St. Louis Woman [1998 Original New York Cast]

St. Louis Woman [1998 Original New York Cast]

by Vanessa L. Williams
St. Louis Woman [1998 Original New York Cast]

St. Louis Woman [1998 Original New York Cast]

by Vanessa L. Williams

CD

$21.49 
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Overview

St. Louis Woman is a perfect example of the kind of "lost" musical championed by New York's City Center Encores! series, which presents concert versions of vintage shows featuring full scores, abbreviated books, and minimal staging. Primarily due to an inferior libretto by Arna Bontemps (based on her horse-racing novel, God Sends Sunday) and Countee Cullen (who died just before the start of rehearsals), St. Louis Woman was a flop, running only 113 performances, despite an excellent score by composer Harold Arlen and lyricist Johnny Mercer. But it made a star out of Pearl Bailey (even though she did not have the starring role), and a pop hit emerged from it, "Come Rain or Come Shine." Nevertheless, it might have been forgotten completely had not Mercer, the co-founder of Capitol Records, arranged for the label to record a collection of its songs as its first cast album. Along with "Come Rain or Come Shine," "Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home," "Legalize My Name," and "It's a Woman's Prerogative" (the last two sung by Bailey) entered the canon of Arlen-Mercer classics. Arlen tried to expand the show into an opera, Free and Easy, which had a disastrous tour of Europe at the end of the 1950s. After that, nobody tried to revive a show that had failed twice, and only the short 1946 cast album preserved the score. The 1998 Encores! production, starring Vanessa L. Williams and Charles S. Dutton, finally restored the score and its long-lost orchestrations, and Mercury Records, Williams' label, did well to record it. Unlike Bailey, Williams does have the starring role (originally intended for, but never played by, Lena Horne) and thus the opportunity to sing "Come Rain or Come Shine" and "Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home." But Helen Goldsby, in the second female lead, also makes an impression singing "I Had Myself a True Love," "I Wonder What Became of Me," and the vengeful "Sleep Peaceful, Mr. Used-to-Be," and Yvette Cason, in the third female lead originally occupied by Bailey, makes a feast out of the earthy numbers "Legalize My Name" and "It's a Woman's Prerogative." The whole score is well-sung, and the Coffee Club Orchestra, playing the original orchestrations, is excellent. More than 50 years later, there is finally a definitive version of one of Harold Arlen's greatest musical works, all the more valuable to have on record because it remains unlikely that anyone will revive it as a stage show. ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date: 11/10/1998
Label: Mercury / Decca / Decca Broadway / Universal
UPC: 0731453814820
Rank: 218393

Tracks

  1. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 1. Overture
  2. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 1. Li'l Augie Is A Natural Man
  3. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 1. Sweeten' Water
  4. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 1. Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home
  5. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 1. I Feel My Luck Comin' Down
  6. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 1. I Had Myself A True Love
  7. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 1. Legalize My Name
  8. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 1. Cakewalk Your Lady
  9. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 1. Come Rain or Come Shine
  10. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 1. Chinquapin Bush / Lullaby
  11. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 1. Sleep Peaceful, Mr. Used-To-Be
  12. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 2. Entr'acte
  13. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 2. Funeral Scene: Prelude
  14. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 2. Leavin' Time
  15. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 2. Come Rain of Come Shine (Reprise)
  16. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 2. It's A Woman's Prerogative
  17. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 2. Ridin On The Moon
  18. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 2. I Wonder What Became Of Me
  19. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 2. Least That's My Opinion
  20. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 2. Come On Li'l Augie
  21. St. Louis Woman, musical play~Act 2. Come Rain or Come Shine

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Helen Goldsby   Primary Artist,Vocals
Victor Trent   Primary Artist
Stanley Wayne Mathis   Primary Artist,Vocals
Chuck Cooper   Primary Artist,Vocals
Joseph Webster   Primary Artist,Vocals,Ensemble
Wendell Pierce   Primary Artist,Vocals
Vanessa Williams   Primary Artist,Vocals
Yvette Cason   Primary Artist,Vocals
Coffee Club Orchestra   Primary Artist,Orchestra
Victor Trent Cook   Primary Artist,Vocals
Vanessa L. Williams   Primary Artist,Vocals
David White   Ensemble,Vocals,Ensemble
Amy Jo Phillips   Vocals,Ensemble
Rob Fisher   Musical Direction,Musical Director
Reginald Pindell   Vocals,Ensemble
Robert Osborne   Vocals
Richard Hobson   Vocals
Iris Fairfax   Vocals
Sherrita Duran   Vocals
Wayne Pretlow   Vocals
Sheryl McCallum   Vocals
Kimberley Michaels   Vocals
Tavia Rivee Jefferson   Vocals
Thursday Farrar   Vocals
Roberta Gumbel   Vocals
A.J. Baptiste-Cassell   Vocals
Dennis Anderson   Oboe,Clarinet,Sax (Tenor),Horn (English)
Russ Rizner-French   French Horn
Mitsue Takayama   Viola
David Omar White   Ensemble
Kamau Adilifu   Trumpet
Red Press   Flute,Piccolo,Clarinet,Sax (Alto),Flute (Alto),Multi Instruments
Jillian Hervey   Vocals
Laurie Williamson   Vocals,Ensemble
David Dean White   Vocals
Thad Wheeler   Percussion
Jesse Means II   Vocals,Ensemble
Kimberly Michaels   Ensemble
Joseph Thalken   Cello,Piano
Jeanne LeBlanc   Cello
Shelton Becton   Vocals,Ensemble
John Frosk   Trumpet
Bobby Osborne   Ensemble
Jack Gale   Trombone
John Redsecker   Drums
John Beal   Bass
Yvonne Cason   Vocals
Robert Fisher   Musical Direction
Ralph Burns   Orchestra
Albert Regni   Flute,Clarinet,Sax (Alto)
Grace Paradise   Harp
Suzanne Ornstein   Violin
Lawrence Feldman   Flute,Clarinet,Sax (Tenor)
David Blinn   Viola
Roger Wendt   French Horn
Dave Bargeron   Tuba,Trombone
Clay Ruede   Cello
Jill Jaffe   Viola
Jay Berliner   Banjo,Guitar
Glenn Drewes   Trumpet
Frederick Zlotkin   Cello
Charles S. Dutton   Vocals
Belinda Whitney-Barratt   Violin
Victor Cook   Vocals
John Campo   Bassoon,Clarinet,Sax (Baritone),Clarinet (Bass)

Technical Credits

Rob Fisher   Producer,Liner Notes,Associate Producer,Liner Notes,Associate Producer
Ray Lego   Photography
Yvonne Yedibalian   Assistant Engineer
Jim Murray   Assistant Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Jack Viertel   Liner Notes
Edward Jablonski   Liner Notes
Margery Greenspan   Art Direction
Aloysia Friedmann   Concert Mistress
Emily Grishman   Copyist,Liner Notes,Music Preparation
Xin Zhao   Concert Mistress
Red Press   Contractor
Jason Standard   Mixing Assistant
Nedra Neal   Preparation,Choir Preparation
Kyle Goen   Design
Stanley Wayne Mathis   Performer
Harold Arlen   Composer
Countee Cullen   Book
Johnny Mercer   Composer,Lyricist
Robert Fisher   Liner Notes,Associate Producer
Vanessa Williams   Quotes Researched & Compiled
Alan Silverman   Mastering
Barry Finclair   Concert Mistress
Arna Bontemps   Book
Marilyn Reynolds   Concert Mistress
Maura Giannini   Concert Mistress
Martin Agee   Concert Mistress
Ashley Horne   Concert Mistress
Cynthia Daniels   Mixing,Engineer,Recording
Hugh Fordin   Producer
Yvette Cason   Performer
Coffee Club Orchestra   Performer
Joseph Webster   Performer
Ron Oakland   Concert Mistress
Wendell Pierce   Performer
Jim Murray & the Caravan   Assistant Engineer
Tom Emery   Production Coordination
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