Customer Reviews

The Boys From Syracuse (1963 Broadway Revival Cast)

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Undiscovered classics usually should remain undiscovered-if you've never heard of them, there's probably a good reason. DRG, on the other hand, continues to discover and dust off and reissue oldies but goodies. Case in point: This 43-year-old off-Broadway recording of Rodgers and Hart's The Boys from Syracuse, a classic in every sense. The production was directed by a (then) young and svelte Christopher Hewitt, five years before donning a dress to play the worst director ever in the original Mel Brooks' The Producers, and decades before gracing the small-screen as the epicurean Mr. Belvedere.
The cast, headed by Ellen Hanley and Karen Morrow, is not particularly well-known, but spectacularly talented. The book was adapted by George Abbott from Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors; and the music and lyrics are simply so wonderful, so unforgettable that the some smart producers should revive these Boys annually. "Falling in Love with Love"-about painful, unrequited love and emotional pain-is balanced by the lilting, happy-go-lovely, "This Can't Be Love." Add to this melange the plaintive ballad "You Have Cast Your Shadow on the Sea" and the rousing "Sing for your Supper" and you have a theatre piece with wit, charm, elegance, and an extraordinary sense of style. Larry Hart, the lyricist here, may have been a tormented gay man, but he is-and remains-the one true poet of love in American musicals during the first part of the twentieth century. This is one of the great recordings of Hart's material, sung with verve and gusto. It belongs on everyone's shelf.

Very few shows survive well the test of time,but RODGERS AND HART are truely timeless.You can revive BABES IN ARMS,THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE and PAL JOEY endlessly,it will still be better than most of today's BROADWAY.This is one of at least four recordings of the show and has a very talented cast.Was i surprized to find out that STUART DAMON ,who i remembered from the series THE CHAMPIONS was such a good singer.This is perhaps LARRY HART's finest hour as lyricist.Every damn song clicks in their own special way.As usual,you discover that songs like FALLING IN LOVE WITH LOVE and THIS CAN'T BE LOVE are almost never sung with the complete lyrics by non BROADWAY singers.Charm and wit are the key words to describe the fabulous team of DICK and LARRY ,who can make rime nostalgic with classic.Let me finish by saying that you won't be ashamed to have this recording in your collection.You'll have something to sing for your supper.

Now, I bought this cd because for my love of Stuart Damon's voice.
This Cd has music by Richard Rodgers,lyrics by Lorenz Hart and was produced by George Abbott. Performers include: Danny Carroll,Rudy Tronto,Stuart Damon, Richard Nieves, Ellen Hanley. It was created in 1938...........
Against a backdrop of Ancient Greece: Two boys from Syracuse, Anthipholus and his servant Dromio, try to find their long-lost twins (in which there is plot confusion), are also named Anthipholus and Dromio. The two who were lost at sea are now a prosperous merchant and his servant; both are married, somewhat happy but not totally faithful. This is a story of mistaken identities with alot of Confusion of who these men really are , everything gets intertwined when the wife of the Ephesians, Adriana and her servant Luce, mistake the two strangers for their husband. everything gets sorted out in the end.
The music is Wonderful, my favorites are "This can't be love", "What Can You Do with a Man", "Dear Old Syracuse",
"You Have Cast Your Shadow on the Sea", these songs are sung with a wonderful melodic rhythm and you will find yourself humming to it.
I enjoyed the whole cd and it seems so fresh to hear even though this was performed some 40 years ago, the singing is Great, very humourous. I felt that I was sitting in the audience watching the whole story unfold...it still holds up well after all these years !!
Listen to it anywhere not just in your car!!

The 1963 off-Broadway revival cast recording of Rodgers and Hart's classic. Not as enjoyable as the Columbia studio version, but a scaled down, intimate rendition of the Rodgers and Hart classic. With the fabulous Karen Morrow(Tom Jones, I Had A Ball, The Grass Harp, etc), the delectable late Cathryn Damon(The Secret Life of Walter Mitty), Stuart Damon(Do I Hear A Waltz?) and the divine late Ellen Hanley(Fiorello!, First Impressions and Julius Monk Revues). This is a perfect companion piece to the 1967 off-Broadway cast recording of Rodgers and Hart's 1942 musical By Jupiter.

This revival was the second of three recordings made of this classic musical comedy. The sound is very crisp, the singing ranges from excellent (Stuart Damon, Julienne Marie) to forced (Clifford David) to unpleasant (Ellen Hanley's wobble in FALLING IN LOVE WITH LOVE). Orchestrations are bright and energetic with the fun immediacy of an original cast performance. Missing is one song BIG BROTHER and the numerous dance numbes and big ballet so this is not the first choice but a very good recording nonetheless.

The original is from the '30s. This one has new orchestrations. It's bright and sprightly, the lyrics are sophisticated and sharp, and to quote from the dialogue: "If it's good enough for Shakespeare, it's good enough for us!"