Hello Dolly Cast Recording

[alxscrz2]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 2:07pm

Im looking to buy a cast recording of Hello Dolly, since I dont own one. I was wondering if anyone can tell me which one is better between these two choices, the original broadway cast recording or the 1994 revival recording ? thanks

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 2:08pm

I like the 1994 recording.

[madbrian]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 2:16pm

The original features Charles Nelson Reilly as Cornelius, and Eileen Brennan as Irene Molly. If that doesn't persude you toward the original, nothing will.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 2:18pm

THe original. Carol sounds better, and the energy is overwhelmingly good.

That said, if you don't want Carol, I prefer the Pearl Bailey recording.

[JOak]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 2:47pm

Buy the original cast deluxe edition.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 2:58pm

My favorite recorded Dolly is Mary Martin, even though she wasn't in great voice when the recording was made. The recording is available as a licensed reissue from Arkivmusic, though what you receive is a CD-R.

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=202001

Still, the supporting cast is not as good as the cast on the OBCR. There are those who don't like Reilly and Brennan, but I think they're perfect.

Many people love the Bailey recording, but I'm not as fond of it.

The 1994 recording has spirit, but the smaller orchestra is a big deficit for me.

So I'd recommend the OBCR.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 3:37pm

I like the french recording with Annie Cordy best.

[bk]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 4:40pm

With the usual caveat that I produced it, the 1994 recording is the ONLY one with the dance music - and the "smaller" orchestra is only smaller in the strings - the show itself was traveling with only a violin and cello, I think, but we brought in five or six extra violins, which is all they would have had in the pit during the original show - of course, the OBC beefed up the string section for the recording. So, it's not REALLY a smaller orchestra - it's the show orchestra as opposed to the recording orchestra (extra strings) for the OBC. We've got the great dance music for I Put My Hand In, Dancing, and the amazing Waiter's Galop. Yes, Carol is thirty years older and sounds it, but the supporting cast is very good indeed.

[morosco]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 4:46pm

bk, with all due respect the drums on the 1994 recording stand out a little too prominently for my ears. Were they part of the originally orchestration? Or were they pumped up to keep up with th times a bit?

I still like the recording though.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 4:50pm

I think Charles Nelson Reilly is simply marvelous on the original cast recording. What a voice!!

[bk]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 6:17pm

The original charts were used, but perhaps the drummer had a little more, how shall we say, energy? And the original had the drums in the room with the rest of the band with no baffles, so all you get is a big washy sound, which, no, I don't care for. I LIKE drums :)

[alxscrz2]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 6:24pm

@ JOak, what does the original deluxe edition have ? Those it have extra songs or something.

[JOak]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 6:31pm

It has Pearl Bailey singing Before the Parade Passes By and Hello Dolly!, Mary Martin singing I Put My Hand In and So Long Dearie, Ethel Merman singing Love, Look in My Window and World Take Me Back (two songs written for her) and an interview with Carol Channing.

[alxscrz2]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 8:38pm

Thanks JOak and everyone else, the deluxe edition sounds like a great buy. Im def going to buy that one.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 11:57pm

bk wrote: "With the usual caveat that I produced it, the 1994 recording is the ONLY one with the dance music - and the 'smaller' orchestra is only smaller in the strings - the show itself was traveling with only a violin and cello, I think, but we brought in five or six extra violins, which is all they would have had in the pit during the original show - of course, the OBC beefed up the string section for the recording. So, it's not REALLY a smaller orchestra - it's the show orchestra as opposed to the recording orchestra (extra strings) for the OBC. We've got the great dance music for I Put My Hand In, Dancing, and the amazing Waiter's Galop. Yes, Carol is thirty years older and sounds it, but the supporting cast is very good indeed."

It's great to have the dance music and that's definitely an advantage of the recording. And if the show was traveling with just one violin and one cello, I'm sure glad that you beefed it up for the recording. (Actually, the orchestra personnel list in the booklet lists two violas and no cellos, along with six violins. So presumably it was touring with one violin, which is sad to think about, and one viola.)

I have to blame the proofreader for the liner notes in the booklet for making me think that there were only 22 players on the recording. I see now that 24 are listed, but two of the names are not in boldface, as the other 22 are, so I hadn't counted them in the past when I'd checked that list to see how many players are on the recording.

(Of course, the proofreader on the current issue of the OBCR made an even bigger and much more noticeable mistake, unless it's been fixed since when it was first issued. Molly Gallahger Levi, indeed!)

But I do miss the extra strings. In The Sound of Broadway Music, Suskin estimates (since this is a case where he can't be sure) that the original pit had eight violins (and a total of 25 players). There are six on the 1994 recording. If the OBCR not only had the eight pit players but five or six additional players (of course, we can't be sure about that), that's a significant difference.

bk wrote: "The original charts were used, but perhaps the drummer had a little more, how shall we say, energy? And the original had the drums in the room with the rest of the band with no baffles, so all you get is a big washy sound, which, no, I don't care for. I LIKE drums :)"

Actually, it doesn't sound to me like the original charts were used. It's always hard to be positive about these things because of different conductors, different size orchestras, and mastering, but there seem to be differences in the orchestrations when I compare the OBCR (and the Bailey recording) to the 1994 recording. And not just on "Ribbons Down My Back," where we know Herman was never happy with the original orchestration and it was therefore changed later. (I do prefer the original orchestration, despite Herman's preference for the revised one.)

Of course, charts were always being changed for different versions of original productions, such as tours and London productions. There do seem to be some orchestration differences on the OLCR.

One particularly notable example is the lack of a harp on the 1994 recording. Suskin lists a harp in the original pit. And a harp is quite audible on the OBCR, particularly in "Ribbons Down My Back." It's even more audible on the Bailey recording (by which point the orchestration for the number had been revised, but the harp is at least as prominent in this orchestration). But I don't see a harp player in the personnel list for the 1994 recording and I don't hear one.

Another example: In the vamp between "Like furniture and daffodils and lives" and "When a man with a timid tongue," on the OBCR you can hear brass interjections along with the woodwinds playing the main line there. That's also audible on the Bailey recording. On the OLCR, it sounds like the orchestration has been changed. It sounds like the only woodwinds there are flutes, and also like the brass may be trombones rather than trumpets. But there's still brass. (I'm not a musician, nor an expert on these things, so I've got some of this wrong, forgive me.)

On the 1994 recording, I don't hear any brass there at all. It's hard to imagine that this is a result of conducting or mastering. The brass would cut through. So I think it points to different charts.

Another difference: As mentioned above, the booklet for the 1994 recording lists two violas and no celli, whereas Suskin lists two celli and no violas. This seems a little odd, that the tour orchestrations used violas rather than celli. I thought the reverse would be more likely.

Still, I'd guess that the 1994 recording uses the tour orchestrations, which are probably what is licensed, making the recording very useful for those who are producing the show. Of course, the dance music also makes the recording very useful for those producing the show.

We may never hear the original orchestrations again since, at least according to Suskin, the original Broadway charts cannot be located. He also notes that the orchestrations were changed for different stars during the original Broadway run (no doubt in part because of transpositions).

Anyway, I just want to emphasize that there was probably no way that you could have used the original charts so I'm not trying to be unpleasant or negative. I like the 1994 recording though I do prefer the original. I agree that the original suffers from that "washy" sound.

Updated On: 8/11/10 at 11:57 PM

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/11/10 at 12:08am

I absolutely ADORE the overture on the 1994 recording. Is that the original overture, or was it new for the revival?

[bk]

Posted: 8/11/10 at 12:20am

Yes, we must have used what were then the standard orchestrations that had been done for the various tours. So, there you are. There was no harp on our album, although if it was in the tour orchestration I don't know why they wouldn't have put it on the synth. Who knows about these things? B'way cast albums in the 50s and 60s, at least for the big shows, beefed up the string section for the recording.

When I did The King and I I think we brought in eight additional violins and it was pretty glorious.

The overture was never part of the B'way show, but was, I think, created for one of the later tours - the original tour didn't have an overture either.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 8/11/10 at 2:06am

According to Suskin, an overture was originally routined by Peter Howard and orchestrated by Lang, but it was never played, not even out of town.

Glenn Osser wrote the overture heard on the Bailey recording, but it wasn't used in the production.

Philip J. Lang wrote one for the Houston Grand Opera production, which later played Broadway (the 1978 revival). The overture was heard on Broadway as well. That's the overture heard on the 1994 recording.

But when it got to Broadway, a new overture was heard. This one was routined by Don Pippin and orchestrated by Larry Blank.

Gower Champion hated overtures. The cast recordings of his shows can be misleading in that respect because some of them have overtures that were not actually in the shows, at least not as overtures.

Updated On: 8/11/10 at 02:06 AM