Customer Reviews

Take Me Along: An Original Cast Recording (1959 Broadway Cast)

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

 

 

"Take Me Along", the musical based on Eugene O'Neill's only comedy "Ah, Wilderness", is not a great musical but it is certainly better than a lot of them that followed. It has a charming score that is not complicated and some excellent performances by the cast. Jackie Gleason as Sid and Eileen Herlie as Lily are a perfect match as the middle aged love interest. Robert Morse makes his biggest debut on Broadway as the delinquent son of an upper middle class Connecticut family. Walter Pidgeon and Una Merkel fill out the family nicely.
Given the fact that the musical opened on Broadway in October, 1959 it has held up well over the ensuing years. There was one attempt to revive it in 1985. It lasted one night on Broadway.
For musical comedy afficionados this CD is a must. Plus the CD booklet is handsomely packaged. It also contains many details of the bickering between producer David Merrick and Jackie Gleason, and the bad relationship between the very ego centered Gleason and co star Walter Pidgeon.
If all this was not enough it is great to listen to.

I had trouble obtaining this CD, but finally did and am glad I put forth the effort...I had a Hal Bowens' Orchestra rendering of the Musical on an old LP, which I enjoyed listening to for years and have since put it on CD, but is nice to add the Original Cast CD to my collection...this is probably the only Musical Jackie Gleason ever did and he is wonderful as Sid, and is well supported by Eileen Herlie (who just passed away at about the age of 90), Robert Morse, and Walter Pidgeon...it is very melodic with tunes by Bob Merrill (Funny Girl, How Much is that Doggie in the Window, and other novelty songs)...this is an old fashioned Musical, which for the most part has gone by the wayside, although, it would be wonderful to see a revival of this show....the music grows on you...."Promise me a Rose" "Sid OL Kid" "Nine O'Clock" "But Yours" "Wer'e Home", title song and others...all of the stars have passed on for the most part other than Robert Morse, who achieved later fame in "How to Succeed in Business", among other stage plays..Walter Pidgeon later would star as Flo Ziegfeld in the movie version of Funny Girl, and Eileen Herlie, would make a name for herself later in life in one of the major soap operas on Television, and also played many classical roles on stage in her native British Isles, as well as in the United States...she also appeared in the 1962 show "All American" which introduced the hit, "Once Upon a Time," a duet with the star of that show "Ray Bolger" I would also recommend this show for your collection, another neglected golden oldie....I must give kudos to Amazon and others for making these Cast Albums available, since they have been impossible to find for years..

This barely-known musical based on O'Neill's "Ah Wilderness!" is worth listening to and -- if you're a producer -- worth doing because of the great score and lyrics. They wonderfully capture the people and the period. It needs a new major production.

Go back to the early days of broadway musicals and you will find this charming musical to be quite moving. Although the cast lacks any great performances, save Jackie Gleason's Tony Award winning portrayal of Uncle Sid, the lyrics are sung in a heartfelt way. Simple melodies, along side the tongue twisting lyrics keep you listening. The score lacks any show stopping musical numbers, however the soft shoe duet to the title song between Unlce Sid (Gleason) and Nat Miller will be running through your head. Take Me Along is as far from any modern Broadway musical as you can get, but overall it is a pleasant change.

I get so upset when someone tries to compare a musical written over 40 years ago with the current crop of Broadway musicals.
I saw Take me Along with the original cast and it was wonderful with a score to match all the wonderful performances.
Just to see the likes of Jackie Gleason and Walter Pigeon doing a soft shoe live on a Broadway stage was an experience in itself.
Eileen Herlie, Myrtle of All My Children, gave a moving performance that brough tears to the audiences' eyes when she sang, If You Promised Me A Rose.
Please people do not compare the tuneful musicals of 40 years ago with the musicals of today.
I saw Wildcat with LUCY and as well as the musicals of that era as a child and I always left the theater humming a song or two.
What musicals of today can you say the same thing about????
Why are the revivals the major musicals on Broadway today???
By the way, some year years back, I saw an all black production of TAKE ME ALONG and it was just as wonderful as the first time I saw the show. The music still held up as well as the book.
Fortunately, I was able to obtain a recording of this production and unfortunately this production was never picked up for a revival on Broadway.
To quote another most hummable tune from one of those ole Broadway musicals, I Ain't Down Yet and neither are the great musicals of the 1960s!!!!
To me the greatest musicals ever written were from the late 1950s through the 1960s.
There will never be a time again when such stars as Carol Channing, Mary Martin, Ethel Merman, Bea Lillie, Gwen Verdon, Angela Lansbury, Inga Swenson, Liza Minnelli, Georgia Brown, Elizabeth Allen, Joan Diener and Barbra Streisand all competed against each other at one time or another for the coverted Tony Award.
That was Broadway and they were STARS and the shows had MUSIC and LYRICS.