On the Town [Original Broadway Cast]

by On The Town / O.B.C.

Overview

The Broadway musical On the Town, with songs by Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green, opened on December 28, 1944, and was greeted with the same enthusiasm that had met its predecessor, Bernstein's ballet Fancy Free. Bernstein had expanded upon his music and brought in lyricists Comden and Green to tell the story of three sailors on leave for a day in New York City. Comden and Green also were in the cast, along with Nancy Walker, and Decca Records, the pioneer of the original Broadway cast album, brought them into the recording studio over the course of 1945 to produce this three-disc, six-track album of selections from the score. Mary Martin, another Broadway star, but not one featured in On the Town, was employed to sing two ballads that, in the show, were handled by John Battles! So, this was hardly a full-fledged recording of the score by the original performers, but rather an incomplete approximation. Excellent songs such as the risque "Come Up to My Place" and the wistful "Some Other Time" were missing, along with several of the major cast members. But what was included was terrific: Comden and Green camping their way through "I Get Carried Away," Walker still managing to be somewhat risque with "I Can Cook Too," and a chorus rendering the "New York, New York" theme in "On the Town Opening." ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	09/15/1998
Label:	SONY MASTERWORKS
UPC:	0074646053829

Tracks

1. Opening: New York, New York
2. Come Up to My Place (Taxi Number)
3. Carried Away
4. Lonely Town
5. Carnegie Hall (Do-Do-Re-Do)
6. I Can Cook Too
7. Lucky to Be Me
8. Dance: Times Square
9. Nightclub Sequence
10. I Understand
11. Ballet: The Imaginary Coney Island
12. Some Other Time
13. Dance: The Real Coney Island
14. Overture
15. The Great Lover
16. Lonely Town: Pas de Deux
17. Times Square: 1944

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Leonard Bernstein Orchestra   Primary Artist
Nightclub Singer   Primary Artist
Chris Alexander   Primary Artist,Vocals
Betty Comden   Primary Artist,Vocals
Michael Kermoyan   Primary Artist,Vocals
Leonard Bernstein   Primary Artist,Conductor,Vocals
Ensemble   Primary Artist
Adolph Green   Primary Artist,Vocals
New York Philharmonic   Primary Artist
John Reardon   Primary Artist
Nancy Walker   Primary Artist,Vocals
George Gaynes   Primary Artist,Vocals
Lehman Engel   Conductor

Technical Credits

Leonard Bernstein   Composer,Performer,Music Executive
Michael Kermoyan   Performer
Thomas Z. Shepard   Producer
Adolph Green   Composer,Lyricist,Performer
Goddard Lieberson   Producer
Nancy Walker   Performer
Bud Graham   Engineer
Dawn Frank   Engineer
Henry Parker   Photography
Jerry Schatzberg   Photography
Ken Fredette   Art Direction
Don Hunstein   Photography
John McClure   Producer
Didier C. Deutsch   Liner Notes
John Reardon   Performer
Fred Plaut   Engineer
Chris Alexander   Performer
Irving Townsend   Producer
Betty Comden   Performer,Lyricist,Composer
New York Philharmonic   Performer