Chris Malone to substantially improve the sound.  Both titles are limited to 500 copies and due before the second week of May, but those who order directly through Kritzerland can expect them to ship a few weeks early.

Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Cast Recordings Tags: Alex North, Alfred Drake, Elmer Bernstein, Kurt Weill, Laurence Rosenthal

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Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Chet Atkins, and many others. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray. Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

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