How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1961 Original Broadway Cast) [Cast Recording]

Frank Loesser (Artist), Robert Morse (Artist), Rudy Vallee (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 15, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording
• Label: RCA Victor Broadway
• ASIN: B000003EZ7
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,038 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #33 in Music > Miscellaneous > Nostalgia

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's irresistable -- get the original!, July 18, 1999

By 

Joe M. Turner "America's Corporate Conjuror" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1961 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

Sure, the new recording with Matthew Broderick has jazzy orchestrations and more numbers, but the original with Robert Morse, Bonnie Scott and Rudy Vallee is still the way to go.

Less experienced listeners may have their heads turned by big orchestration changes and recognizable movie star names on the marquee, but the original recording boasts Tony winners Robert Morse and Charles Nelson Reilly (a riot!). Then there's Bonnie Scott, whose portrayal of Rosemary has a more appealing sound than that of the revival. Plus, for all the extra numbers included in the 1995 recording, they cut the original Act 2 opener, "Cinderella Darling."

The bottom line? This original recording is truer to the creators' intent and more in keeping with the integrity of Frank Loesser's (my favorite "golden age" Broadway composer) fabulous score. Broderick is good (also a Tony winner!), but Morse and company give the definitive performances. I mean please, would you buy a "Hello, Dolly!" without Carol Channing? I didn't think so. It's much the same with Morse, Reilly, Scott and Vallee. Stick with the original.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real life fairy tale..., July 8, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1961 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

Many people have come into contact with and grown to love Frank Loesser's work through his most famous musical, the wonderful Guys and Dolls, but in my opinion this is infinitly superior and no broadway collection can be said to be complete without it. I immediately fell in love with this musical, but at first I was unable to see wherein the charm actually lay. The music, while catchy and fun to listen to, is not extraordinary, and, while Loesser's lyrics are clever and creative, he is certainly not my favorite lyricsist. The cast is excellent and perfectly suited to the piece, but that is the case in many of the original cast recordings of the best broadway musicals. And yet, despite not being overwhelmed by it, I could not stop listening to it. At length, I concluded that it is the story and the nonchalant, carefree feeling of the piece that captivates me. Each character is somehow endearing, in every song it is possible to relate to their emotions and desires, and yet, at the same time, it is so light and funny; at times it is as if nothing could shatter the playful frolicing world Loesser has created. Musicals are usually built around unusual events or are set in unusual places; it is the very simplicity that makes this recording so endearing, the idea is such a basic one, a young man trying to make his way in the world, and yet he goes about it in such an unorthadox fashion that the audience is instantly charmed and sucked into the story. From the first moment that he appears on stage we want him to succeed. That is the mark of a good musical. This down to earth, innocent style is especially well embodied by Robert Morse and his Rosemary, Bonnie Scott. It is impossible to listen to Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm or I Believe in You without a smile coming to your lips. And there are many other wonderful moments on this CD. M personal favorite is The Company Way, but I cannot resist the charming Been a Long Day, the electricfying Paris Original, the lovely Rosemary or the wonderful climatic moment that is Brotherhood of Man. Buy this recording, dont even think abut buying the revival cast first, (i mean, come on, how could they leave out Cinderella, Darling? It's one of the catchiest moments on the whole CD) or better still buy the Deluxe Edition if you can. But whatever you do, dont hesitate to buy it at the earliest oppurtunity. Even if you dont believe me, take a look at the facts, 1,417 performances, every possible award for best musical in its season, a Pulitzer Prize, (if nothing else sways you that should, I mean, only two other musical won one) productions all over the world, a successful revival, a reasonably successful film...I could go on and on. Please, just do me a favour and invest in something that you will enjoy for the rest of your life.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This irresistible New York original, September 14, 2009

By 

Jay Dickson (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Deluxe Edition) (1961 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

By 1961 most successful Broadway musicals were adaptations of novels or stage plays, and the whole idea of a workable musical satire was something that had seemed to gone out with the Gershwins. Then out of almost nowhere came this Abe Burrows-Frank Loesser work based on Shephard Mead's satirical (and non-narrative) take on the post-War rat race, and the critics went wild: HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING was considered the freshest breath of air on Broadway since MY FAIR LADY, and was a tremendous popular success, running through 1,417 performances. Its perennial cleverness, which is reminiscent of nothing quite so much as Gilbert and Sullivan's better satirical operettas, has been testified to by the success of the mid 90s Broadway revival (with Matthew Broderick), the innumerable high school and community theater productions since, and its tonal influence on the recent television critical hit MAD MEN. But this original Broadway recording has a special quality that deserves consideration all on its own, if only for the definitive rendition of its hero, J. Pierrepont Finch, by Robert Morse, its memorable performance in the heroine's part of Rosemary by Bonnie Scott (who did practically nothing else on Broadway), and its stunning orchestrations (which were successfully jazzily revamped for the 90s version, but which in their original form retain their own special form of charm).

There's no other very successful Broadway musical from the Golden Age of the genre quite like this in that not a single number from it became anything like a standard. The two catchiest numbers (the ballad "I Believe in You" and the showstopping finale "The Brotherhood of Man") are represented here in alternative form as extras on this disk by jazz recordings by J. J. Johnson and Woody Herman (respectively), but the former song is sung by the hero to his own reflection in a mirror, and the latter is a parody belying the truth of everything we've seen in the rest of the show. But as in Gilbert and Sullivan, many of the best songs cannot be lifted from the musical's context without being rendered almost nonsensical, yet for all that they retain their unforgettable qualities. It's great to hear this score sung by Morse, of course, but the revelation may be Bonnie Scott's Rosemary with her plangent voice, which brings out all kinds of unexpected qualities in "Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm," "Paris Original" (the first-act comic showstopper, inexplicably left out of the 1967 film), and the charming and the scathingly biting "Cinderella, Darling" with its spectacularly tricky key changes (also omitted from the 1967 film and the 1995 Broadway revival). Other highlights of this recording include Ruth Kobart's hilarious prim Gospel riffs in "The Brotherhood of Man" and the brilliant arrangement for "A Secretary is Not a Toy." Extras include some of Walter Crokite's narration and the reprises of "Been a Long Day" and the title number for the 1995 revival, and some interviews with Robert Morse and Charels Nelson Reilly (the original Bud Frump, the villain of the piece.