Customer Reviews

The Boy Friend (1954 Original Broadway Cast)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album is an accurate portrayal of the original Broadway experience. The music is light and fanciful and the songs fun and tuneful. I saw the show with Julie Andrews with my parents in 1954 and loved it. I was impressed with how well she can whistle! I just saw the show again last week at Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut where Julie Andrews is directing a new version that will be on tour, and was pleased to see that she kept the songs and dances the way they were done when the show was first presented. By the way, the rest of the original cast was also very talented, both singing and dancing, but it's difficult to appreciate them as much as they deserve just by listening to the CD.

To begin with, the musical was a spoof on the 1920's musicals and the one reviewer should have been aware of that fact. I have both acted and directed and love the musical.
What makes this such a fun recording is that they don't take themselves seriously and do have fun with the music. It is campy, lighthearted and a great addition to a music library.

Personally, when I heard this album for the first time, I wasn,t expecting much, but what I recieved was phenomanal. A big fan of Julie Andrews, I wanted to have here debut broadway album, and when I got it I was surprised to find that I liked it almost as much as one of my favorite CD's of her's Star! (which surprisingly, Amazon Doesn't carry). Anyway, I immensely enjoyed this album.

I'm working with a theater company now, and I am the asst. stage manager for the Boyfriend. I have heard this version and the London Cast version. This one is very much the better one. True, some of the women can not sing, but that's how they sang back in those days. They didn't have body mikes, so they had to be loud. That was good singing in the 50's. Just informing some of you peoples.

This is a very zesty, stylized production of the original import from England with a very young and fresh voiced Julie Andrews. Ms. Andrews, in her debut to Broadway, leads the way in this marvelously entertaining and delightfully campy "The Boy Friend". All the cast members join in with great infectious and sincer enthusiasm to insure that those of us "in the colonies" get two shot gun barrells full of satyrical musical comedy to which the British reign supreme. Unfortunately, this was made before DVDs were born, but one can almost clearly visualize the cast in their stylized costumes and flapper era postures belting out the tuneful score that will sweep you off of your feet. What a joy!!! The sound is suprisingly very good, so purchase and play this CD, put your feet up and ENJOY!

I fell in love with this show when I first bought the LP back in 1954. I even directeed a production of it back in 1974.

THE BOY FRIEND is one of those musicals filled with great hummable music, an extraordinary cast (including a very young Julie Andrews), and the usual preposterous story. The music by Sandy Wilson is one of the highlights here, reminiscent of the musicals of the 1920s, and although most of it isn't memorable, it still is generally enjoyable. Musical theatre fans will want to pick up this original cast album primarily to hear the unmistakable voice of Andrews but also as an introduction to the work of British composter Wilson, who also wrote the Cleo Laine musical VALMOUTH in the late 1950s.

I was delighted to recently have the opportunity to purchase from Amazon the 1954 album of the orginal cast performing one of my very favorite Broadway musicals, "The Boy Friend", starring Julie Andrews when she was only 18 or 19 years old! Originally a Bristish production, this extraordinary musical brought back rich memories of that era and my my comparative youth. By the way I'm almost 82 years of age now, no longer 13!

I keep hoping it will be revived again on Broadway and am grateful to Amazon for making it possible for me to indulge my passion by listening to the wonderful songs again... and again!

I purchased 'The Boyfriend' soundtrack since the play is coming to my area and I wanted to familiarize myself with the music. The lyrics made me laugh out loud more than once, and the tunes were a complete throw-back to the 20's. The show was actually written as a parody of several 1920's shows including Roger's and Hammerstein's 'The Girlfriend' (obviously :) I enjoyed Julie Andrew's sweet expressive voice in songs like 'A Room In Bloomsbury' and 'If I Could Be Happy With You'. Dilys Lay who sings 'Never Too Late To Fall In Love' has a raspy comedic voice that can be rather grating at times though she is quite funny and Ann Wakefield's number 'Safety In Number's' Though the song itself is HILARIOUS, Her voice is just not that good - especially since she yells half the lyrics instead of singing them - ;) All in all a funny and entertaining soundtrack with a few drawbacks. I'm glad I bought it and am now familiar with the music of the Boyfriend!

While Julie Andrews is wonderful, it is interesting that the vocal quality of other ladies in the cast does not match. It does provide a good idea of the show, though.