Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great to Have By Jupiter Back, September 12, 2007
I have this on vinyl (yes vinyl) and love it. The CD is on the way, although I have an advanced pressing so I can discuss the sonic quality. First of all its great to have this album back in circulation. By Jupiter is Rodgers and Hart's last NEW score, and its a great one. Tunes such as Wait Till you See Her, and Everything I've Got Belongs to you are fairly well known Rodgers and Hart classics. The title tune and Nobody's Heart Belongs to Me are top draw. All of the performers are excellent, full of life. DRG has done its usual fine job of remastering, making an album whose sound quality was not state of the art sound better than it did. Now to the orchestrations. Ooops, but Rodgers allowed someone to give the show a very modern sound. With ears that are now accustomed to original orchestrations via John McGlinn and period orchestrations, newly done by the likes of people like Russell Warner, these are glaringly out of step with the early 40s style of the show. It would be wonderful to have a historically informed version of this wonderful score, but until that lucky day you know darn well baby, I can only offer you this. Its really quite good.
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16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
BY JUPITER, IT'S GOOD TO HAVE YOU BACK . . . . . . , September 18, 2007
What a shanda it is that so many examples of the American musical theater are not available on CD, especially in "authentic" recordings. It seems that titles disappear from major labels' catalogues faster than DRG, ArkivMusic & Fynsworth Alley can reissue them and far faster than City Center's Encores! can concertize them. Even a worse shanda is the way our Broadway "pioneers" have been treated. Where are all those fabulous scores by Vincent Youmans, Sigmund Romberg, Victor Herbert, Rudolf Friml and - to a lesser degree - Jerome Kern, and Rodgers & Hart? Gone are the days when the major labels gave full rein to people the likes of Goddard Lieberson, John McGlinn and John Mauceri to bring these composers' glorious music to life in the recording studio. Shanda! Shanda! Shanda!
So, whenever the opportunity comes along to sample these treasures, we should jump at it, as I encourage you to do in the case of BY JUPITER, even though it's not grade A Rodgers & Hart and decidedly not a top-notch recording. But it's all we have for now, so savor it. The mystery is why it took so long to make it to CD. Thanks to DRG, it's finally here.
Even though BY JUPITER may be second-tier R&H(art), it does contain three bona fide classics: "Nobody's Heart (Belongs To Me)," "Wait Till You See Her," and the feisty, fisty duet "Everything I've Got (Belongs to You)." The rest of the score is serviceable, but neither the tunes nor the lyrics are up to the standards of THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE, PAL JOEY, or even A CONNECTICUT YANKEE. Nevertheless, it had the longest run of any Rodgers & Hart show - 427 performances - slightly beating JUMBO (421). No doubt it would have run longer had not its star, Ray Bolger, left the show to entertain America's fighting men and women during World War II. It was also the last full-length collaboration for the composers; one year later Richard Rodgers would take on a new partner, Oscar Hammerstein II, and make Broadway history with a folksy little show called OKLAHOMA!
The plot? Pretty slight by SWEENEY TODD standards, but standard fare for the time. "Based on THE WARRIOR'S HUSBAND by Julian F. Thompson, [BY JUPITER is] set in the land of the Amazons, where the women rule and do battle while the men stay at home, mind the children, and buy new hats. An army of Greek soldiers, led by Theseus and Hercules, arrives in search of the Sacred Girdle of Diana, currently in the hands of reigning Queen Hippolyta. Accompanying them is war correspondent Homer, author of a recent bestseller called The Iliad. The Greek warriors are captured by the Amazons, and romance blossoms between Theseus and Antiope, the warrior-leader of the Amazons. A subplot involves Hippolyta's epicene gender-bending son Sapiens, who employs his 'feminine wiles' to get his way with the opposite sex." (Wikipedia.com)
In this 1967 off-Broadway revival, Bob Dishy takes over the Ray Bolger role of Sapiens, Robert R. Kaye and Charles Rydell play Theseus and Hercules, respectively, while Jackie Alloway assumes the role of Hippolyta and Sheila Sullivan plays Antiope. Emory Bass is Homer. Of all the principals, only Mr. Kaye has an impressive voice. This revival does not use Don Walker's original orchestrations, but is scored for a small combo by Abba Bogin. Disappointing, but probably necessary considering the limited space and budget of Theatre Four, where the show lasted for only 118 performances.
I would probably have given this recording a 4-star rating had DRG chosen to include a cast list (for this, go to Lortrel Archives) and a plot synopsis (Google "The Guide to Musical Theatre") and had they decided to do something about RCA's wretched sound quality. DRG's engineers must have been on vacation when they remastered this one, if they actually remastered it at all. I've compared the CD to my old LP, and, except for clicks and pops, the two sound identical! Pity. DRG has done wonderful work with other older shows (check out THE ADVENTURES OF MARCO POLO and ARCHY AND MEHITABEL), so why not BY JUPITER?
Anyway, it's good to have another Rodgers & Hart musical brought back from limbo, so let's be thankful for what we've got. At least until - if ever - someone decides to give us a new, "authentic" recording.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
DRG at it again, September 25, 2007
Kudos to DRG for releasing another obscure or long unavailable cast album! But in their usual fashion, the liner notes are insufficient (see another review above). And worst of all, in usual DRG fashion, the track listings are incorrect (as they are in Amazon's listing above; there is no Bonus Track). The case and booklet list 13 tracks, when in fact there are 14. The 14th track is actually the "Jupiter Forbid" portion of the finale that is shown included in track 13. Careless of DRG, and disrespectful of their (admittedly, limited) audience. Let's hope for an "Encores" production and recording, but until now, this is a very enjoyable recording of a typical 60's off-Broadway offering.
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