Customer Reviews

Meet Me In St. Louis (1989 Broadway Revival Cast)

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

 

 

MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS was adapted for the Broadway stage in 1989, with an expanded score by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane and featuring a cast made up of first-timers and seasoned veterans. The cast album is a pure delight.

The story concerns the Smith family: Mr and Mrs Smith (George Hearn and Charlotte Moore), Grandpa (Milo O'Shea), son Lon (Michael O'Steen), and daughters Rose (Juliet Lambert), Esther (Donna Kane), Agnes (Rachel Graham) and precocious Tootie (Courtney Peldon). There's also the comical old cook Katie (Betty Garrett).

The plot zeros in on Esther and her romance with the 'Boy Next Door', John Truitt (Jason Workman). With the Worlds Fair coming to St. Louis, exciting times are ahead, but when Mr Smith announces that the family will be moving to New York very soon, it looks like Esther's romance will come to a premature end. Other subplots include Tootie's antics culminating in a very-eventful Halloween, and Rose's various suitors.

Donna Kane is well-suited to the role of Esther. She sounds eerily like Judy Garland, particularly during "Under the Bamboo Tree" and leads the company in a soaring "Trolley Song".

Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane beefed up the score significantly for the stage version, adding new numbers like "Be Anything But a Girl", "Ice", "A Touch of the Irish" (a showstopper for Betty Garrett), "A Day in New York", "Diamonds in the Starlight" and the big dance number "Banjos" led by Michael O'Steen. Blane and Martin also lifted two songs from their BEST FOOT FORWARD score ("Raving Beauty" and "You Are For Loving"), and re-wrote some of the old movie songs.

All-in-all, a great cast album.

All I can say is awsome! I bought because the movie soundtrack wasn't available at the store I looked for it. It was such an awsome buy. The overture is brilliant! And the added songs are all showstoppers. The ballads will make you cry and the upbeat ones will make your toe tap! The sound is so clear that it feels your actually seeing it. The cast it great. Donna Kane goes a little overboard with her Vibrato but gives a satisfying perfomance. The best song in the show is You are for loving which was written specialy for the show. This is a great CD that you won't regret buying!

I'm going to be in a production of this show, and I needed the CD to learn how the songs went. I bought it used, because I didn't necessarily need a new one for my purpose. The CD case had a few signs of being used before, which I expected, but the CD played perfectly! I'm very happy with my purchase. It is exactly what I needed!

If you are planning on using this for a source for a staged production, they have changed so many songs from this CD you won't recognize it. It is still lovely music, but many songs in the currently available staged show are not on this.

Whenever I got into musicals one of the first musical movies was MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS. I loved every minute of it. The music was great. I emideatly tried to find the movie soundtrack but couldnt find it, so I bought this one instead. I liked it even more than the movie. I like Judy Garland but Donna Kane is great too. The singing is great! I don't know why they don't have the cut song from the movie "Boys And Girls," but it's still good. I like the halloween song sung between Katy,the maid, and Tootie, it was cute. What I am dissipointed about was the booklet. The pictures were small and not in black-and-white. No lyrics and no good pictures!! But the singing was great!!!!!!!!!!!

I recently played Esther in Meet me in St. Louis, which was one of the best experiences of my theatre career. I have to say the play really is pointless, with no point or plot, and simply goes a little bit at a time to the next song...but the music is sentimental, lovely, and I like this cast. I like singing it even more...but I have to say, it's fun to listen to.

Alright, I have always loved the 1944 MGM Judy Garland film, and am a fan of the great Garland and her vibrato - which wasn't fake. Donna Kane, although, has the fakest vibrato I've ever heard! She'll hold a note for two seconds ("Under the Bamboo Tree") and it'll be all vibrato, but when she holds a note for a while (last note in "Trolley Song"), no vibrato!!! What?!? Donna, it sounded better with no vibrato. At least, hold your note for a bit before going into the vibrato if it's fake! Besides the annoying vibrato on Donna, I like the rest of the album!

The main attraction of this cast album is the singing of Donna Kane in the leading role of Esther Smith. Kane has a lovely voice with a firm, clear middle register and a delightfully bubbly vibrato. Her renditions of "The Boy Next Door," "The Trolley Song," and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" are beautiful. The album is excellently presented and produced. Yet on the whole this MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS cannot compare with its source, the 1944 MGM musical starring Judy Garland. To make a stage version of such a classic and beloved movie musical is rather pointless.

ok I never listened to this I just went on the site and found out. when I was listening to a sample of Boy Next store and The Bamboo Tree the girl almost sounded like Judy Garland I thouht she was brillant. this record is probably as good as as the MGM Film soundtrack version. my mom watches Meet Me In St. Louise alot on Sundays. I recommend you get this it is such a great record.

Not a pulse racing moment in this show - dreadful!

Louis Burke the producer was stoked on his own hubris from producing such drivel in South Africa.

The fact that his even merited a preview much less an opening and recording! speaks volumes about Broadway and those who would be kings thereof.

Avoid this! cast album!