Original Broadway Casts

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 it for an album of 78s, later reissued on 10-inch vinyl LP.  Stage Door has its CD premiere 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.