Customer Reviews

Lorelei (1974 Original Broadway Cast and 1973 Touring Cast)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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...)

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 But despite it being a hit in 1949 it was already out-of-date then, and the years have not been kind to this score.

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 ...

Had the good fortune of seeing Carol perform this show in the seventies and the recording is magnificent. Basically it is a "redo" of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. It keeps the good songs and adds a couple of new ones. The score is also jazzier and with a larger orchestra than the original. If you're a fan of the original, buy this (even more so if you're a fan of Carol)

LORELEI is a remake-sequel to GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES, once again starring the fabulous Carol Channing as Lorelei Lee. Jule Styne collaborated with old pals Betty Comden and Adolph Green, who wrote some new songs to fit amongst the previous numbers from GPB by Styne and Leo Robin. LORELEI started out as a national tour (during which all the wrinkles were ironed out), before going to Broadway, where it met with mixed reviews and quickly shuttered. Curiously, a cast album was recorded at the start of the tour, preserving the many numbers that were subsequently cut prior to Broadway; and another cast album was duly recorded after the Broadway opening. This reissue on the Decca Broadway label combines both albums, presenting the cut numbers from the tour album restored to their running-order in the show. Channing was surrounded by a strong cast including Peter Palmer (Broadway's original LI'L ABNER), Brandon Maggart and Lee Roy Reams (both fresh from APPLAUSE) as well as the leggy Tamara Long (from DAMES AT SEA), with Dody Goodman in the role of Ella Spofford (played by Alice Pearce in BLONDES). As a brand-new musical, LORELEI falls flat because it relies too much on GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES. Still, the musical has a lot of charm. Just listen to Channing's infectious "Men" or the toe-tapping Title Song performed by Peter Palmer (amazingly cut during the national tour!). A top job from Decca Broadway.