PAL JOEY 52-53 ONE MORE VISIT TO THE TOP THEN BACK TO THE DISNEY VAULT — Page 2

Allofmylife: You have given a Christmas present to the Message Board with all of the photos of the production and program of 1952's PAL JOEY. Thank you.

I saw Harold Lang in 1962's I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE, Barbra Streisand's Broadway debut. He didn't do much dancing in that show.

I was interested in Jule Styne's idea of having a repertory company do 5 Rodgers & Hart shows. Too bad it didn't happen.

In your last post you show a poster with favorable quotes from the critics. Look at how many newspapers there were back then:7
The Times did not have as much power as it has today with only 3 major dailies.

Did you choose your screen name from the song from DO RE MI?

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I saw DO RE MI in 1961 at the St. James. Phil Silvers was terrific. I loved the brassiness of the show. After the final curtain, I went up to Lehman Engel, the famous pit conductor, and we talked about the orchestrations. Engel was so much fun to watch because he had tremendous enthusiasm which transferred not only to the orchestra but to the cast as well.

I also saw the ENCORES! production of DO RE MI with Nathan Lane
which I enjoyed very much. I listen to both CD's, with the City Center CD having more of the score than the OBCR. As a matter of fact I think I'll liten to it later today.

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Don't neglect the London cast recording of Do Re Mi with Max Bygraves! (Quite good).

I'm also fascinated with the Do Re Mi orchestrations. Just endlessly creative work from the late, great Luther Henderson. Those orchestrations sound like they could have been written today. Between that, Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker, the score, the Boris Aronson set, Do Re Mi is one of my time travel shows.

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one.ping.visilli

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London Calling

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I met Nancy Dussault at Tommy Tune's one man show at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles. I was introduced to her by Susan Watson. After the show we went backstage and hung out with Tune, who was reclining on a chaise lounge in his dressing room. One of the great "pinch me, I'd died and gone to heaven" moments of my life. Both ladies were utterly wonderful and gracious.

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As I promised myself yesterday, I listened to the CD's of DO RE MI, both the OBCR and the Encores! production. Although the Encores! CD is more complete, the OBCR is superior in several ways. First, the leads are better. Phil Silvers singing "All of My Life" is more poignant than Nathan Lane's rendition. Nancy Walker's "Adventure" is classic Walker. John Reardon's "Make Someone Happy", a gem of a showtune, is beautifully sung. Nancy Dussault's singing is pure "Broadway". And above all, the orchestra, under the pit conductor Lehman Engel, is fuller and more energized than the Encores! orchestra, despite the conducting of the usually reliable Paul Gemignani. Listen to the overtures of the two recordings and the difference is immediately apparent. The OBCR makes you sit up and take notice. As Smaxie pointed out, the orchestrations by Luther Henderson are terrific and Engel brings out the best from his orchestra.

Incidentally, on another note, it was the studio cast recording of PAL JOEY by Lehman Engel in 1950, a popular success, that motivated Jule Styne to produce the revival of PAL JOEY in 1952.

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Him who?

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one more time

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one last bump for the kids in the chorus

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