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Home , Sylvia Syms, Val Guest

EXPRESSO BONGO

Musical Numbers

Overture ~ Orchestra Don’t You Sell Me Down the River ~ James Kenney Expresso Party ~ James Kenney Nausea ~ Meier Tzelniker Spoil the Child ~ Millicent Martin Seriously ~ Millicent Martin I Never Had it So Good ~ Paul Scofield There’s Nothing Wrong with British Youth Today ~ Chorus The Shrine on the Second Floor ~ James Kenney He’s Got Something for the Public ~ Hy Hazell, Elizabeth Ashley, Susan Hampshire, Paul Scofield, Rosaline Haddon, Charles Gray I Am ~ Millicent Martin Nothing is for Nothing ~ Meier Tzelniker, Hy Hazell, Paul Scofield We Bought It ~ Hy Hazell, Elizabeth Ashley Time ~ Hy Hazell The Gravy Train ~ Paul Scofield Finale ~ Millicent Martin, James Kenney, Hy Hazell, Paul Scofield, and Company

On April 23, 1958, Expresso Bongo cous, rhythmic paean of disgust singer , and repeating his burst on the theatre scene. aimed at the shoddy side of the en- role and song from the stage show, A satire of the music industry, the tertainment business. In its misan- Meier Tzelniker. show starred Paul Scofield, James thropic tour of the gutters of the West Kenney, Millicent Martin, Meier Tzel- End, it washes up an unsavoury Divorced from its time and place, the niker, Hy Hazell, and Elizabeth Ash- flotsam of sharp agents, talentless score is really delightful, filled with ley. The show had a book by Wolf artists, love-starved women, greedy snappy tunes, clever lyrics, and sa- Mankowitz (A Kid for Two Farthings, managers, shady café proprietors tirical over-the-top pop ballads of the The Day the Earth Caught Fire, Ca- and dim debutantes. If they had a re- era. After the show’s run, it kind of sino Royale) and Julian More (Irma deeming virtue among them it would just disappeared off the face of the la Douce), music by David Heneker be stolen off their backs – Expresso earth, with only its cast album and (Half a Sixpence) and Monty Norman Bongo ought to become the first suc- film version keeping its memory alive. (the “ Theme”), and lyrics cessful adult British musical since the by Julian More, David Heneker, and end of the war.” The performances, The original cast album of Expresso Monty Norman.The pop singer in the especially that of Paul Scofield, re- Bongo was released in mono only by show was loosely based on Tommy ceived critical kudos. While the show Nixa Records. That was reissued in Steele. The show had the misfortune was obviously overshadowed by the the United States many years later to open at the same time as My Fair mammoth success of with an especially bad LP and then Lady, but unlike that high-toned mu- and Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady, it CD transfer. For this new release, sical, Expresso Bongo was decidedly did reasonably well, well enough for James Nelson has done a major low-life, gritty, and had a score mixed film director Val Guest to obtain the remastering, bringing the original with pop and traditional musical the- rights and make a film of it the follow- brashness and luster back to what ater songs. For its time, it was a fairly ing year. Interestingly, the film plays was an excellent recording. We’re audacious and “different” kind of en- the whole thing straight without a also happy to include the EP of the tertainment. trace or hint of satire. The film version Cliff Richard songs, along with cover only retained a handful of the stage versions of two other songs from the As the Evening Standard wrote, show’s songs and added several new show as bonus tracks. “Expresso Bongo at the Saville is a ones by composer Norrie Paramour — Bruce Kimmel British musical whistling through a and lyricist Bunny Lewis. It starred mouthful of bitter aloes. It is a rau- , Sylvia Syms, pop