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I can't believe I didn't know this! (Gwen Verdon)

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#1

I can't believe I didn't know this! (Gwen Verdon)

Posted: 2/19/08 at 12:04am

How could I have missed this? Gwen Verdon's classic 1956 solo album "The Girl I Left Home For" was released on CD several months ago. I can't believe I didn't know this. I was hoping this would happen for the longest time. I believe it was only available as a Japanese import or something! Now DRG is issuing it. Great news. I've heard it, and she's sensational. I must order this. I recommend you all check this out, it's a piece of Golden Age history.

http://www.drgrecords.com/details.asp?PID=91502
http://www.amazon.com/Girl-I-Left-Home/dp/B000U1ZIQA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1203397434&sr=1-1
I can't believe I didn't know this! (Gwen Verdon)

Updated On: 2/19/08 at 12:04 AM

#4

re: I can't believe I didn't know this! (Gwen Verdon)

Posted: 2/19/08 at 12:14am

I have to get NEW GIRL IN TOWN.

By the way... I love your avatar, ljay!
"I mean, sitting side by side with another man watching Patti LuPone play Rose in GYPSY on Broadway is essentially the equivalent of having hardcore sex." -Wanna Be A Foster. "Say 'Goody.' Say 'Bubbi.'" ... "That's it. Exactly as if it were 'Goody.' Now I know you're gonna sing 'Goody' this time, but nevertheless..."
#5

re: I can't believe I didn't know this! (Gwen Verdon)

Posted: 2/19/08 at 12:16am

Thanks, BwayEnthusiast. re: I can't believe I didn't know this! (Gwen Verdon)

Curtain the track listing is...


1. Ain't Misbehavin'
2. Sand In My Shoes
3. It's A Hot Night In Alaska
4. Mister and Missus Fitch
5. Bettin' On A Man
6. Why Can't I?
7. I've Got The World On A String
8. Jenny
9. Find Me A Primitive Man
10. No-Talent Joe
11. The Lady Is A Tramp
12. Daddy

It's a great album. Some may be surprised how different and wonderful Gwen sounds. This is her pre throat illness days.
#6

re: I can't believe I didn't know this! (Gwen Verdon)

Posted: 2/19/08 at 12:20am

I figure her voice is more DAMN YANKEES than CHICAGO. Sounds like a nice gem.
And Ljay's avatar brings back some great memories :)
"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"
#11

re: I can't believe I didn't know this! (Gwen Verdon)

Posted: 2/19/08 at 12:21pm

Slight threadnapping but a proppos...

I bought a couple of theater programs for the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera - which did simultaneous west coast mountings of Broadway shows in the 30s, 40s and 50s and shared the productions with the San Francisco Civic - from the 1938 and 38 season.

Listed in several of the programs under dancing girls was Gwen Verdon.
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
#14

re: I can't believe I didn't know this! (Gwen Verdon)

Posted: 3/2/08 at 12:06am

In his book "Broadway Babies", Ethan Mordden writes:

"Perhaps the most satisfying Verdon disc is her early Victor recital, 'The Girl I Left Home For,' in which she can elude the vagaries of theatre composition and sing at her pleasure. Here are standards and surprises, all together suggesting a sultry, wiseass I-don't-care. I withdraw the assertion that Verdon was no singer. Her "Ain't Misbehavin'" is tidy and musical, her readings in general atentive to text, her "Jenny" briskly effective, and she even includes the sensation of a dancebreak in "It's a Hot Night in Alaska" - "Down, boys!" she emits, when the band gets a touch rowdy. Of interest to theatre buffs is the respect for verses in an increasingly verse-bored culture, and the inclusion of rarities from "Gay Divorce" and "Heads Up." It's late to say so, but I'm impressed."
"A coherent existance after so many years of muddle" - Desiree' Armfelt, A Little Night Music "Life keeps happening everyday, Say Yes" - 70, Girls, 70 "Life is what you do while you're waiting to die" - Zorba
#15

re: I can't believe I didn't know this! (Gwen Verdon)

Posted: 3/2/08 at 12:12am

I agree that the album really proves Gwen could have been taken seriously as a singer. It's a shame that 5-10 years after the album, her voice was never the same. On the album she provide some great interpretations, great vibrato, she shows off her range wonderfully, and she proved there was a 'touch' of a belter in her.

I wish she made more solo albums. Especially during this time period where her voice was in full form and range.

Updated On: 3/2/08 at 12:12 AM

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