THE MUSIC BETWEEN By EDWARD L. MERRITT, Jr. optimistically among the early -1952 offerings. It is a Lyric Stage pleasure to report that its effort (more specifically, that The of its "pop" artist -and -repertory chief, Hugo Winter - halter) was rewarded. It came up with one tolerably In the past two years, the only Broadway musical con- amusing set, Paint Your Wagon, one very good one, sidered worth recording by Decca, originator of the original- Wish You Were Here, and one absolute top -notch job, cast show -album idea, has been The King and I, graced New Faces of 1952, easily the best show -album since by the late beloved Gertrude Lawrence. Columbia, which Guys and Dolls. Later, we may expect more, disk -wise, shares primacy in the field with Decca, did a perfunctory of the 1952-53 season. Simon Rady, Decca's sage show - job on A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and devoted itself, apart album chief, admits to being excited about the prospects, from this, to show -albums "reconstructed" from past which is a very good omen indeed. Last time Rady re- stage performances by vice president Goddard Lieber - ported excitement was when a pair of gentlemen named son, a past- master at this unusual art. Capitol, to make Rogers and Hammerstein checked in with a musical set clear that it was in business, put out Top Banana. Only in the wide open spaces. Something about a place named RCA Victor, for some reason, seems to have gone scouting Oklahoma. Wish You Were Here New Faces of 1952 Brown. Orchestra arrangements by Ted RCA VICTOR LOC 1007. 12 -in. $ 5.72. RCA VICTOR LOC 1008. 12 -in. $5.72. Royal. Original cast, featuring Sheila Bond, Jack Virginia Bosler, June Carroll, Robert Clary, Opening; Lucky Pierre; Love Is A Simple Cassidy, Patricia Marand, Sidney Armus. Allen Conroy, Virginia de Luce, Michael Thing; Boston Beguine; Nanty Puts Her Orchestra and ensemble directed by Jay Dominico, Alice Ghostley, Ronny Graham, Hair Up; Guess Who I Saw Today ?; Bal Blackton. Book by Arthur Kober and Joshua Patricia Hammerlee, Eartha Kitt, Joseph Petit Bal; Three For The Road; Penny Logan. Music and lyrics by Harold Rome. Lautner, Carol Lawrence, Paul Lynde, Bill Candy; Don't Fall Asleep; I'm In Love Monotonous; Lizzie Camp Kare -Free; Goodbye, Love; A So- Mullikin, Carol Nelson, Rosemary O'Reilly With Miss Logan; His Income Tax. cial Director; Shopping Around; Mix and and Jimmy Russell, with orchestra and chorus Borden; He Takes Me Off Mingle; Could Be; The Light Fantastic; conducted by Anton Coppola. Words and we ven- Where Did The Night Go; Certain Indi- music mostly by Ronny Graham, June Carroll, Well, this is it. For years, whenever mild raptures over one current They Won't Know Me; Summer Arthur Siegel, Sheldon Harnick and Michael tured into viduals; some vintage playgoer Afternoon; Don José of Far Rockaway; musical or another, us by remarking that, after Wish You Were Here; Relax; Flattery. has squelched all, Broadway hasn't been Broadway since Belligerent Chicagoans to the contrary, the great days of the topical review. It is the economic heart of America still is the our pleasure to report that 1952 has a re- towering pile of masonry known as Greater view and, furthermore, a review that is easily New York, where nearly to million people as good as The Bandwagon or As Thousands spend 5o weeks a year choring up the na- Cheer, which is as far back as we go. It is tion's business. The other fortnight they an additional pleasure to record that it was spend in the Catskills, pathetically trying produced by Leonard Sillman, who began to reestablish contact with an idyllic pas- producing New Faces in 1934, but ran into toral existence that never was. Arthur ill luck and has been in the Manhattan sha- Kober's stage play, Having Wonderful Time, dows since. He's back in the lighted theatre brought out both the pathos and the humor now and it's an occasion for cheers. The of this. This musical adaptation of it focuses discoverer of Imogene Coca, Henry Fonda, exclusively on the humor, but it's good Van Johnson, Richard Carlson and Eve nevertheless. Sidney Armus' depiction of Arden has dug up an assortment of young the hideous plight of a youth who took a talent - acting, singing, writing and com- job as a vacation camp's social director posing - that shows he has lost none of the is, by itself, probably worth the price of old touch. It's all new, all terrific and all admission. The album should be graded in New Faces of 1952. Traffic to New York a little below Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, a should pick up as soon as this record little above Out of This World. The recorded gets around. sound is first -rate and eminently suitable. The record is a near -perfect entertain- First emphasis is on intelligibility, but good ment item, utilizing the big -hall pickup perspective is present as well. Eartha Kitt: a new face, a fantastic voice. technique, long popular in Europe, which 59 www.americanradiohistory.com.