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Over the course of seven decades, Lorna Dallas has forged a remarkable career path all her own.  The Illinois-born vocalist and Indiana University graduate toured with the national company of the Metropolitan Opera and appeared on the WCBS-TV talent program Callback (its musical director: a young Barry Manilow) before making a splash in London as Magnolia in the acclaimed 1971 company of Show Boat starring Cleo Laine, Kenneth Nelson, and Andre Jobin.  Dallas made London her home and soon was starring in musicals in the U.K. including Words and Music with Sammy Cahn, The King and I, Kismet, and Side by Side by Sondheim.  Soon, she was headlining her own BBC series, singing in front of Queen Elizabeth II, and proving a popular concert draw around the world.  In 1987, Lorna released Rainbows: The Lorna Dallas Album featuring her luminous soprano supported by the orchestra of Harry Rabinowitz (Song and Dance, Cats) and arrangements by such top-tier orchestrators as John Cameron (Les Miserables, Donovan), Robert Farnon (Frank Sinatra’s Great Songs from Great Britain), Laurie Holloway (Michael Parkinson, Strictly Come Dancing), and Peter Knight (Dusty Springfield, The Moody Blues).  The long out-of-print album, recorded at CTS Studios in 1986, makes its CD premiere today, April 1, from Stage Door Records in a newly remastered and expanded edition.

An exquisite recital, Rainbows offers songs both expected and unexpected from the stage and screen repertoire.  Though the orchestral arrangements are appropriately lavish, the mood is more often than not strikingly intimate – with exceptions such as the galloping “Love Is Where You Find It,” a rarity from the 1948 MGM musical The Kissing Bandit.  Throughout, Dallas’ versatile voice effortlessly transitions from ethereal to earthy.  There’s plenty of that shimmering soprano, though.  It shines on The King and I‘s rapturous “Hello, Young Lovers” and a driving “I Loves You, Porgy” from Porgy and Bess, just two of the golden age musicals for which Dallas’ voice is tailor-made.

Among the most delightful surprises is Cy Coleman and Michael Stewart’s “Someone Wonderful I Missed” from I Love My Wife; its light country-and-western sound sits comfortably next to the gently yearning “Dance a Little Closer” from Alan Jay Lerner and Charles Strouse’s short-lived musical of the same name.  The disparate compositions feel of a piece thanks to Dallas’ subtlety as both an actress and singer; she never oversells the material, preferring to interpret music, lyrics, and orchestrations with a disarming authenticity.  Lerner’s most famous musical, My Fair Lady, is also represented with a tender “I’ve Grown Accustomed to His Face.”  Heartbreak and humor are similarly understated on, respectively, Jerry Herman’s wrenching “Time Heals Everything” (Mack and Mabel) and Mary Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim’s wry “The Boy From…” (The Mad Show).

The album’s title is derived from its centerpiece medley of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows,” wrapped in a gorgeous chart by light music legend Robert Farnon.  Another medley melds a trio of tunes from West Side Story: “Something’s Coming,” “America,” and “Tonight.”  In her enjoyable track-by-track liner notes, Dallas tells us that she exchanged her own wedding vows, in part, to Leslie Bricusse’s “You and I,” so memorably introduced by Petula Clark in the film Goodbye, Mr. Chips.  Her attractive rendition of the touching ballad exists happily at the crossroads of musical theatre and pop.  So does Les Miserables‘ “I Dreamed a Dream,” heard here in a chart from the show’s original orchestrator, John Cameron.

“Unusual Way” from Maury Yeston’s Nine spellbinds, making the appearance of another Nine song (the moving farewell “Simple” in a relatively spare treatment) among the four bonus tracks even more special.  Rupert Holmes’ ravishing “Moonfall,” from his Tony Award-winning score to The Mystery of Edwin Drood, thrills in Dallas’ lustrous recording.  (Lorna’s old friend Cleo Laine starred in the original Broadway production as Princess Puffer; Patti Cohenour as Rosa Bud introduced “Moonfall.”)  “Paint My Life” stands out as the only track on Rainbows not from a musical.  The sweeping ballad by Rainbows’ vocal arranger, composer Ronnie Cass, and lyricist Carolyn James nonetheless impresses.  The fourth and final bonus cut celebrates Michel Legrand and Alan and Marilyn Bergman’s score to Yentl.  Dallas’ majestic medley of “This Is One of Those Moments,” “No Matter What Happens,” and “A Piece of Sky” allows the songs to step out of Streisand’s shadow; their beauty and power stun thanks to Dallas’ soaring soprano and Peter Knight’s lush arrangement.

Rainbows has been beautifully mastered for this reissue.  The eight-page booklet contains a heartfelt introduction from Lorna Dallas as well as her enjoyable track-by-track recollections.  This is a consummate reissue from a consummate artist; fans of traditional vocal pop and theatre music won’t be disappointed. Lorna Dallas returns to London’s stages on April 3 and 5 at Crazy Coqs with her new show Glamorous Nights and Rainy Days.  In the meantime, look for Rainbows: The Lorna Dallas Album now from Stage Door Records.

Lorna Dallas, Rainbows: The Lorna Dallas Album (Horatio Nelson Records SIV 1115, 1988 – reissued Stage Door STAGE 9092, 2022) (Stage Door Records / Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

1. Time Heals Everything
2. Summer Me, Winter Me
3. Someone Wonderful I Missed
4. Dance a Little Closer
5. Love Is Where You Find It
6. Unusual Way
7. Hello Young Lovers
8. I Loves You Porgy
9. Rainbows
10. West Side Story Medley (Something’s Coming/America/Tonight)
11. You and I
12. The Boy From…
13. I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face
14. My Funny Valentine
15. Autumn…
16. I Dreamed a Dream
17. Moonfall (previously unreleased)
18. Simple (previously unreleased)
19. Paint My Life (previously unreleased)
20. Yentl Suite (This Is One of Those Moments/No Matter What Happens/A Piece of Sky) (previously unreleased)