Customer Reviews

Plain and Fancy (1955 Original Broadway Cast)

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

 

 

PLAIN AND FANCY is a lovely vintage Broadway musical that's now largely forgotten, sadly. It opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on January 7, 1955, and closed a mere twelve days before MY FAIR LADY moved into theatre, more than a year later. PLAIN AND FANCY ran a modest 461 performances.

The plot concerns the humorous clash between city people (Shirl Conway and Richard Derr) and the Amish folk they meet when they want to sell an old farm. The musical is best-remembered for the lovely ballad "Young and Foolish", and for being the leading-role debut of Barbara Cook (who would go on to further greatness in CANDIDE and THE MUSIC MAN).

The score is a delight, featuring the good character-piece "It's a Helluva Way to Run a Love Affair". Barbara Cook's 11 o'clock number "I'll Show Him" exhibits some questionable lyrics but is belted in her best style. The score was written by Albert Hague and Arnold B. Horwitt.

This new CD reissue from DRG includes liner notes from Barbara Cook, whilst the sound quality is very impressive from a cast album of this age. Highly-recommended for Broadway and Barbara Cook fans!

I think this would have been more enjoyable if the sound had been improved. With a few exceptions it sounds like one is listening to the LP of this show that was issued in 1955. The sound is uneven and makes the singers voices very unattractive.
Albert Hague's music and lyrics are very uninteresting. One popular song from the 50's came out of this show "Young and Foolish". David Daniels and Gloria Marlowe acquit themselves admirably in this number.
The saving grace is the fact that Barbara Cook was in the show. It's always a joy to listen to her even if the recording makes her voice seem a bit shrill and uneven. What a pity.
I am puzzled as to why DRG reissued this. There are a few photos and some liner notes that were penned by Barbara Cook this year.
Too bad they didn't improve the sound quality.
Oh well

a meiocre score but nice to have Barbara Cook's performance on record.
Best song is City Mouse, Country Mouse, otherwise a forgettabel score.

Then there are the 1950s musicals that were hits, ran a season and were promptly forgotten. This is one of them. Nothing really terribly wrong with the score...but there is nothing to get excited about either. The earlier CD reissue by Broadway Angel has better notes and more pictures in the booklet.

Interesting subject, nice voices but dull melodies. There's not even one song you'll remember after you listen to this. I would recommend it to Broadway musical cd collectors and Barbara Cook fans only. The rest, please stay with West Side Story, Sound of Music or Cabaret...