Customer Reviews

Mr. President: A Musical Comedy (Original Broadway Cast)

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

 

 

Mr. President came out in the early 60's. It's the fun story of a ficticious president and his family in the White House. The story is more fluff than meat, but I like several of Irving Berlin's songs, especially the duet, "Empty Pockets Filled with Love." I'm afraid, though, that only those who knew it when, and may have an old LP in their collection, would buy the CD now to upgrade their collection as I did. If you're into Broadway show music, you may want to give it a try.

I remember seeing this show on Broadway when I was a kid. I STILL remember the music and how much fun it was. It was Irving Berlin's last score -- not great, but sure close enough. So many unrelated things conspired like a Perfect Storm to close this show which was really very unfortunate.I wish this CD was more readily available because I would buy it in a flash.

This was a great cd. I saw Nan Fabray on a rerun of What's My Line? and my interest was piqued by her mentioning starring in the show. Sadly the show seems to have closed due to the long newspaper strike of 62-63 and of course, the assassination of JFK (even though the show's is not based on the kennedy's as is stated in the first song, you feel they must have had some influence.) All in all a great show but sadly won't probably be revived since so much has changed about the presidency since 1962.

But...it's not. The score by Berlin is pleasant enough, but lacks a really dynamic song or two. Robert Ryan was a fine actor but a poor singer and his "It Gets Lonely in the White House" is quite painful.

The original LP was packaged in a gatefold jacket with 4 pages of notes and pictures inside. The cover was a foil-like material that glittered.

This CD edition was withdrawn a few years after it was released and is quite scarce. Maybe Sony will make it availble again as a download. It's not an essential cast album, and the show will never be revived, but it has enough of Berlin's old-fashioned melodies (and Nanette Fabray) to make it worthwhile.

Update (March 2009): DRG has just reissued this title.Mr. President (1962 Original Broadway Cast) [CAST RECORDING] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

I was lucky enough to see Mr. President the day after it opened. It was bright, witty, energetic and just plain fun. Robert Ryan was simply great as the president by being a very strong, very believable president. His singing voice was hardly great, but who cares? He was magnificent in the part. Nanette Fabray is one of the most talented and underrated performers in the business. She can he funny, warm and touching all at once. I would love to see the show revived. Maybe the critics will be kinder than those at the time who took exception to the rousing finale, "This is a Great Country," and bashed the show for its patriotism and flag-waving finale. As the song says, "If this is flag waving, do you know of a better flag to wave?" I don't...and neither did the audience the night I saw it.

I finally was able to locate the CD of this show. The music from the first half the show has some verve and reflects the idea of the white house. "They Loved Me" is quite good with Nannete Fabray belting it out. And Anita Gillette's "The Secret Service" is amusing. But with the election having ended the rest of the show just peters out especially musically. The finale of "This is a Great Country" is typical Berlin patriotism, but it does not measure up to his other patriotic hymns. Robert Ryan's singing is not outstanding, but he does carry the tune and for collectors it is good to have his voice on a CD.

The patriotism was ridiculous and stupid. But the songs! This show was a landslide. Every song was a winner. Even the last one, if you're rock ignorant or don't give a damn. It has a great tune. And is well done. Pity. I think it's the best show Berlin ever wrote, at least it's the best one I ever heard. The singer/actors were adequate, they put the songs across.

Look at the liner booklet's inside front cover photo and you'll see the problem. Here are five giants of show business, all up in years, all past their prime, doing a vaguely topical show about politics. It couldn't work. (Another clue: Irving Berlin isn't sitting at his transposing piano, the "Buick".) Politics and musicals are indifferent bedfellows at best: witness "Of Thee I Sing", which mates a superb score with a senile book. The quintumvirate behind "Mr. President" never considered the audience's instant assumptions, especially with a young dynamic JFK in office, and with comedy albums hitting their stride, and Vaughn Meader recording "The First Family" just six days before these songs; all they could offer was weak White House tea. The show was such a disappointment that except for two interpolations in the '66 revival of "Annie Get Your Gun" Berlin never wrote for Broadway again.

Sad, for while "Mr. President" ranks with the second-tier shows from "Miss Liberty" on it has a charming score, put forth by a fine cast. Indeed one laments how such considerable talents as Nanette Fabray and Anita Gillette were underused in their careers -- Miss Fabray never did quite reach the apex despite her looks and appeal, while Miss Gillette graduated to TV and game shows. Never mind, they're in fine fettle here, as are the strong-voiced Jack Haskell as the First Boyfriend (they don't make Broadway singers like that anymore) and the unlikely Robert Ryan, quite credible in his flag-waving finale. Clearly the material didn't meet the performances halfway.

Odd CD production note: Didier Deutsch uses a different take for the closing of "The Only Dance I Know": here the orchestra just kind of falls apart, where the LP has a smooth vocal fade-out. It is always annoying to find unexplained changes, and one wishes Deutsch, a capable producer, had informed the audience why.

My parents saw this show in the 1960s and bought the soundtrack/album. The entire family loved listening to the album and all 7 kids could sing right along with each song! My 4 sisters are planning a "girls weekend" soon and I've been tasked to bring along the album (if I can find it!) so that we can have a reminiscent sing along!

Mr President was a wonderful show; I saw it when young, and it was performed with great skill and art. It seemed so right, in the Kennedy era to have this kind of thing around.

However, the times have changed, and even then, in the early 60s,Irving Berlin (so fabulous!) was running low on his patriotic fuel.putting Robert Ryan in this, who had just done Lonlihearts and Billy Buidd, hardly hopeful visions of Americana or the military.An odd choice, but perhaps Joshua Logan saw the possibility for placing an obstacle in the path of the audeince, and then , let it go. What the hell.

It's worth a listen for the incredible absurdities of these songs in a White House, a place of tension and supposedly high discourse, but Berlin knew the crippling naivete of Americans, so solidly embedded in everyone, for a while, and then reality seeped in and we had Nixon, the Bush family and others, and now this musical seems more of a curious document on the cultural decline of this country. We grew up eventually, and in the shadow of awful leaders.

Can you imagine a musical like this today? About Bush? It would have to be like The Producers, with Springtime for Bush and Texas or something.

Poor Mr President; a thing gone with the wind.