Customer Reviews

Greenwillow (1960 Original Broadway Cast)

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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

To be honest, I've long avoided GREENWILLOW, partially because I was apprehensive about hearing Tony Perkins sing, but mostly because it was the great Frank Loesser's only Broadway failure. Obviously - so I surmised - the score wasn't up to the standards of WHERE'S CHARLEY?, GUYS & DOLLS, THE MOST HAPPY FELLA, and HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS. How wrong I was.

Loesser's score for GREENWILLOW is a major achievement, weaving lovely ballads like "Summertime Love" (recorded by the likes of Eddie Fisher, Harry Belafonte, Bud & Travis), "Never Will I Marry" (Linda Ronstadt & Barbra Streisand, to name a few), and "Faraway Boy" with clever novelty numbers like "Could've Been a Ring," "The Sermon," and "Clang Dang the Bell (Baptism of a Calf)" and the pastoral "The Music of Home." Loesser also takes a stab or two at organized religion with "He Died Good" and "What a Blessing," sung by the Rev. Birdsong (Cecil Kellaway): "What a blessing to know there's a devil, and that I'm but a pawn in his game/That my impulse to sin doesn't come from within, and so I'm not entirely to blame."

Based on the popular novel by B.J. Chute, GREENWILLOW is a ". . . lyrical and poetic fable . . . [that] tells of the romance between young Gideon Briggs, who walks in the shadow of a family curse and vows never to marry, and Dorrie, the orphan girl he loves." (Amazon.com's Book Description) If the whimsical town of Greenwillow reminds you of BRIGADOON or the folk-like melodies recall THREE WISHES FOR JAMIE or FINIAN`S RAINBOW, what the heck. All I can say is that GREENWILLOW is a true original and, next to MOST HAPPY FELLA, Loesser's finest score.

Ellen McCown (SEVENTEEN) is a delightfully sweet Dorrie; William Chapman (CANDIDE) an operatic Rev. Lapp; Pert Kelton (THE MUSIC MAN) a hilarious Gramma Briggs; Lee Cass (THE MOST HAPPY FELLA) a humorous Thomas Clegg; and the aforementioned Cecil Kellaway (Oscar nominee for "Luck of the Irish" & "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner") a spry and earthy Rev. Birdsong. But the major surprise is Anthony Perkins. He's actually very, very good. (Incidentally, he was filming "Psycho" while GREENWILLOW was in rehearsal.)

Additional praise for Don Walker's lush orchestrations and the uncredited choral arrangements. It's unfortunate that the present economic reality of Broadway prohibits orchestras and choruses of the size common in the 60s. Today's musicals suffer because budgets dictate only 16 singer/dancers on stage and synthesizers instead of "real" instruments in the pit - a major reason why most modern revivals seldom sound as good as the originals.

Anyway, GREENWILLOW is a musical gem, and I heartily recommend it.

PS. An interesting side bar: Although GREENWILLOW was released as an RCA Victor LP, my copy is by Columbia Special Products. Just how long has the merger of the two giants been in the works? Let's hope Sony/BMG re-releases the complete MOST HAPPY FELLA as part of their Masterworks/Broadway series, far superior to the 1992 revival currently in its catalogue.

And when in the world will there ever be a release of WHERE'S CHARLEY?

All I could recall, musically at least, of Tony Perkins was his bit of froth "Moonlight Swim" which was on the hit parade when I was a teenager in the 1950s. Certainly, I had never heard of "Greenwillow" until I read Winecoff's biography of Perkins. It rather whetted my curiosity and, I have to say, I was not disappointed with the CD when it arrived. The music is a lovely, rather nostalgic glimpse (for me at least) of the musical genre of the late 50s. A worthwhile addition to my collection.

Interesting in large part for the performance by Tony Perkins, fresh from his career-defining (in both the good and bad senses) role in Hitchcock's "Psycho" -- a very different work than "Greenwillow," obviously. At the time, apparently, many considered this play to be more of a lesser gem than a "Loesser gem" -- and this recording was not held to be as good as the best live performances. Some fascinating background and history of this show can be found in Charles Winecoff's biography of Perkins, titled "Split Image" -- including the reaction of his fellow cast members to seeing "Psycho" all together one evening and how that affected the next performance of "Greenwillow." Also worth noting that it was during this production that Perkins met Grover Dale, with whom he subsequently had a mostly closeted romantic relationship for about six years.

Ethan Mordden begins his book "Open a New Window: The Broadway Musical in the 1960s" by talking about "Greenwillow", which he calls "perhaps Loesser's greatest set of music and lyrics". I saw this show in tryouts as a teenager and was sure it would go on to a long run in New York. After three months it was gone. I recently purchased the CD and began listening again. It is a delightful score if a bit old fashioned in this day and age. What a shame more people aren't familiar with it!

Greenwillow is one of those Broadway flops that sound so good you have ti wonder how it failed. I did not see it but hearing it now with a great cast and terrific score I wonder whyt. The story? Maybe too boring.But give as listen to this '60's musical and marvel at the Anthony Perkins voice especially singing "Never Will I Marry. Socko.

I bought this mainly because of Anthony Perkins' presence in the cast. I had always been a fan of his, and hoped that his musician son had inherited his musical talent from his father, so I took the plunge. I was not disappointed in Anthony Perkins' performance in the show at all. He really can sing! He has a very good voice, and, of course, is able to inject a good bit of acting into his singing, which is always welcome in any show. Frankly, Perkins is the single outstanding voice in this cast, in my opinion. The female lead was a huge disappointment, and the other characters are also somewhat annoying.

The quality of the songs is uneven. There are a few decent-to-good ones, but there are also some relatively poor ones - definitely not up to what I expected from the composer of "The Most Happy Fella." I will listen to it again soon to see if I still have the same opinion of the songs I disliked. If I do, perhaps I will burn a revised copy of the show for myself, using only the songs that Perkins sings, as well as the orchestral numbers and the few others that I liked.

All in all, I can't heartily recommend this album, but it does have its bright spots and, as a previous reviewer here pointed out, it is a real throwback to the great era of musical theater. Best of all, it gives us another side of Anthony Perkins that is unknown to most people - a side that deserved to be better-known and appreciated.