The Gay Life (1961 Original Broadway Cast) [Cast Recording, Original recording reissued]

Howard Dietz, Walter Chiari, Arthur Schwartz, Jules Munshin, Barbara Cook | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 22, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording, Original recording reissued
• Label: Drg
• ASIN: B0007514I0
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,054 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Overture

2. What A Charming Couple

3. Why Go Anywhere At All ?

4. Bring Your Darling Daughter

5. Now I'm Ready For A Frau

6. Magic Moment

7. Who Can? You Can!

8. Oh, Mein Liebchen

9. The Label on the Bottom

10. This Kind of a Girl

11. The Bloom Is Off The Rose

12. I'm Glad I'm Single

13. Something You Never Had Before

14. You Will Never Be Lonely

15. You're Not The Type

16. Come A-Wandering With Me

17. I Never Had A Chance

18. I Wouldn't Marry You

19. For The First Time

20. Finale

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Barbara Cook fans rejoice!, May 8, 2005

By 

Byron Kolln (the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: The Gay Life (1961 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

THE GAY LIFE gets it's long-overdue CD reissue thanks to the good people at DRG. Capturing Barbara Cook in one of her greatest musical theatre performances, and also featuring the impressive belter Elizabeth Allen (DO I HEAR A WALTZ's original Leona) as well as talented comic actor Jules Munshin, THE GAY LIFE was based on Arthur Schnitzler's "The Affairs of Anatole" with a score by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz. In the pivotal lead role was popular actor Walter Chiari - though he was sadly miscast and may have been one of the factors of the show's quick demise (though the book was most certainly the biggest nail in the coffin). THE GAY LIFE opened at the Shubert Theatre in 1961 and ran for 113 performances.

Barbara Cook memorably played all the female characters in the love-life of Anatole, and got to sing two of the score's most beautiful numbers - "Magic Moment" and "Something You Never Had Before". Because of Walter Chiari's thick accent most of his numbers are slightly diminished nevertheless he has a charming presence on disc. Elizabeth Allen gets the showy gypsy number "Come a-Wandering with Me". Even the Overture is something special and the orchestra features traditional Viennese instrumentation.

Probably one of Schwartz and Dietz's most ambitous scores, certainly one of their most rewarding. For Barbara Cook fans and cast album enthusiasts who missed this cast album's first CD issue (quickly deleted in the early 90's) snap up this edition while you can!

5.0 out of 5 stars Original B'way Cast Album:The Gay Life, January 30, 2010

By 

James S. Kason "Filmusical Buff" (San Francisco Bay Area) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Gay Life (1961 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

A wonderful. melodic score by the famous songwriters Dietz and Schwartz,..with the glorious singing voice of the ageless Barbara Cook.
Highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars Just Gorgeous, July 3, 2007

By 

ljs (Baltimore, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gay Life (1961 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

I'll have to agree with the reviewers who note just how beautiful this score is, and just how much Barbara Cook shines. It's worth hearing this just because it's one of her all too few cast albums. Even aside from that, there's hardly a clinker in here, and it was a superlative finale for Schwartz and Dietz (I think it was their last show). I have to disagree with the person who said Why Go Anywhere At All is pedestrian. It isn't - it's melodic and funny and charming. Elizabeth Allen singing Come A Wandering With Me sends shivers up my spine (after I originally wrote this, I discovered Blueglobo.com, which has the cast recreating this number on the Ed Sullivan show - it was marvellous there, too). And although I can't analyze Something You've Never Had Before with the sophistication of the reviewer who parsed it so well, I have to agree with his judgment. It's as fine a song as any ever written for the stage. You'll love this one, so get it while you can.