Search - Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, Pearl Bailey :: St. Louis Woman (1946 Original Broadway Cast)

Out-of-Print but worth a hunt!

Mark Andrew Lawrence | Toronto | 03/08/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Capitol Records made their first original cast album of this 1946 show by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer. The album was issued as a set of five 10-inch 78 RPM records and in the early 1950s was briefly released as a 10-inch Lp. In the late 1960s Capitol re-released it on a 12-inch record in "fake" stereo. None of these editions stayed in the catalogue long.



Neither did Broadway Angel's CD edition which came out in 1992.

The show had only a short run, and has never been revived. (The original orchestrations were lost. A 1998 Encore reconstruction yielded a fuller recording available from Decca.)



This CD comes with a great set of notes including a detailed synopsis. Best of all it preserves the wonderful orginal cast: Pearl Bailey, Ruby Hill and Harold Nicholas. Several songs from this show became standards: "Come Rain or Come Shine," "Any Place I Hang My Hat is Home" and "It's a Woman's Prerogative."



Search high and low for a copy of this one!



UPDATE: AUGUST 2006...this has been reissued by DRG!"