Merrily We Roll Along- Page 3

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 6:34pm

This is one of my favorite musicals of all time!!!!

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 8:40pm

Magruder is correct. The sound quality on the RCA Cd of MERRILY is heavily compressed. But the good news is that the newly merged SONY/BMG is going to remaster and re-release MERRILY, SUNDAY and SWEENEY TODD this summer, so you might want to wait and get the new edition when it comes out.

RCA's recording is the most enjoyable of the 3. It has the full Overture; the complete graduation sequence leading into Merrily we Roll Along; Rich & Happy and The Hills of Tomorrow. Later production trim the Overture delete Rich and Happy (replaced by That Frank) and eliminate the graduation scenes and with them gone The Hills of Tomorrow is also gone. RCA did includea thick booklet with the LP and Cd containing a detailed synopsis and all the lyrics. The original cast is good except a few smaller roles. Sally Klein as Beth had such a weak voice that they gaver her version of "Not a Day Goes By" to Frank to sing. (Originally it had been hers alone, and was restored to her character for later productions.) This recording uses the full original orchestrations by Tunick. The two later MERRILY cast albums have greatly reduced orchestras.

The 1995 revival (on Varese-Sarabande)has an ace in Malcolm gets performance as Frank. This version observes the changes: We get extras songs That frank and Growing Up but lose some of the others.

Jay/TER has a 2 CD set from the London production again using the revised text. You will note several lyric changes along the way. Because this is note complete (including for example the exit music) if you want a CD the reflects the show as it now plays this is probably the one to get, but the original has a sparkle that the later albums lack.