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Fade Out Fade In (1964 Original Broadway Cast)

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Musical theatre fanatics can rejoice - "Fade Out Fade In" has FINALLY arrived on CD. Few shows are as legendary as this one; the star (Carol Burnett) was great, the director (George Abbott) was great, and the writers (Jule Styne, Betty Comden & Adolph Green) were great. The reviews were generally enthusiastic, box office records previously set by "My Fair Lady" were broken, and for a while it was outgrossing two other new shows down the block - "Hello Dolly!" and "Funny Girl." But somewhere along the way it turned into one of the biggest financial disasters of the 1960s. Huh? How did that happen?

All the travails, mishaps, and lawsuits involving "Fade Out Fade In" became the stuff of Broadway legend, and though we may never know the entire story, the liner notes by Peter Filichia give you a fairly good idea of what went down; you can glance at them while you're listening to this (for the most part) wonderful score, which begins with one of the best overtures Jule Styne ever composed (right up there with "Gypsy" and "Funny Girl"). The plot involves Hope Springfield (Carol Burnett) and her unexpected leap into 1930's Hollywood stardom - OK, it's little more than a frothy spoof, and some of the material is pretty standard, but the songs are well-crafted, clever, and frequently inspired. Listening to "It's Good To Be Back Home," "The Usher From The Mezzanine," "Go Home Train," "Call Me Savage," and "Fade Out Fade In" is to be reminded once again of Carol Burnett's tremendous talents as a singer AND an actress (in the latter two numbers she is ably assisted by the gifted Dick Patterson). Looking for comic genius? Look no further than "My Fortune Is My Face," Jack Cassidy's side-splitting paean to movie-star self-absorption. Most critics, however, singled out "You Musn't Be Discouraged" as the show's undisputed showstopper, and when you hear Carol Burnett and Tiger Haynes doing their hilarious salute to Shirley Temple & Bill "Bojangles" Robinson - well, they're stopping the show all over again.

"Fade Out Fade In" may have had a troubled history, but this CD goes a long way toward focusing our attention where it belongs - on some great performers singing some terrific material. Ultimately, that's the only way "Fade Out Fade In" should be remembered.

FADE OUT-FADE IN is the most-requested cast-album in the Decca catalogue. Finally, after years and years of legal problems and copyright issues, it has finally been released!...and it has been well worth the wait.

Carol Burnett stars as aspiring movie actress Hope Springfield, whose dreams of Hollywood stardom start to come true when she is discovered by big-wig Hollywood moguls who change her name to Lila Tremaine.

The score by Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green has a few gems, including "The Usher From the Mezzanine", "Lila Tremaine", "Go Home Train" and "It's Good to Be Back Home", all sung and belted to perfection by Carol Burnett. Jack Cassidy plays a prissy Hollywood rake who sings the comical "My Fortune is My Face", while the supporting cast includes Lou Jacobi, Dick Patterson, Tiger Haynes, Mitchell Jason and a pre-GILLIGAN'S ISLAND Tina Louise.

The musical is perhaps best-known for all the events that happened off-stage. Carol Burnett was involved in a nasty car-accident, sidelining her for several weeks in the hospital, with producers bringing in Betty Hutton to cover the role in her absence. When Burnett did eventually return to the tuner she was involved in her husband's television show THE ENTERTAINERS and quickly left again, with producers threatening legal action if she did not honor her legal obligations to FADE OUT-FADE IN's run. The show later closed and re-opened, again with Burnett, but closed again soon after when the box-office took a major slide.

And so FADE OUT-FADE IN slipped into Broadway history...

Die-hard cast album collectors have been waiting patiently for many years for this classic musical...snap up your copy today!

Fade in, many a year ago: Fans clamor for Decca to release "Fade Out-Fade In" on CD. Fade out, 2003: It finally happens! The most requested original cast recording is finally available here, proving again, that good things do come to those who wait. So the book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green (music by Jule Styne) is far from their best. But they do manage to bring the glamour of Tinseltown to the stage in this hilarious homage to the Golden Age of Hollywood of the '30s. (Let us not forget the Betty and Adolph took on the world of silent flicks in "Singin' in the Rain.") There are glorious touches in this tale of Hope Springfield, a girl pulled from the chorus and mistaken for a star. When the show opened on Broadway in 1964, it marked the return of hot new star Carol Burnett, and critics roared their approval ... sort of in the same way Carol roars like the MGM lion in her opening number "It's Good to Be Back Home." And so "Fade Out-Fade In" was expected to be a huge hit; it even outgrossed Barbra in her new show, "Funny Girl." Then, fate stepped in rather nosily when Burnett suffered whiplash while riding in a taxi. The show closed prematurely. Betty Hutton replaced Carol and bombed; Carol then sued to leave for TV. She lost, and returned to the stage, even though Cassidy had been replaced (by Dick Shawn) and Tina Louise left to star in the series "Gilligan's Island." And so "Fade Out-Fade In" faded out for good. And so we have the CD to remind us of what once was ... briefly. Jack Cassidy is a delight as Movie Star Byron Prong. (Trivia alert: Comden and Green used Byron's name six years earlier in a scene from the flick "Auntie Mame" ... he gets billing in the Mame Dennis/Vera Charles show "Midsummer Madness.")And it is a delight to hear the egomaniac Prong sing about his virtues in "My Fortune is My Face" ... the rhyming of "actor" with "Max Factor" is priceless. It is Burnett who
steals the show, even on a teeny circular disc. Her take on Shirley Temple in "You Musnt't Be Discouraged" would become the springboard for her love letter to the moppet on Carol's long-running TV series. Fade in: To a smash hit!

As the liner notes indicate, this show was doing well until legalities stopped the show from becoming a big hit. Problems aside, this is one of Styne's better collaborations with the team of Comden and Green. Songs like "Im with You" send up the genre of 1930's musicals very well. "Call me Savage" is a wonderful comedic number.



As other reviewers have pointed out, Comden and Green were enjoying the rewards of the monster hit movie "Singin' in the Rain". You can detect some similarities between that film and this show. It has an extended dance sequence (The Dangerous Age) and they even get to send up that film at the end of "Fiddler and the Fighter". Jack cassidy sings "Thats a Broadway Rhapsody", and most movie buffs will recall Gene Kelly singing "thats a broadway Melody" at the end of the ballet.



The cast takes the material and runs with it. All the performances are wonderful. A few uninteresting songs appear, but overall a wonderful score.



Decca did their usual good packaging job. The Synopsis is helpful, and the notes give you a better understanding of the legal turmoil backstage. Overall, a great album and worth your money.

Perhaps not the best Comden/Green/Styne effort, but a lot of campy fun, sending up the Hollywood of the 30s. Ms. Burnett is at her best vocally, belting out her great, glitzy numbers.

This is pure Broadway gold. Other posts have said all I could have, but what may not be known is that the troubled show also had a production in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia at the same time as the Broadway Production. The Garnet Carroll organisation must have felt highly enough of it to buy it before it struck all its troubles on Broadway. They imported Sheila Smith, who was very fine in the role. (She later popped up I noticed in "Sugar" on Broadway). I would like to report it was a great whopping hit in Oz, but sadly I don't think it did any better than on Broadway. I saw it - young as I was - and just adored it. It really deserves a revival. Very much in the vein of "Singin' in the Rain" with perhaps the satire even more sharpened.

This 1964 musical was the second Broadway show for Carol Burnett, the first being "Once Upon A Mattress" some years earlier. This show was especially written for her and her comedic talents. It came right after her stint on "The Garry Moore Show" and years before her own TV series. The Broadway debut was full of problems getting it off the ground. Expected to be a major hit of the '63 -'64 season. Written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, who penned the script for "Singin In The Rain" years earlier. "Rain" was a spoof of the silent film era and now "Fade Out" was to be all about the talkies of the 30's. Music written by Julie Styne(Gentlemen Prefer Blondes...Peter Pan....Bells Are Ringing...Gypsy). Planned to open in Nov. '63, a month before Julie Styne was to start rehearsals for "Funny Girl", it was delayed because Carol Burnett became pregnant. A new opening was set for the spring....well after Styne would be finished with the "Funny Girl" opening in Feb. But "Funny Girl" had delays in Philadelphia tryouts and was delayed until end of March '64. "Fade Out" was now in rehearsals and Styne was not there for any new material that was needed. The new plan was to open in May. The opening received almost unanimous reviews and for awhile was out grossing "Funny Girl" and "Hello Dolly" And then 2 months later in July, Carol suffered a serious whiplash injury in a cab accident. Now temporarily out of the show, the producers (feeling that they needed a "star"), brought in Betty Hutton but the grosses dropped by 70%. Reluctantly in Aug. Carol returned. She was contracted to start a new TV series "The Entertainers" in the fall and she tried to do both jobs but wound up missing many performances. Legal battles ensued and by Nov. the show closed. Burnett lost the arbitration battles and was forced to honor her year long contract and so the show re-opened in Feb.'65 with new supporting players and with songs deleted and new ones added. The public had no idea the show had re-opened with little advertising and so by April the producers had to close as it was loosing so much money. But... the original cast is captured here....recorded just after it opened to great reviews. A great Julie Styne score with everyone in top form. Listen and enjoy.

If you are a musical comedy fan, you have a healthy appreciation for the well-turned B score.
That is to say that "Fade Out-Fade In", without a "Just In Time" or a "Make Someone Happy" to sell it,
is still the great lost must-have. Carol Burnett's OTHER show? Yep.

Jule Styne,who came to the theater after years of hit songwriting, is widely treasured as an adroit,gleeful parodist;
here he is sending up his contemporaries -- Richard Whiting, Harold Arlen, Sigmund Romberg, a bit of movie mock-Stravinsky --
with a sureness that takes the score beyond mere pastiche. He was THERE,you can hear it. Terrific orchestra, too.

Same as he did for "Funny Girl", he socks out yet another star vehicle good enough for a powerful star. Besides Burnett,
superb Jack Cassidy at his funniest; Tiger Haynes Bojangling it up with Carol as Shirley Temple;
and Lou Jacobi as always a gift from comic heaven.

From Comden and Green, lyrics to make me laugh aloud:
WE LIVE IN MORTAL TERROR/THAT WE'LL COMMIT AN ERROR/AND BE THROWN OUT, LIKE SO MUCH REFUSE/
HE HAS LOTS OF OTHER NEPHEWS/ NOT FAR FROM HERE ... GOD BLESS HIM!
-- from "Fear", a stout-hearted operetta chorus of craven movie executives.

What else can there be to say? "Fade Out-Fade In" is indispensable silly fun, and good for your health.