London Studio Cast Recordings

Stage Door Records is pairing two rare London studio cast recordings on one CD with On the Town/Broadway Melody.  This stereo release celebrates the classic sound of the Hollywood musical.  The Music for Pleasure label's 1959 recording of On the Town wasn't based on the original Leonard Bernstein/Betty Comden/Adolph Green stage musical but rather its MGM movie adaptation in which selections from the original score were supplemented by new (and less complex) tunes from Roger Edens with Comden and Green.  Dennis Lotis, Lionel Blair, and Shane Rimmer took on the roles played in the film by Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, and Jules Munshin, while the shoes of Betty Garrett and Ann Miller were filled by Stella Tanner and Noele Gordon.  The next year, EMI's Columbia label released the second volume in its Famous Film Series: Broadway Melody.  This LP featured songs from The Broadway Melody, Broadway Melody of 1936, and Broadway Rhythm by vocalists including Millicent Martin, Bruce Forsyth, David Hughes, and Gerry Dorsey - the latter of whom would go onto pop stardom as Engelbert Humperdinck.