Silk Stockings (1955 Original Broadway Cast) [Cast Recording]

Don Ameche, Hildegarde Neff, Leon Belasco, George Tobias, Henry Lascoe, Cole Porter | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000002W1N
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #231,752 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Overture

2. Too Bad

3. Paris Loves Lovers

4. Stereophonic Sound

5. It's a Chemical Reaction, That's All/All of You

6. Satin and Silk

7. Without Love

8. Hail Bibinski

9. As on Through the Seasons We Sail

10. Josephine

11. Siberia

12. Silk Stockings

13. The Red Blues

14. Finale

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cole Porter's Final Broadway Show, September 30, 2003

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Silk Stockings (1955 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

SILK STOCKINGS is seldom performed today--and this is really a great pity, for on stage it is a memorable show: with words and music by the legendary Cole Porter and a script by Leueen MacGrath and the legendary George S. Kauffman, everything about the play is very "high style" indeed. Recorded in stereo shortly after the play's Broadway opening in 1955 with the original Don Walker orchestrations directed by Herbert Greene and with the original cast, this soundtrack is one of the better 1950s Broadway recordings.

The story, of course, is a riff on the classic Garbo film NINOTCHKA--the tale of an icy USSR agent (Hildegarde Neff) who arrives in Paris to check up on the behavior of several Soviet agents (Henry Lascoe, Leon Belasco, and David Opatoshu), only to find her communistic determinations undermined by the attentions of an American suitor (Don Ameche.) The story also contains a subplot about an American actress (Gretchen Wyler) on the loose in the City of Light, and the witty story offers considerable scope for Porter's ultra-urbane music and ultra-witty lyrics.

This would be Porter's last Broadway show, and some critics consider it one of his weakest scores--but that is really only true when compared with such frequently revived Porter classics as KISS ME KATE and ANYTHING GOES. Everything one could expect from Porter is here, from elegant ballads to wickedly witty patter songs with the most convoluted lyrics imaginable. "Paris Loves Lovers" offers a memorable duet between Ameche and Neff, as he details the sensual delights of the city even while she rattles off the party line in retaliation--and then goes on to verbally body slam the entire notion of romance with the comic dryness of "It's A Chemical Reaction, That's All." And "As On Through the Seasons We Sail" is a classic, if little known, Porter ballad.

But the real knock out here is Gretchen Wyler, who has three of Porter's drop-dead comic numbers in "Stereophonic Sound," "Satin and Silk," and "Josephine"--numbers that mock movie audiences, make hilarious commentary on underclothing, and bombastically present a Hollywood mythology of French history. Who would have thought Josephine was "commonly called Jo?" It's truly memorable stuff.

If you're looking for the crackle of Porter's 1930s work or the sly qualities of his 1940s hits, you may be disappointed with SILK STOCKINGS--for this is very much a 1950s musical, brash, lightweight, and with everything in the shop window. But no matter how you approach it, it is still Cole Porter. And even a lesser Cole Porter jewel is still a jewel for all that.

--GFT (Amazon Reviewer)--

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hildegarde Neff - "Greatest Singer without a voice", March 15, 2001

By 

Rainer Gützkow (Velpke, Niedersachsen Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silk Stockings (1955 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

I ordered this CD because I'm a fan of Hildegard Knef (Hildegarde Neff)and in Germany you can't buy songs by her of the 50th. But this record is more than an episode of her career. All actors sing brilliant an Cole Porter's music is fascinating. I'm also impressed by quality 50 years ago.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must for Cole Porter fans., November 8, 1999

By 

Robert D. Gibney (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silk Stockings (1955 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

It was Cole Porter's score that led Silk Stockings to a 478 performance run. While it is not Porter at his best it contains plenty of swell numbers. Maybe the best is "All of you" which critic Fred Lounsberry called "a lyric masterpiece>"