Henry, Sweet Henry (1967 Original Broadway Cast) [Cast Recording]

Bob Merrill, Carol Bruce, Don Ameche, Louise Lasser, Neva Small, Alice Playten | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 6, 1995)
• Original Release Date: June 6, 1995
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording
• Label: Varese Sarabande
• ASIN: B000008PCB
• Also Available in: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #110,364 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Overture/Academic Fugue

2. In Some Little World

3. Pillar To Post

4. Here I Am

5. I Wonder How It Is

6. Nobody Steps on Kafritz

7. Henry, Sweet Henfy/Woman in Love

8. People Watchers/Act One Finale

9. Weary Near to Dyin'

10. Poor Little Person

11. I'm Blue Too

12. To Be Artistic

13. Did You Ever Go To Boston

14. Here I Am/Act Two Finale

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely underrated show, October 24, 2005

By 

Mark Falconer (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Henry, Sweet Henry (1967 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

I think that this show has never been fully appreciated. Even the positive reviews on Amazon just say "it's a fun show," or something to that effect.

The genius of this show lies in how well Bob Merrill musicalized two teenage girls. How did this middle-aged man get inside the heads of these teenagers? Listen to "Here I Am," and tell me it's not a masterful example of a teenager's feelings set to music. Another great example of what Merrill was doing comes in "I Wonder How It Is (To Dance With a Boy)" - "I haven't, up till now, been asked by a boy, but just being asked is a thing I'd enjoy. Sometimes I just visualize me, being kissed by his eyes! Holy smoke, how cow, I wonder how it is." It's wistful and naive and silly and romantic - exactly the sort of thing a teenage girl would sing. Personally, I think this musical would be extremely popular among high school groups - the students would love relating to these characters. One last song I'd like to single out was singled out in another review - "Do You Ever Go To Boston Anymore?" It is a true rarity in musical theatre; a freeform song that travels along the character's psychological impulses. It condenses the complexity of a young girl's relationship with her father into two and a half minutes. Really, as the only kind of this song before this time period is "My Time Of Day" from Guys and Dolls (which is, of course, also one of the most important moments in that show.) And just the arc of the show in general is extremely touching - the growth of these two girls from immaturity to womanhood. The ending is extremely poignant as a dramatization of "putting away childish things."

Yes, as other reviewers have said, Alice Playten is simply incredible as the nasty Kafritz. She really must be heard to be believed. Personally, I think all the roles are well-cast, down to Don Ameche in the title role (although sadly his songs are not nearly on the level of the girls' songs.)

I'm afraid that I've de-emphasized the fun of this show somewhat to stress the emotional content. It is just as fun as those other reviewers mentioned. It's frequently hilarious, actually, and plays very well in front of audiences who aren't familiar with the material. (Some of Ameche's funniest material is left off the cast album, sadly.) But it's so much more than just fun and silly - this musical is rich and beautiful.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars HENRY SWALLOWED WHOLE BY A TINY TERROR NAMED ALICE, July 11, 2005

By 

Robert F. Powers "show maniac" (Quincy, Ma USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Henry, Sweet Henry (1967 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

I SAW HENRY SWEET HENRY AND FOR WHAT IS WAS IT WAS A VERY ENTERTAINING SHOW. UNFORTUNATLY THE SHOW WAS CURSED WITH A WEAK BOOK, ONE MAJOR MISCAST ROLE AND A DYNAMO NAMED ALICE PLAYTEN WHO BLEW EVERYONE ELSE OFF THE STAGE. WHEN A SUPPORTING ACTRESS CAN STEAL A SHOW FROM THE STARS-YOU KNOW YOU ARE IN TROUBLE. DON AMECHE WAS RIDICULOUS AS A WOMANIZING BON VIVANT AND HAD THE CHARISMA OF A FIRE HYDRANT. THE MAIN FOCUS OF THE MUSICAL WERE TWO YOUNG GIRLS WHO HAVE A CRUSH ON HENRY BUT EVEN THEY WERE OVERSHADOWED BY THE AWESOME PLAYTEN WHO AS KAFRITZ BROUGHT ACT ONE TO A STANDSTILL WITH HER FEROCIOUS SONG, 'NOBODY STEPS ON KAFRITZ' SHE EVEN GOOSE-STEPS OFF THE STAGE AS HER NUMBER CONCLUDES. BUT THE OVERALL SHOW WAS LIKABLE AND ROBIN WILSON AND NEVA SMALL HAVE THEIR OWN MINOR SHOWSTOPPER IN ACT TWO WITH 'I'M BLUE TOO'
IN 1967 HIPPIES WERE IN VOGUE AND MICHAEL BENNET CHOREOGRAPHED A NUMBER IN CENTRAL PARK CALLED 'WEARY NEAR TO DYIN' WHICH FEATURED A HIPPIE MOONWALKING ACROSS THE STAGE. SO THIS ANSWERS THE QUESTION--MICHAEL JACKSON DID NOT INVENT THE MOONWALK-THE OTHER MICHAEL, BENNETT THAT IS, DID. THIS RECORDING IS NOW OUT OF PRINT BUT IF IT EVER BECOMES AVAILABLE IT MAKES FOR A PLEASANT IF NOT CLASSIC SHOW SCORE.

4.0 out of 5 stars That in-between age, July 8, 2011

By 

Jay Dickson (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Henry, Sweet Henry (1967 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

If HENRY, SWEET HENRY (the musical adaptation of Nora Johnson's young adult novel THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT) had just come out a year or two earlier (and had a different male lead) it might have been a real hit. Most of the songs are pretty terrific, and are even better than the lyricist/composer Bob Merrill's previous solo effort, the tender and delicate CARNIVAL! which was a modest hit (and is still revived in high schools). Two of the songs, "Here I Am" and "In Some Little World," might have become standards; Robin Wilson and Neva Small, as the two adolescent female leads, are absolutely topnotch; and the show even had a great breakout turn by the great young performer Alice Playten in the supporting role of the show's villain, Lillian Kafritz, that still (deservedly) warranted Playten a sizable obituary in the NY Times forty-four years later. But the show was cursed with two problems: it starred Don Ameche in the title role, and it came out in late 1967, right after the Summer of Love. Ameche was not a singer; even worse, he seemed too old for the part and too lightweight and square to be at all plausible as the libidinous avant-garde composer and pianist Henry Orient. This just compounded the fact that the musical seemed to 1967 audiences too out of touch with its time: its teenage heroines are interested in Charles Boyer and Sandra Dee rather than the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

Even so, the original Broadway cast recording of the musical (which miraculously was made) is something of a treasure, and reveals that the show might have been a hit under different circumstances (and with someone other than Ameche in the title role). Wilson and Small are terrific young singers, and Small is almost as funny in her novelty number "I'm Blue Too" as Playten is herself in her two big match numbers, "Nobody Steps on Kafritz" and "Poor Little Person," which (deserve their still burnished reputation. (The little comic spins Playten can put on the most ordinary words--all in a full-throttled voice the size of Ethel Merman or Andrea McArdle--is unbelievable.) You probably won't be able to single out Baayork Lee or Pia Zadora in the chorus (much less see their inventive choreography designed by Michael Bennett), but they're both there just the same.