Customer Reviews

A Connecticut Yankee

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This original cast recording of the 1943 revival of "A Connecticut Yankee" was thought lost. It is probably the ONLY original cast recording of a Rogers and Hart score - granted it is the revival cast. It was originally recorded on lacquered glass disks - a necessity during the war as aluminium was anavailable. This did not give the best sound quality even then. The original "glass" masters were broken shortly after a tape was made from them in the 1960s. Then this tape was lost. Luckily it was found and a resotration was made. It is amazing that the sound quality of the present CD is as good as it is. No, it is not the greatest sound, but it is clear and listenable. A listener must realize that this is a historical recording and could never come close to the recordings made in the last 10 years. Anyone interested in vintage Broadway should thank their lucky stars that this recording is now available.

One interesting fact is that Vera Ellen is heard singing on this recording. In her Hollywood films she was always dubbed. Granted she was known primarily as a superb dancer, her voice is not bad for a dancing comic lead. But was not what Hollywood wanted.

Lorenz Hart was one of the greates lyricist in musicals. He is at the top of his form with wonderful words for numbers like the hilarious "To Keep My Love Alive" wonderfully and slyly delivered by Vivienne Segal. There are such marvelous classic numbers as "My Heart Stood Still" and "Thou Swell". This was Hart's last show. He passed away 5 days after the revival opened. What a loss for musical theater.

The melodies are by one of the greatest theater music talents, Richard Rogers. There has never been another writer with his gift for melody. Over and over he has shown himself to be the MASTER.

There are 9 numbers from "Yankee". The disk is filled out with numbers from other Rogers and Hart shows - 4 from "Higher and Higher" by Shirley Ross who appeared in that show (these recordings are not "cast" recordings) and 4 from "By Jupiter" by nightclub and radio performer Hildegarde. They are interesting and give a different slant on the music from "cast" recordings.

This is a CD for anyone interested in the history of musical theater and anyone willing to accept vintage recordings that have been very nicely remastered.

One of Decca's earliest cast albums (recorded just a few weeks after their famous OKLAHOMA! album) this very nearly became a lost treasure. Recorded on 16" glass masters in 1943, the original release was on 78 RPMS (complete witha booklet givinga detailed synopsis and all the lyrics.) The revival was not a success and when Long Playing records were introduced in the late 1940s, CONNECTICUT YANKEE was not reissued in the new format.

At one time in the 1960s Decca had the masters transferred to tape for a possible LP reissue. That reissue never happened, and in shipping the discs back to the storage facility, they were broken. The tape was taken from the company's archives and did not turn up until almost 30 years later. Though modern technology could probably have coaxed even better sound from the master discs, we must be thankful that the tape was made when it was.

In the meanwhile there were three unautherized isses of these tracks. A new York based private label called Box Office transferred the 78's to one side of an Lp in the 1970s. Later, AEI released an elaborate gatefold Lp with not only the full score (again dubbed from 78s) but also fabricated some additional tracks reprising some of the songs (in theatrical order) by editing portions from the existing tracks. Finally there was a release on CD from Box Office with horrible sound that stil sometimes turns up for sale. Avoid it. Decca actually sent a request that Box Office withdraw the bootleg Cd.

This edition has much better sound and the bonus tracks by Hildegard and Shirley Ross from BY JUPITER and HIGHER AND HIGHER make the package very worthwhile.

"A Connecticut Yankee," by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers, contains more hit songs than the average Broadway season nowadays. "My Heart Stood," "Still," "Thou Swell" and the redoubtable "To Keep My Love Alive" all sound fresh and vibrant in this fabulously remastered 1943 recording. Particularly wonderful is the total and complete recording of "To Keep My Love Alive," sung by the one great (female) love of the Lyricist's life, Vivienne Segal ... nearly seven minutes of the wittiest ways to do in a husband. This is one of the first "original cast" recordings ever recorded, and it sounds as crisp and clear as a recording made today. Bravo! (Submitted by staff member Stephen J. Finn)

Return with us now to the early days of CDs -- this has got to be one of the nastiest transfers to digital heard since the '80s. Sharp, strident, irritating -- and all the more baffling because (it says here) it's one step closer to the original masters than anything they've issued before on this. If you can see your way past that, Vivienne Segal's version of "To Keep My Love Alive" is worth the price of admission all by itself. (It's over six minutes -- there must have been a lot of encores.) As is current practice, running time is beefed up by additional material from other shows. Four selections from "Higher and Higher" are sung by Shirley Ross, who was of the original cast but is otherwise unremarkable. Still, has there ever been a better popular song than "It Never Entered My Mind"? Four selections from "By Jupiter" are assayed by Hildegarde, who is not in this case the medieval composer but the songstress of the 30s who used to appear at Nixon rallies in her later days. Very pure tone, not much heart, interesting mostly if you'd heard of her and wondered what Hildegarde sounded like -- and for the chance to hear some unfamiliar Rodgers and Hart.

This CD collection of tracks from the 1943 revival of the Rodgers & Hart musical is advertised as the first CD presentation of these tracks. This is incorrect. I have a CD issued in 1999 by Box Office Recordings called "A Collector's Rodgers & Hart" which contains all the "Connecticut Yankee" tracks plus 14 additional tracks of Rodgers & Hart covers (different from the covers on the Decca CD).

Worse, I have an AEI LP recording of the revival which has three additional tracks from the show. Why weren't these selections included in this recording?

On the other hand, even the 9 tracks from Connecticut Yankee are worth owning. As a previous reviewer said, just Vivienne Segal's "To Keep My Love Alive" is worth the price of admission!

A wonderful rerelease of glass discs made for the 1943 revival of this charming musical. While the orchestra is less than polished (there is one particular trumpet you can hear over and over that is awful and flat!)--it has a lot of zest to it, and makes one yearn to see the play - indeed, to see more of the Rodgers and Hart shows performed.

This show has only nine numbers on the CD. And that's allright. "Thou Swell" and "To Keep My Love Alive" are great songs sung by the original artists. But there are 8 other tracks from "High and Higher" and "By Jupiter" that make the CD worth doing, I suppose, but I never did like extending recordings when they were on record.

Well, I was not expecting to like this one. Its SO old, and very classic (Rodgers and Hart.) But one good thing about it being Rodgers and Hart, is it has lovely lyrics. Clever and witty on every song. Mark Twains book was done justice I think, but I've never read the book. I would suggest this to classic lovers, and newer Broadway fans who want to hear a`"classic" other than Oklahoma. This is a good one. The other great thing about this CD is you get not only A Connecticut Yankee, but also highlights from two other Rodgers and Hart musicals: Higher and Higher and By Jupiter. AWSOME. Favorite Song: "To Keep My Love Alive"