Customer Reviews

She Loves Me (1963 Original Broadway Cast)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

SHE LOVES ME made LP history in being the first original cast album to be spread over two discs. The music is enchanting, the performances are dramatically and romantically brilliant, with special praise for Barbara Cook in her finest characterization. This is a brilliant show, beautifully and lovingly conceived, intimate and glowing with grace and beauty. A true gem and worthy of including in everyone's CD collection. The show was too intimate to survive for long on Broadway (barely over 300 performances)but it did garner Tony noms for Best Musical, Book, Score, Direction and won a Tony for Jack Cassidy in the supporting musical category. A must-hear.

SHE LOVES ME is one of the most beautiful Broadway musicals ever to grace the stage. The gorgeous Sheldon Harnick-Jerry Bock score is filled with strong numbers, there's not a clinker in the bunch. The original 1963 Broadway cast album is still the best-ever available recording of the show (not to mention the most complete).

Based on the film THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER, the story concerns shopkeepers at a European perfumerie store. Barbara Cook (THE MUSIC MAN, CANDIDE, PLAIN AND FANCY) stars as Amalia Balash; with Daniel Massey (STAR!) as Georg Nowack, Barbara Baxley as Ilona Ritter, Ralph Williams as Arpad Laszlo, Jack Cassidy (FADE OUT-FADE IN) as Steven Kodaly and Nathaniel Frey (GOLDILOCKS) as Ladislav Sipos.

Barbara Cook gets the bulk of the show pieces including "Will He Like Me?", "No More Candy", "I Don't Even Know His Name", and the showstopping, now-immortal "Vanilla Ice Cream". Cook joins Daniel Massey for the frenzied, delightful "Where's My Shoe?" and Massey later sings the Title Song to perfection. Barbara Baxley sweeps us up into musical comedy-heaven with the hilarious "A Trip to the Library".

The entire cast is strong and effective. I have said it many times; the Bock-Harnick score surpasses even their biggest hit, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, and its such a crime that the musical isn't well-known to the greater public.

A superb cast album, just as delicious as vanilla ice cream...

This story started as a Hungarian play came to B'way and then Hollywood with James Stewart as "The Shop Around the Corner". It was made into a Hollywood musical with Judy Garland and Van Johnson called "In the Good Old Summertime" and recently was reincarnated as "You've Got Mail" with Tom Hanks. All were good entertainment, but "She Loves Me" is the best. Harnick and Bock have written a perfect little gem and this is the best recording of that gem. Other recordings may have better leads than Daniel Masseybut no one else has Barbara Cook singing Ice Cream-one of Broadway's finest moments!

Barbara Cook is WONDERFUL in this forgotten gem by Bock & Harnick which has only been rediscovered in the last several years thanks to a Broadway & London revival. Miss Cook considers this one of her favorites too, because she almost always performs songs from it in her cabaret and touring act. I was lucky enough to see the London revival in the gorgeous Savoy Theater. I have all 4 cast cds (orig. 1963 cast, London 1964 cast, 1990s B-way revival & 1990s London revival), but I have a soft spot for this particular recording, even tho Barbara Baxley as Illona CANNOT SING. This recording is the only one that has the sweet but sad song "Tango Tragique" complete with clever lyrics. Future productions cut the song but kept the music as background in the cafe scene.

This CD contains the score to (arguably) the best score of the 60s, and certainly the last/best score of the Golden Age of Musicals. It also contains the most incredible performance I have ever seen in a Broadway musical. One only has to hear Barbara Cook's coda to "Tango Tragique" or her plaintive "Will He Like Me" to know why she is a legend. This is also a perfect example of a score in which the lyrics reveal characterizations, advance plot and are sumptuously gorgeous. The singing-acting of Ms. Cook, Jack Cassidy and the others is far superior to all the other versions.

When I purchased this recording, I thought that Bock and Harnick would have the ghost of "Fiddler" haunting this, because that is a great show. This Cd made me forget about "Fiddler". Yes, it is that good. You recieve all the charm of a musical comedy, but much more wit than other comedies. Do Not put this on while you are doing household chores. The show is so absorbed in the music that you must pay attention to enjoy it fully. A good majority of the songs are short, but they still shine. The sound is very good. Most of the performances are great, especially Barbra Cook. She proves she can play, and sing, any role. She plays the pompus librarian in "The Music Man", and plays the unsure store clerk here. Why dont you own this yet? Buy it today.

Before Bock and Harnick wowed the American Musical Theater with Fiddler on The Roof, they composed and wrote "She Loves Me" an innovative musical comedy (for its time) with no chorus, no dancing (though it was expertly blocked and choreographed); just a stream of wonderful music that is captured perfectly in this original cast recording. Just listening to Barbara Cook's crystal clear soprano voice is worth the price; the late Jack Cassidy, Daniel Massey and Barbara Baxter only add to this perfect recording.

I agree with Arne Andersen that She Loves Me made history but only in the fact that it had Barbara Cook. She Loves Me was not the first Broadway Original Cast album to record its music on two disks. Back in 1957 The Most Happy Fella by Frank Loesser not only recorded it's cast album but recorded the complete Broadway performance. It was on three vinyl disks six sides and the boxed set included the lyrics to every number. It is worth tracking down.

Not a single song in this musical is there to make the show long enough or to purposely give it a big hit (although the title song and "Will He Like Me" are just two of the numbers that easily stand alone). If you're a big fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber-style musicals that are visual spectacles with few songs that actually advance the plot, "She Loves Me" isn't for you. You only have to listen to the CD to understand the story. It's wonderful in any version!

My all-time favorite musical, with my all-time favorite musical theater performer, Barbara Cook, in the unforgettable role of Amalia Balash. Every song is a gem, though the musical should be seen on stage to fully appreciate that this is so. Though Barbara Baxley's singing takes a little getting used to, everything else about this CD is divine, and if you can listen to Cook singing "Dear Friend", "Will He Like Me" and "Ice Cream" without melting into a pile of goo, you have no heart. The numerous other songs ("She Loves Me", "Try Me", "Days Gone By", "A Trip to the Library", "Romantic Atmosphere", -- the whole score!) are also wonderful, not an even slightly mediocre song in the bunch. A must-have for any fan of musical theater.