Customer Reviews

The Pajama Game (1954 Original Broadway Cast)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Super score. Two standards of the genre: Hey There and Hernando's Hideaway, but also a number of outstanding production numbers and duets: "Seven and a Half Cents", "Steam Heat", "I'll Never Be Jealous Again", "There Once Was a Man". Most of the singing is excellent but sometimes I have to admit Janis Paige isn't on pitch and I prefer (dare I say it) Doris Day in the movie. John Raitt is the professional he always was. This is a 50's musical through and through, filled with serious love songs, comedy with a satirical bite, and endless energy. The extra tracks on this CD are nothing too wonderful, with excerpts from a pretty banal interview with composer Jerry Ross, but they do include a song you won't hear (for good reason -- despite inteviewer Mike Wallace's glowing support it is a pretty bad song) in the show. Want to know why this show was so good: George Abbott, John Raitt, Bob Fosse, Harold Prince, Adler and Ross, Eddie Foy, Jerome Robbins, Carol Haney, Peter Gennaro. Yes, there are shows with a power-packed line-up like that, that have been bad, but not many. Enjoy the memories this will bring back.

"The Pajama Game" is a truly great musical. Although it's most popular songs have truly been immortalized, such as "Hernando's Hideaway" and "Hey There", the show itself seems to be sadly forgotten by many (depite winning both Best Score and Best Musical in the Tonys). It remains very popular with amateurs and high schools, though.

This recording of The Pajama Game, a remastered version on the original cast, has VASTLY improved sound and some great extra tracks. Despite the new tracks, though, a lot of the score is completley missing from this recording, and a lot of the songs have been abridged, cutting out dialogue sections and a lot of dance music, like the wonderful "Jealousy Ballet" number, but the loss can be both a blessing and a curse.

The cast is the best recorded, in my opinion.

John Raitt as Sid - I'm not sure if this show was Raitt's star turn or Carousel was, but regardless, he is a fantastic talent and it really shows on this recording. His solos on this recording are superior to any other renditions. "Hey There", "A New Town Is a Blue Town", and "There Once Was a Man"(my personal favorite) are just fantastic. Great all around.

Janis Paige as Babe - Ok...she grows on you. If Paige is not singing in a more characterized voice, than she needs to be shot because she sounds like a wounded animal, BUT for the role her funky voice is very well suited. Her belt voice doesn't use much vibrato or any classical broadway norms, but her much grittier voice brings a more "real" feel to her character. "I'm Not At All In Love" is great and her comedic-like turn in "There Once Was a Man" is also fantastic.

Eddie Foy Jr. as Hines - I just recently finished performing as Hines in a production of "The Pajama Game" so I know the role well. Foy is my favorite recorded Hines, he has such a different voice and personality to his character that simply cannot be imitated. It's a shame so much of his role was cut from the movie. "I'll Never Be Jealous Again" is pleasantly comic, "Think Of The Time I Save" is cute and pleasant, and the opening is also great. An excellent performance.

Carol Haney as Gladys - Gladys is THE show stealing role of "The Pajama Game", and the underrated and underused Carol Haney stole this production way back when. Haney is cooky, lovable, and on stage, a fantastic dancer. Haney stepped into the role originally envisioned for Gwen Verdon and made it the role it is today, funny and wonderful. Haney sings two of the show's classics, "Steam Heat"(the best recorded), and "Hernando's Hideaway" both totally wonderful.

Stanley Prager as Prez - A really great performance. Prager gives a rough, growling voice to Prez and it comes off as a great perfomance. "Her Is" is great, as is "Seven and A Half Cents"(although Prager's voice humorously cracks in mid-verse). A good performance.

Reta Shaw as Mabel - Can't pull off a cute and perverted old lady any other way. Shaw's performance is solid in "I'll Never Be Jealous Again" with Foy. Pleasant to listen to.

Well, all in all, this recording, though very abridged, has the best cast and is just as good as a choice for a recording of the show. Both is better, but for casual and curious listeners, this one beats the London cast. For those who really want the full score, go London. If I had to pick the superior, I would very reluctantly choose this one(reluctantly, due to the abridged score and Ms. Paige. One thing is for sure, every theater lover must own a copy of this wonderful show.

Ignore the curmudgeon who only gives this recording 2 stars! I have had this CD for about five years, listen to it regularly, and it never fails to get me singing along, or laughing at its very witty lyrics. True, Pajama Game is not Oklahoma or Carousel, but it has a pretty terrific score, the great singing of John Raitt and supporting players like Reta Shaw and Eddie Foy. Songs that have become standards from this show include "Hey There," "Steam Heat," and "Hernando's Hideaway." I happen to love "I'm Not At All In Love," and "Once A Year Day" is infectious. For all lovers of Broadway, not just nostolgia buffs, this is a necessary recording! The show won Tony's for Best Musical, Best Composer, and Best Choreography.

A monster hit when it opened in 1954, and still a staple of community theatre groups, PAJAMA GAME has a delightfully refreshing score that never takes itself too seriously. On the whole it offers a better-than-average number of stand-out songs: "I'm Not At All in love", "Hey There", "Small talk", "Steam heat", "Hernando's Hideaway" and the ensmble "7 1/2 Cents." There are, however a few stumbles. "A new Town is a Blue Town" is dreary. "Her Is" is silly although the Bob Fosse dance routine made it work on stage. Both these were dropped from the movie version, so I suspect the authors also felt this material was weak.

The movie retained all of the original cast leads except for Janis Paige as Babe (replaced by Doris Day.) Day sings Babe's songs better, so your choice between the cast album and the movie soundtrack will depend on whether you need the whole score or not.

As for ths reissue...once again Sony has done a first-rate job. The sound is full bodied and rich, though necessarily mono, and the package includes some well-written liner notes.

I recently performed (Hines) in a revival of this show in suburban N.J. Although the show shows its age, it is such an enjoyable show to put on. The music is great, the Fosse choreography is great, and the plot provides for lots of laughs. This particular recording has a bit of a problem, though. The chap who plays Prez runs out of air in "Seven and a Half Cents". Oh well!

Not as "Hollywood" as the video release of the Doris Day classic, but a fine stage representation. More songs included here than in the movie version, and many of the same performers. A lively cast with many fun and memorable songs.

THE PAJAMA GAME is one of the greatest Broadway musicals, and its not hard to see why.......

A great score by Adler and Ross, fabulous choreography by Bob Fosse and great performances by Johh Raitt, Janis Paige, Eddie Foy, Reta Shaw and Carol Haney, all add the glitter and frosting on this perfect souffle of a musical show.

Janis Paige, whom one reviewer on this page said "sounded like a fog-horn", is great as Babe Williams. This was Paige's first stage role, and she would later go on to follow Angela Lansbury in MAME, among other things.

John Raitt (the original Broadway production of CAROUSEL), is dynamite as Sid Sorokin, and he would later reprise the role for the film version opposite Doris Day as Babe, but with the bulk of the B'way players intact, including Shaw, Foy and Haney. (Sadly sans Janis Paige).

All in all, a superlative recording, with impeccable sound clarity, and additional material that is great to have hold of.

Certainly, the "Columbia Broadway Masterworks" series is a God-send, featuring fully remastered audio, and re-produced original LP artwork.

My father was a big fan of Broadway musicals. I remember going to see the Pajama Game and Damn Yankees in a summer stock theater in Warwick R.I. which contributed to me developing my own love for musicals in the 50's and 60's. This recording though in monaural is an excellent reproduction of the LP record my father had and I used to listen to (sans scratches!). I would recommend this to any person who used to like these old classics. I would like to see a local theater group do this some day before it's completely forgotten. The interviews with the composer/lyricist and notes in the CD were wonderful too.

The 1950's might have been dreary and repressed in a lot of ways, but the decade had its redeeming aspects, including a seemingly endless parade of terrific Broadway musical comedies. Rogers and Hammerstein and Lerner and Lowe created the best-remembered shows, but there was a spate of terrific productions by lesser-known songwriters that still sound fresh and vibrant decades later. One of these is "The Pajama Game," which later was made into a highly entertaining film version starring the just-now-truly-appreciated-as-gifted Doris Day. The original Broadway presentation was fabulous, however, and listeners now can enjoy the music in a remastered and greatly improved version of the cd.

"The Pajama Game" was unique in its selection of subject matter; how many shows have been based upon a factory labor dispute? The theme of class struggle is dealt with in lighthearted fashion, but it still reminded the mostly affluent live audience that the women who sit and sew pajama seams hour after hour indeed end up with fingers that ache and don't have constitutions "made of rock," and that "seven and a half cents" per hour in wages can make a huge difference in one's standard of living and outlook.

Then there's the music itself, which with a few exceptions is terrific and memorable. People unfamiliar with the show will already likely know the show's biggest hits, "Hey There," made famous by Rosemary Clooney, "Steam Heat," and also the Latin-themed "Hernando's Hideaway." To lend variety to the musical offerings, there also is a humorously charming tune performed by Eddie Foy, Jr. in his role as the obsessively Taylorist "time-study man," and more comic relief in the form of a duet about obsessive jealousy by Foy and Carol Haney . There's also the rousing "Once a Year Day," the infectious duet between Janis Paige and John Raitt, "Small Talk," and the workers' triumphant finale, "Seven and a Half Cents." Overall, the quality of the songs is first-rate, and listeners will find themselves humming tunes from the show long after the cd has been tucked away in its case.

Of course, a musical cd cannot convey the total look and feel of a Broadway production, and in this case it's a shame, since the choreography and staging of "The Pajama Game" definitely added to its overall charm. After listening to the music, people today should definitely pick up the video version of the Hollywood film version of the show, so they can enjoy the visual as well as the auditory pleasures of this wonderful production.

Geez....this was an okay CD and some of the songs such as Hey There and A New Town Is a Blue Town were great because John Raitt has an excellent voice but Janis Paige I couldnt' say the same about. I'm sorry but those high notes were torture...she seemed as though she was having a horrible time herself trying to reach them. The songs are all classics but I would look into maybe buying a different version of this classic.