Search - Vernon Duke, Ira Gershwin :: Ziegfeld Follies of 1936

GodDAMN this is good!

John McWhorter | New York, New York United States | 01/14/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Whoa! The Encores/old Broadway restoration crowd have outdone themselves on this one. I agree with one reviewer who designates this one the best of the Encores series along with THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE. This is just spun gold from beginning to end.Revues like this were once as integral to a theatergoer's experience in this era as the book shows that we know better. But the revues are today hard to perform because the sketches were topical; they were rarely made into films; and they were already in eclipse when cast albums started being made. Thus we largely just read about them and see them illustrated with static photos; buffs know the titles as the sources of the songs that outlasted them, but that's about it.Here at last is a reconstruction of what one of the best of these actually sounded like. The archaeological work here is absolutely stunning -- to imagine that these people turned thousands of yellowing sheets of paper into this vibrant, funny, gorgeous recording!Sure, some of it cannot come off as electrically to us as it did to people 65 years ago. In any revue like this, much of the music was written just to illustrate pretty costumes and sets and usher in a dance number, and we can't see that part of it today. But even songs like this ("Sentimental Weather", "An Island in the West Indies", etc.) are thoroughly pleasant in themselves, and the orchestrations (and players on this recording) are luscious. I can never quite believe that orchestrators of this era bothered to put so much into accompaniments that no one was paying attention to in the theatre. Throughout this recording it's as if they were writing in preparation for people like us hearing them recorded up close on CDs.But the comedy numbers are still pretty darned funny, and Mary Testa rises to to the tricky job of rendering numbers written specifically for Fanny Brice in ways that respect her without imitating her, right down to pronouncing "fancy" as "fency" ("Yiddish" accent) at times in "Fancy Fancy You". The other performers rise perfectly to the occasion: Howard McGillin's earnest tenor "emcee" (right down to the very slightly lavender air that such figures in this era tended to have); the dependable Christine Ebersole; Peter Scolari's solid Bob Hope substitute (he actually makes "I Can't Get Started" fresh, no mean feat for this warhorse despite Ira Gershwin's brilliant lyrics); and Stephanie Pope's solid plangency especially in "5 AM", making a potentially rather forced lyric sound urgent.And "The Gazooka", a mockish dance number, is massively infectious; as the liner notes promise, the dance music to "Modernistic Moe" sounds like the soundtrack to a Looney Tune; "5 AM" is a deeply beautiful work in the "Broadway Baby goes home alone" genre so popular in the 30s and is followed by sumptuous ballet music. Overall, this recording just overflows with gems and marvels.And the weirdness of Vernon Duke even helps put it over the top. Like Kurt Weill, Duke was a European immigrant writing Broadway pop style as a "second language", and as such, his melodies do not always get you on first hearing. Perhaps the only song on this recording that only a corpse could not cotton to immediately is "Red Letter Day". But then listen again and you start to realize how deft and solid the tunes are. Which only adds to the richness of the recording -- often songs that get you immediately get old fast. With this CD, like wine, you might have to let it "breathe", but once you do, you're in for a seduction.Bravo, bravo, bravo. Buy this, savor it, and thank heaven that even though, as one of the songs says, "Time Marches On", we live in an age where we can take the occasional breather and hear things like this in our living rooms."

Marvelous Entertainment

Jaime J. Weinman | Canada | 11/26/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Along with "Boys From Syracuse," this is the best of the Encores! cast albums, and the first to preserve a previously unrecorded score. The cast is great from top to bottom: Karen Ziemba, Bob Walton and Jim Walton as the "specialty trio" in two corny but catchy numbers; Mary Testa, doing the best anyone can with material that was closely tailored to the style and personality of Fanny Brice; Howard McGillin and Ruthie Henshall for ballads; Stephanie Pope in roles originated by Josephine Baker; Peter Scolari in the roles originally filled by Bob Hope; and, the highlight, the terrific Christine Ebersole.The highlights of Vernon Duke and Ira Gershwin's score are the standard "I Can't Get Started" (here given in its orignal context as part of a complete sketch), "Island In the West Indies" (brilliantly performed by Ebersole), and the rich, haunting "Words Without Music" (in a knockout rendition by Henshall). There are many other treasures here as well, and even the lesser numbers are valuable for their authentic '30s flavour.The score has been restored with the original orchestrations and dance music by Broadway's best arrangers (including Don Walker and Robert Russell Bennett); the sound, by the same team that did the Nonesuch Gershwin series, is splendid; the CD has a timing of 78 minutes and comes with notes, photos and complete lyrics. Big thanks to Decca Broadway for finally releasing a recording that went unreleased for two years (the Gershwin estate paid for the recording but couldn't find a record company willing to issue it). So what are you waiting for? If you love Broadway, the '30s, great performers, or all of the above, get this CD right now!"

From when musicals depended on talent, not special effects

F. Behrens | Keene, NH USA | 12/14/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"So much of our musical history has been lost because the original composers, lyricists, producers, whoever, never thought their work was worth preserving. At least one person was thoughtful enough to wrap in brown paper and store away a good deal of the score and lyrics to the fabulous "Ziegfeld Follies of 1936"; and dear old Decca was inspired to release what emerged from that package on a single CD (440 016 056-2). If the original had only been recorded: Bob Hope, Eve Arden, Fanny Brice! But here we have a game cast in what I assume is the spirit of the year of my birth giving us 17 selections from that nearly lost review. The music is by Vernon Duke, the lyrics by Ira Gershwin. (Yes, I also did a double take at that last name.) While he does not quite surpass Larry Hart, Ira comes very close with his intelligent, often extremely witty, lyrics that boast of such rhymes as "pulchritudinous/the lewd in us." The opening number promises this Follies will be different and not depend on beautiful girls (an agenda that does not outlast the song), while the last number begs people to leave the theater singing the songs and go "dancing to the score." In between we have devastating spoofs of torch songs ("He Hasn't a Thing Except Me"), end-of-first-date songs ("I Can't Get Started"), modern topics of conversation ("Modernistic Moe"), and a very funny dance ("The Gazooka") from a sketch titled "The Broadway Gold Melody Diggers of 42nd Street"! Even the booklet is crammed with great material. Photos from the original production and lots of facts about the show and the people concerned abound. Thank you very much, Decca, for this gem. 10 stars out of 5."