Seventh Heaven

[ggersten]

Posted: 4/10/12 at 12:30am

SiriusXM just played the cast recording of Seventh Heaven - a show I'd never heard of. It had some interesting and some good moments - I did like Happy Little Crook - but from what I listened to (in and out of car) I could not make out any sense of plot or story - or why people had bad fake french accents. Found the IBDB listing - a short review of the cast album http://www.allmusic.com/album/seventh-heaven-original-broadway-cast-album-r678431/review - but little else. Interesting cast: Ricardo Montalban; Kurt Kaznar, Robert Clary, Gloria DeHaven, Beatrice Arthur and Chita Rivera. Only 44 performances...



What was this about? Updated On: 4/10/12 at 12:30 AM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/10/12 at 1:21am

The customer written reviews at Amazon might shed a little light for you....but not much.

http://www.amazon.com/Seventh-Heaven-1955-Original-Broadway/dp/B0000CERN3

[Matt2]

Posted: 4/10/12 at 3:33am

When I first read the title I thought this was a thread on that awful WB show.

Updated On: 4/10/12 at 03:33 AM

[AADA81]

Posted: 4/10/12 at 4:25am

There's an old silent movie from 1927 by that name that this show is supposedly based on. Janet Gaynor won the first Best Actress Oscar in part for that film (she won it based on 3 performances instead of one) but I have no idea how similar or faithful the show was to the source material.

I do recall that this show was Bea Arthur's first try at Broadway after success in "The Threepenny Opera" off-Broadway and that Montalban and DeHaven had been dropped by the MGM studio and were trying to reinvent themselves on Broadway. I think this is also where Rivera first got noticed. I've heard this CD and the score is pretty much of a trifle but it definitely has its curiosity factor with the people involved.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 4/10/12 at 2:15pm

The score was written by film composer and conductor Victor Young, who would win a posthumous Academy Award in 1957 for his score for AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS. It includes a gorgeous balald "Where is that Someone for Me?" and a zippy duet for De Haven and Montalban "Sun At My Window, Love at My Door."

Decca's cast album did not have a plot synopsis on its sleeve, and the Lp went out of print very quickly. By the 1970s copies in playable condition were commanding huge prices for dealers. Footlight Records had a limited edition pressing done duplicating the original jacket and record label. This reissue has a mush quieter surface than the old Decca pressings, but was marred by audio drop-outs in the opening bars of the Overture. The CD reissue sounds much better.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/10/12 at 3:30pm

I always get this show confused with Simply Heavenly, which has a rather odd score and was revived in London in 2005.

[degrassifan]

Posted: 4/11/12 at 4:01am

"When I first read the title I thought this was a thread on that awful WB show."

LOL, me too! I thought someone was going to say they were making it into a musical or suggesting they make it into a musical. Although, I don't think the show was awful though.