Cabaret Original London Cast Recording with Judi Dench — Page 2

It is hard to take you too seriously. Especially when you claim that "EVERYONE" who saw her thinks she was the "embodiment" of the character.

C'mon now....EVERYONE? Really? That is broad and very careless statement, not worthy of someone who takes musical theatre as seriously as you do.

---

Updated On: 11/11/16 at 09:04 PM

The OLCR is my favorite recording of the score. Dench is brilliant, and she's also amazing in that "Don't Tell Mama" video. I'm not sure it does come from an awards show, though I have heard that. For one thing, it was shot on the actual set and seemingly with no audience. Perhaps it was filmed at the theatre with no audience and later shown on an awards show, but I don't know if any theatre-award ceremonies were being telecast in England at the time.

I think that everyone is just about perfect on that recording. I personally prefer all of the principals to their counterparts on the OBCR. And that's saying a lot.

I think that at the time Dench's performance was a bit controversial. Some felt that she came off as a healthy English girl trying to be neurotic and decadent, instead of being genuinely neurotic and decadent. (The person who wrote the London report in The Best Plays of 1967-68 felt that way.) Others (including Alan Jay Lerner, who wrote about it in his book The Musical Theatre: A Celebration) felt she gave one of the all-time greatest musical-theatre performances.

frontrowcentre2, there was, very briefly, a release on Sony West End that claimed to be the London cast recording of On the Town. It had the same cover, notes, etc. But it was quickly withdrawn because what was on the CD inside was the studio cast with Walker, Comden, Green, and Reardon, conducted by Bernstein.

I'm told that when the mistake was discovered and they went back to look for the original tapes, they couldn't find them.

It's too bad as it is an excellent recording, though there are some weird things about it. But as the only commercial recording of the score that comes from a full-scale stage production that was running at the time, it does have a theatrical immediacy about it that I do feel missing a bit in the other recordings. The men are particularly good.

Updated On: 5/5/07 at 03:04 AM

"I think that at the time Dench's performance was a bit controversial. Some felt that she came off as a healthy English girl trying to be neurotic and decadent, instead of being genuinely neurotic and decadent."

I've always thought that the thing about Sally was that she WASN'T particularly shocking or naughty or decadent or any of these things...the problem is that she THINKS she is, she desperately WANTS to be.

I was brought up on this recording, about 45 years of indoctrination, so in a Pavlovian way, I really don't have much time for the other recordings.

For me the recording captures the tackiness of the era and I prefer all of the performances to the rather bland Broadway recording. I came to that recording very late in the day, so I'm afraid it's quite difficult for me to work up any enthusiasm for it.

In 2003, I was at a Concert for Peace and Dame Judi sang Cabaret again - the voice might not be for the purists but it was a thrilling moment. You can hear a recording of the 2003 concert here: http://www.djdchronology7.com/cabaret2003.html

You can also find scans of the original souvenir programme here. I managed to wrest an original copy from my father's grip, some years ago :) : http://www.djdchronology.com/abcd/cabaret1968.htm

Updated On: 5/13/11 at 03:43 AM

And of course there's a classic clip on one of those sites, with her performing Don't Tell Mama.

(How embarassing, when threads I posted in nearly five years back are ressurected, to read my old posts... At least I've *slightly* improved on the typos...)