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Cole Porter and Anything Goes

Cole Porter and Anything Goes

laura is broadway Profile Photo
laura is broadway
#1Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/4/09 at 11:07pm

After seeing De-Lovely for the first time recently, I'm trying to get into Cole Porter's music. I loved the music in the film, but I'd rather get a cast recording. I think Anything Goes is a good start, so what recording should I get? or should I start with another show? My funds are somewhat limited right now, so I think I can only afford one recording. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

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blondebaby589
#2re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/4/09 at 11:23pm

When it comes to Cole Porter, I prefer Kiss Me Kate. But Anything Goes is still phenomenal.


www.tinydancer5.tumblr.com

laura is broadway Profile Photo
laura is broadway
#2re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/4/09 at 11:47pm

Thanks, any advice on what recording to get?

[tos]fan999 Profile Photo
[tos]fan999
#3re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 12:29am

As for Kiss Me, Kate, the 1999 revival recording is the best.
While the OBCR has awesome performances, it is drastically cut, because of time constraints, and censored, esp. Too Darn Hot and Always True To You. Amy Spanger gives a knockout performance of the latter in the revival. And there's also the Great Performances DVD, with Rachel York, Brent Barrett, and Nancy Anderson, my favorite Lois/Bianca.

My personal favorite recording of Anything Goes is the LuPone revival, but I also the the 1962 Off-Broadway recording, mostly because of the songs that they didn't use in 1988.


<-----Bernadette Peters and Alexander Hanson in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC.

Send in the clowns...Send in the crowds!

"I prefer neurotic people. I like to hear rumblings beneath the surface."-Stephen Sondheim
Updated On: 1/5/09 at 12:29 AM

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frontrowcentre2
#4re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 1:27am

IT depends on which stage version you want to hear. THe ONLY full recording of the original 1934 version is on EMI with Kim Criswell, Frederica Von Stade, and Chris Groenenfaal. It has the origial orchestrations (or fairly authentic recreations) and a very detailed synopsis, libretto and glossery of terms. Jack Gilford was too old and frail to do justice to Moonface, but it's an enjoyable recording.

The 1956 film soundtrack (Decca) is useless.

The 1962 revival (Epic) is a heavily revised version interpolating six Porter tunes (and dropping five from the original) and suffers from some tacky sounding re-orchestrations.

The 1987 revival (RCA Victor) with LuPone restores much of what has been cut, still interpolating other Porter tunes, but the recordibg is so much fun. The exact same program is also available on CD with Elaine Paige of the London cast (First Night) And more or less again with the recent London production cast headed by John Barrowman. (First Night)

ANYTHING GOES has so many hit songs as it is I fail to see the need to interpolate other Porter tunes as so many modern productions do.


Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!

I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com

allofmylife Profile Photo
allofmylife
#5re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 1:31am

Elaine Page's London production is fine. I can't stand the Lupone version. I am convinced that Porter would never have hired someone like Patti Lupone to sing his sparkling lyrics. Can you imagine the droll comments he would have dropped about her voice?


http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=972787#3631451 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=963561#3533883 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955158#3440952 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954269#3427915 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955012#3441622 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954344#3428699

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Gypsy9
#6re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 6:51am

I saw the 1987 version of ANYTHING GOES at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre and enjoyed it very much. So, the other day I ordered the CD of that production. I like Patti LuPone, although not on the current GYPSY cast album. I hope she sounds better singing Cole Porter than she does singing Styne & Sondheim in a recording studio. I DID enjoy her live in the current GYPSY. Sorry, allofmylife.


"Madam Rose...and her daughter...Gypsy!"

Ed_Mottershead
#7re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 8:34am

Cole Porter was one of the greatest of all musical writers, period. For Anything Goes, I'd go with the Lincoln Center production. For Kiss Me Kate, either the OBCR (the first, by the way, ever made for LP and no one could ever turn a phrase like Alfred Drake) or the 1999 revival. And if you REALLY get hooked on Porter, try the Fifty Million Frenchman with Howard McGillan and the Out of this World (either the OBCR and the Encores! version with Andrea Martin). It's really a crime that there have never been complete recordings of DuBarry Was a Lady, The New Yorkers, Panama Hattie, Red, Hot and Blue, or Leave It to Me.


BroadwayEd

[tos]fan999 Profile Photo
[tos]fan999
#8re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 8:44am

Does anyone know if there is a full recording of the Porter show Paris? The only song I have from it is Let's Do It, one sung by Rachel York, and one sung by Alanis Morrisette (sp?) from the De-Lovely movie.


<-----Bernadette Peters and Alexander Hanson in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC.

Send in the clowns...Send in the crowds!

"I prefer neurotic people. I like to hear rumblings beneath the surface."-Stephen Sondheim

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givesmevoice
#9re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 9:08am

the best/worst thing about Anything Goes is that no matter how many times you listen to a cast recording, you can't figure out the plot of the show.


When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain. -Kad

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nobodyhome
#10re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 9:19am

There's no recording of Paris.

Personally, I can't stand the Broadway revival recording of Kiss Me, Kate. A talented cast but I don't like the orchestrations and the cast has been directed to take a sledgehammer approach to the material.

I think you need to get either the original cast recording or the stereo version that reunited the original leads. And then there are the two more or less complete recordings. I find having at least one of them to be essential, even though they both have problems. But there's nothing to substitute for hearing the complete original score with the original orchestrations and in modern sound. The McGlinn is out of print, but you can get it for less on amazon than the competing JAY recording conducted by John Owen Edwards.

Honestly, it's hard for me to choose between them. Both have their points but are very flawed. Thomas Hampson is more or less unbearable on the McGlinn but I don't mind Josephine Barstow (though some do) and the rest of the cast is decent to excellent. No one is unbearable on the JAY recording, but I do find some of the strengths of the McGlinn recording to be a little stronger.

Anyway, I don't enjoy the Lincoln Center version of Anything Goes in any of the recordings I've heard of it. I do love the McGlinn recording of the original version, in spite of an uneven cast and slightly stodgy conducting. At least in this case, no one is awful on the recording. And those original orchestrations are glorious.
Updated On: 1/5/09 at 09:19 AM

Timmer
#11re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 9:21am

Have you ever heard Noel Coward's version of "Let's Do It"? If not, you MUST get it. It's hilarious!

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Mamie
#12re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 9:26am

If you really want to hear Cole Porter done the way he should be done - get the Ella Fitzgerald songbooks. This lady will send the Patti's and Elaine's and all the others back to singing school. It ain't necessarily Broadway - but it's pure gold.


www.thebreastcancersite.com
A click for life.
mamie4 5/14/03

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PalJoey
#13re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 10:13am

I agree with Mamie. The shows are hard to revive as Porter intended them, so it's much better to start with the songs as sung by the best interpreters and then start listening to the cast albums, each of which has its virtues and drawbacks.

Start, as Mamie said, with Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook. It was the first songbook album Ella recorded in 1956, when Porter's reputation was in decline. It revived his career, launched a new genre of singers singing a songwriter's catalog--she does 34 complete songs on the album!--and established Ella as the First Lady of American Song.

She sometimes misses some of the more sophisticated lyrics, but it's the best introduction to his whole work.

Then I'll go out on a limb and suggest this one: Bobby Short Loves Cole Porter. Bobby Short was a "saloon" singer who sang at the elegant Cafe Carlyle in New York, and his style is somewhat of an acquired taste--but he knew Porter personally and epitomizes Porter's sophistication. (He does 22 songs.)

re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes

After those, you will be a Porter expert. Then you can start on the various Anything Goes recordings, the various Kiss Me Kates, the early 20s and 30s recordings, the tracks from the 1940s shows and the Hollywood scores and the 1950s cast albums of Can Can and Silk Stockings, all of which are mixed bags.



Bobby Short Loves Cole Porter


Updated On: 1/5/09 at 10:13 AM

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MrMidwest
#14re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 10:24am

No collection is complete without...
re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes


"The gods who nurse this universe think little of mortals' cares. They sit in crowds on exclusive clouds and laugh at our love affairs. I might have had a real romance if they'd given me a chance. I loved him, but he didn't love me. I wanted him, but he didn't want me. Then the gods had a spree and indulged in another whim. Now he loves me, but I don't love him." - Cole Porter

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Usnavi
#15re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 10:27am

There is a great series called THE SMITHSONIAN COLLECTION OF RECORDINGs. Each CD spotlights a different composer. Their is one for COLE PORTER. It is an excellent introduction to his catalogue.

Tracks:

01 - Anything Goes - Cole Porter (1934)
02 - I Get A Kick Out Of You - Ethel Merman (1934)
03 - Night And Day - Fred Astaire (1932)
04 - Miss Otis Regrets - Ethel Waters (1934)
05 - Begin The Beguine - Artie Shaw And His Orchestra [1938]
06 - My Heart Belongs To Daddy - Mary Martin (1940)
07 - Let's Do It - Billie Holiday (1941)
08 - Easy To Love - Lee Wiley (1940)
09 - Don't Fence Me In - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters (1944)
10 - Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye - Benny Goodman Quintet Featuring Peggy Mann (1944)
11 - Be A Clown - Judy Garland & Gene Kelly (1947)
12 - It's All Right With Me - Peggy Lee (1956)
13 - I've Got You Under My Skin - Peggy Lee (1953)
14 - Love For Sale - Billie Holiday (1952)
15 - It's De-Lovely - Mabel Mercer (1954)
16 - Just One Of Those Things - Lena Horne (1957)
17 - What Is This Thing Called Love? - Ella Fitzgerald (1956)
18 - Always True To You In My Fashion - Lisa Kirk (1959)
19 - Which? - Jeri Southern (1959)
20 - In The Still Of The Night - Eileen Farrell (1961)
21 - At Long Last Love - Bobby Short (1971)
22 - The Laziest Gal In Town - Marlene Dietrich (1964)
23 - You're The Top - Eileen Rodgers & Hal Linden (1962)

Another excellent recording as mentioned by another poster is ELLA FITZGERALD SINGS THE COLE PORTER SONGBOOK. Another personal favorite of mine is the soundtrack to the MGM film HIGH SOCIETY.

Updated On: 1/5/09 at 10:27 AM

#16re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 10:33am

Here's another whole-hearted endorsement of the Ella Recordings. Perfect voice, perfect arrangements, beautifully recorded. Ella Fitzgerald was so talented that an entire record label was created to record her. And her "Songbook" recordings basically codified what we think of as a "standard."

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Usnavi
#17re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 10:44am

I beg to differ MrMidwest but no Cole Porter collection is complete without:


re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes

PalJoey Profile Photo
PalJoey
#18re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 11:06am

My favorite review of "Cybill Shepherd Does It to Cole Porter" was...








"Why? What did Cole Porter ever do to her?"


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MrMidwest
#19re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 11:09am

I think both are necessities, Usnavi.


"The gods who nurse this universe think little of mortals' cares. They sit in crowds on exclusive clouds and laugh at our love affairs. I might have had a real romance if they'd given me a chance. I loved him, but he didn't love me. I wanted him, but he didn't want me. Then the gods had a spree and indulged in another whim. Now he loves me, but I don't love him." - Cole Porter

Usnavi Profile Photo
Usnavi
#20re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 11:34am

"My favorite review of "Cybill Shepherd Does It to Cole Porter" was...
"Why? What did Cole Porter ever do to her?"


LMAO!!!

allofmylife Profile Photo
allofmylife
#21re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 2:11pm

re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes

I know, I know I've posted it a million times but I love it. It's the top!!!!


http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=972787#3631451 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=963561#3533883 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955158#3440952 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954269#3427915 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955012#3441622 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954344#3428699

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allofmylife
#22re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 2:12pm

re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes

And here's the one from the next year. These are from the 1933 and 1934 season. Bill Gaxton was the original star of "Anything Goes"...


http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=972787#3631451 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=963561#3533883 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955158#3440952 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954269#3427915 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955012#3441622 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954344#3428699
Updated On: 1/5/09 at 02:12 PM

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ray-andallthatjazz86
#23re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 2:20pm

I take it I'm in the minority but I am a very big fan of the '87 Lincoln Center revival cast recording with Patti LuPone and Howard McGinn. I get chills when LuPone hits those notes during "Blow, Gabriel, Blow."


"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"

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DryMartini
#24re: Cole Porter and Anything Goes
Posted: 1/5/09 at 2:40pm

Another great recording is called "Cocktails With Cole". It's not a cast album, but it's great to play at parties. Or just while drinking.


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