A good album,but beware....
albertatamazon | East Point, Georgia USA | 04/14/1999
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This is NOT the original cast album. There is no album of the show with its original 1927 Broadway cast,and there never will be,since several of those actors never made any commercial recordings. (There IS a London original cast recording though---the British hit upon a good recording idea before the Americans did, and it is available on CD.) As for the album under review HERE,it features John Raitt,Barbara Cook,Anita Darian William Warfield,Fay de Witt and Louise Parker along with a studio chorus which,in the opening number,and in "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man",does not even remotely sound like the black chorus they are supposed to be.The individual singers all do well enough,though Raitt's voice is considerably diminished since his "Carousel" and "Pajama Game" recordings(this album was done in 1962),and Warfield,who is cheated out of his solo section in "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", is still good,but not quite as effective in "Ol' Man River" as he was in the 1951 movie,although he seems to acquire a burst of energy and is in beautiful voice in the Act II reprise of the song.Anita Darian's "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" is sabotaged by Franz Allers' conducting--he completely misses the jazzy lilt in the song,but her "Bill",unfortunately,is WAY over the top and may strike some listeners as unintentionally funny. Barbara Cook is fine.The orchestrations are a combination of the 1927 and 1946 productions together with some studio revisions,and the 1946 overture is used."