Paint Your Wagon Original Broadway Cast 1951 Rewrites Could Fix the Problems of the Script Still See Elisa) Beautifully
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120877bk Paint Your Wagon:MASTER 3+3 16/7/08 10:48 AM Page 2 Paint Your Wagon 9. Whoop-Ti-Ay! 1:45 Lyrics By Lerner 22. Progress 4:07 Chorus Alan Jay Lerner and Quartet Original Broadway Cast 1951 16. Wand’rin’ Star 3:00 10. Carino Mio 2:46 23. Susan’s Dream 5:53 1. I'm On My Way 3:53 Alan Jay Lerner and Quartet Olga San Juan, Tony Bavaar Kaye Ballard and Quartet Rufus Smith, Robert Penn, Dave Thomas 17. I Talk To The Trees 2:33 and Chorus 11. There’s A Coach Comin’ In 1:59 Alan Jay Lerner 24. Mr Right 3:37 Chorus Kaye Ballard 2. Rumson 0:47 From Paint Your Wagon Robert Penn 12. Hand Me Down That Can O’ Beans Music by Frederick Loewe From Love Life 1:45 Music by Kurt Weill 3. What’s Goin’ On Here 3:27 Robert Penn and Chorus 18. Green-Up Time 2:12 Olga San Juan Kaye Ballard Tracks 16–24: Heritage H 0060 13. Another Autumn 2:53 Billy Taylor, piano; Allen Hanlon, guitar; 4. I Talk To The Trees 3:32 19. Love Song 3:11 Tony Bavaar, Rufus Smith Milt Hinton or Clyde Lombardi, bass; Tony Bavaar Alan Jay Lerner 14. All For Him 2:29 Herb Harris or Percy Brice, drums 5. They Call The Wind Maria 3:17 Olga San Juan 20. Economics 3:22 Recorded 1955 Rufus Smith and Chorus Quartet 15. Wand’rin’ Star 2:31 6. I Still See Elisa 3:18 James Barton and Chorus 21. Here I’ll Stay 3:13 James Barton Kaye Ballard 7. How Can I Wait? 4:13 Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner Olga San Juan Music by Frederick Loewe Orchestra conducted by Franz Allers 8. In Between 2:40 RCA Victor LOC 1006 Also available in the Naxos Broadway Musicals series ... James Barton Recorded November 1951 C More ‘Lyrics By Lerner’ will be found with the cast recording of My Fair Lady (Naxos 8.120876) All selections recorded in New York M Transfers & Production: David Lennick • Digital Restoration: Graham Newton 8.120787 8.120791 8.120876 Cover design based on images © Toni Räsänen/Dreamstime.com & © Alexey Stio/Dreamstime.com These titles are not for retail sale in the USA Y 5 8.120877 6 8.120877 K 120877bk Paint Your Wagon:MASTER 3+3 16/7/08 10:48 AM Page 1 disjointed and overly ambitious book. Barton wasn’t much of a singer, but he acts It tells the story of a married couple, Sam score, however, and it’s refreshing to hear the Unfortunately, no amount of late-night his two big numbers (Wand’rin’ Star and I and Susan Cooper and follows their saucy Ballard give her all to numbers like Paint Your Wagon Original Broadway Cast 1951 rewrites could fix the problems of the script Still See Elisa) beautifully. Leading lady San relationship from 1791 to 1948, although they Green-Up Time and Here I’ll Stay, while Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner • Music by Frederick Loewe and when it opened on 12 November 1951, the Juan doesn’t get the best material but does never grow older. Lerner’s martini-dry voice is perfect for the satire critics were fairly chilly. nicely with what she’s been given, in particular Conceived as a vaudeville show, it featured of Progress or the bittersweet Love Song. Lyrics By Lerner Walter Kerr attacked the show’s ‘rather What’s Goin’ On Here? and How Can I Wait?. sequences, for example, on a tightrope or one Even when writing for shows that never Music by Loewe (Paint Your Wagon) and Kurt Weill (Love Life) tenuous and deflated romance’ while Wolcott Two of the best numbers fall to the young in which the leading lady was sawn in half. really realized their full potential, Alan Jay Gibbs, out for blood, said that while Lerner was Bavaar: I Talk to the Trees which became a When it opened on 7 October 1948, some Lerner was always capable of crafting lyrics of Kaye Ballard & Alan Jay Lerner, vocals 1955 ‘credited’ with the book, ‘it’s hard to believe standard and the haunting Another Autumn. critics, such as Richard Watts, hailed it as ‘a wit and warmth, while bringing out the everybody around the premises didn’t just But an indication of what was wrong with musical play of excitement, distinction and melodic best in his collaborators. make it up as they went along’. the show comes from the fact that its finest style’, but the most influential scribes, like These songs from Paint Your Wagon and There’s a fairly simple rule for evaluating the Lerner was originally inspired to write Notices like those brought the show’s run song, They Call the Wind Maria, is given to a Brooks Atkinson, derided it as ‘showmanship Love Life are winning illustrations of his unique lasting merit of the shows written by Alan Jay Paint Your Wagon by the gold rush stories of to an end after 289 performances and it has minor character in a scene that’s largely there gone wrong’. It closed after 252 performances talent. Lerner: the stronger the original source Bret Harte, even though none of them were never been professionally revived on Broadway. for atmosphere. and has also never had a major revival. material, the more durable the final product. specifically referenced in the final work. Strangely enough, it did turn into one of the Paint Your Wagon will never be There are many virtues to be found in the Richard Ouzounian That’s why My Fair Lady (based on Shaw’s As frequently happened to the most expensive ($20 million) flops of its time remembered as a great show, but its score has Pygmalion), Camelot (from White’s The Once procrastinating Lerner during his career, the when made into a 1969 movie, cast almost many memorable moments and this recording and Future King) and Gigi (from Colette’s play time lapse between inspiration and execution totally with non-singers like Clint Eastwood and preserves them in fine style. of the same name) generally stand the test of spanned several years and after conceiving the Lee Marvin. As a bonus, there’s also a pair of the time better than originals like The Day Before show shortly after Brigadoon opened in 1947, So with all this against it, why do we keep lyricist’s own renditions (Wand’rin’ Star and I Spring and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. it took him over three years to sit down and turning to Paint Your Wagon? As with so many Talk to the Trees) from the Lyrics by Lerner This selection of songs from Paint Your write it. similar shows that didn’t quite succeed, the album, which reveal a light voice but an Wagon (1951) and Love Life (1948) proves this The final plot combined the lusty attraction is the glory of the score. understandably deft way with the words. theory, but also makes you aware that even atmosphere of the mid 19th century Gold Rush Lerner may not have known how to put the The remainder of this album consists of when Lerner the librettist could be on shaky in California with two personal stories: one of a feelings he wanted to convey into dialogue, but selections from Love Life in a 1955 studio ground, Lerner the lyricist was still capable of grizzled prospector who couldn’t stop – combined with the melodies of his recording featuring Lerner and Kaye Ballard, a turning out some first-rate work. wandering and the other concerning the inter- marvellously protean partner Loewe – he popular stage, TV and cabaret artist of the period. Both shows were quirky, ground-breaking racial love affair between the prospector’s certainly did it in his songs. One of Lerner’s most ambitious shows, the works that weren’t giant hits in their original daughter and a young Mexican. The opening miners’ chorus I’m On My Way 1948 Love Life, written in collaboration with presentations and have rarely been revived From the very beginning of the out-of-town is one of the lustiest, most energetic beginnings Kurt Weill, may not have succeeded on its own, since. They also both have some glorious songs tryout, critics praised the show’s score and its a musical has ever had and that stirring emotion but laid the groundwork for many influential in their scores, thanks to the music of Frederick eclectic cast (which combined veteran James is duplicated in their other choral numbers such shows of the future like John Kander and Fred Loewe (Paint Your Wagon) and Kurt Weill (Love Barton with newcomers Olga San Juan and as There’s a Coach Comin’ In and Hand Me Ebb’s Cabaret, as well as Stephen Sondheim’s Life). Tony Bavaar), but had trouble with the Down That Can of Beans. Company. 2 8.120877 3 8.120877 4 8.120877 120877bk Paint Your Wagon:MASTER 3+3 16/7/08 10:48 AM Page 1 disjointed and overly ambitious book. Barton wasn’t much of a singer, but he acts It tells the story of a married couple, Sam score, however, and it’s refreshing to hear the Unfortunately, no amount of late-night his two big numbers (Wand’rin’ Star and I and Susan Cooper and follows their saucy Ballard give her all to numbers like Paint Your Wagon Original Broadway Cast 1951 rewrites could fix the problems of the script Still See Elisa) beautifully.