Lorelei (1974 Original Broadway Cast and 1973 Touring Cast) [Cast Recording, Extra tracks, Original recording remastered, Soundtrack]

Jule Styne (Artist), Betty Comden (Artist), Carol Channing (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 28, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording, Extra tracks, Original recording remastered, Soundtrack
• Label: Decca Broadway
• ASIN: B0000DJZAE
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #235,012 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I prefer this blonde as well as the original!, November 23, 2003

By 

Alfonzo Tyson (Buffalo, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lorelei (1974 Original Broadway Cast and 1973 Touring Cast) (Audio CD)

LORELEI is a sequel of sorts of the popular 1940s musical GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES. Carol Channing returned to the role she made 25 years before as Lorelei Lee Esmond, widowed gold-digger. To accomidate Channing playing a role meant for someone younger, the musical was made a retrospective with several new songs written by July Styne and lyrics by the popular tandem of Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The best of these new songs is "Men", a rollicking song for Channing. There was originally two recordings of this show: The 1973 touring cast, and the 1974 Broadway cast, with some slight additions and deletions of songs. Thankfully, Decca Broadway felt fit to remaster the recording, and combine the two albums into one recording. I suggest that you buy this CD as well as the Original Cast Recording of GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES from Sony Records for a full appreciation of the score. (Now if only amazon.com would post a picture of the CD cover...)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable recording of a second-rate production, February 10, 2004

By 

Mark Andrew Lawrence "Theatre Reviewer" (Toronto) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lorelei (1974 Original Broadway Cast and 1973 Touring Cast) (Audio CD)

LORELEI is a show that exists mainly because of producers' greed: Cash in on Carol Channing's popularity by reviving her early hit GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES. Design the show for easy touring, make back all the money on the road, come into New York a hit.

It didn't quite work. The road tour lost money and the New York run was less than successful.

The recording works quite well with good stereo sound, and fine performances generally. The CD features all of the score as heard in the pre-Broadway cast album and also weaves in four numbers recorded after the New York opening. The best of these is Channing's showtopping first act finale "Men" (which she also performed to acclaim on the Tony Awards that year.) The worst is a dreadful performance of "It's Delightful Down in Chile" by Jack Fletcher. Ouch!

Sony's Broadway cast album of BLONDES is still the best capturing Carol Channing in a fresher voice and performance. But despite it being a hit in 1949 it was already out-of-date then, and the years have not been kind to this score.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Total Carol Channing Fan, June 8, 2007

By 

BareOpera (Tampa Bay Florida) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lorelei (1974 Original Broadway Cast and 1973 Touring Cast) (Audio CD)

I saw this show on Broadway some years ago. It is great to have it available on cd at last. Although the show didn't get good reviews, when it opened I thought it was in fact better than the original Gentlemen Prefer Blonds... For sure this cd has more songs and better sound than the original broadway show ...