Customer Reviews

Wildcat (1960 Original Broadway Cast)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh's first Broadway score and it's a winner in every song. The book is a sort of Annie Get Your Gun plot with Lucy as the ugly duckling who blossoms and tones down her competitive ways to win her man. Keith Andes sings beautifully opposite her. The show should be revived because the score is fabulous and the book is certainly serviceable. The production closed after only 162 performances due to Lucy's inability to keep up the Broadway stamina of eight performances a week and there being no one of similar quality to take over. Ann-Margret was to have done the film but it never materialized. A great show album with fine performances, comedic acting and rousing singing.

Knowing I've been on a search for Wildcat for many years, a friend recently bought it for me through Amazon and what a delight it is. I had the pleasure of seeing Lucy in Wildcat on Broadway in 1960 and hearing the music again brings back the thrill I had at seeing my idol in person. The quality of the CD is great, the music is fabulous and it surely demonstrates Lucy's comedic genius. This CD is a must for any Lucy fan !

If you love Lucy you'll love this CD. You would normally think that she wouldn't sing very much on it due to her "unique" voice, but there are only about 3 songs that she doesn't sing. A must have for and Lucy fan.

In late 1960, a friend and I attended one of the first performances of WILDCAT, a new musical at the Alvin Theater --now the Neil Simon Theater. We wanted to see the Broadway starring debut of Lucille Ball, at that time TV's outstanding comedienne. And we wanted the answer to the question of the ages: could she sing? The answer: No. But she could stay somewhere near the melody and she was kinda funny, so that left the musical stuff up to the rest of the cast and the musicians in the pit. The first Broadway score by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh had some neat plot-moving songs and one smash hit for Lucy, "Hey, Look Me Over". RCA brought out the LP and, later, the inevitable CD. One of the best parts of the recording is --believe it-- the overture. Orchestrated and arranged by Robert Ginzler and Sid Ramin (who had delivered one of the smash theater arrangements of all time with the charts for Styne and Sondheim's GYPSY)and conducted by John Morris, who, the following year, was to give ALL AMERICAN a zip and pizzazz far superior to its book, WILDCAT's CD reincarnation should please theater fans who want to hear the choreography in the orchestrations (the whole shebang is directed and choreographed by Michael Kidd)and the characters' personalities in the songs (Keith Andes and Paula Stewart stand out). Excellent mens' chorus, right up there in quality with "Guys and Dolls" and "Paint Your Wagon". The original LP and the transition to CD are very good, helped immensly by the taping location in what was then RCA's Broadway-show recording studio, Webster Hall, a second-floor, former ballroom in lower Manhattan. Controllable reverb and a neat sharpness balanced on the treble side add to the excitement of the brassy score. Enjoy!

There's not much to add to the many positive reviews here, except to reiterate that "Wildcat" is a delight. I've been slowly replacing my show LPs, and the general test of whether or not to invest the money is if I can get certain songs out of my head. "Tall Hope" and "Corduroy Road" have been knocking around in my brain for years, so I took the plunge, got this CD, and am very glad I did. How great to rediscover comic gems like "What Takes My Fancy," and the beautiful ballads "You've Come Home" and "One Day We Dance." I have always felt that Carolyn Leigh was one of the most brilliant of lyricists, and this, her first score with the equally inspired Cy Coleman, does nothing to diminish that opinion. Had she not battled inner demons, there's no telling what this team could have accomplished. The cast is uniformly perfect, led by Lucille Ball, who gives what sounds like, at least, one of the great musical comedy performances. The voice is surprisingly strong, and the timing is, of course, impeccable. Hard to believe the show wasn't a bigger hit. I'd love to see Encores bring it back with someone like Sutton Foster, Meghan Mullaly, or Kristin Chenoweth.

WILDCAT is back. Not the show, but the original Broadway cast recording.

This is one of those "fabulous flops" that have enough good elements to make you almost wish - I said almost - for a second chance. I am sure the show is still staged sometimes by community theatre groups who could have a lot of fun with it. But it was built on Lucile Ball's star power and without her it is less interesting.

Ball tends to "shout" the comedy songs (although her singing is not as bad as Lucy Ricardo's - that was just exaggerated for gag purposes) and she does seem stymied by ballads like "That's what I want for Jamie." It's not a bad singing voice, just an untrained voice.

There are strong songs in the Cy Coleman-Carolyn Leigh score, beyond the obvious hit: "Hey Look Me Over."

"One Day we Dance" and "You've come home" are superior ballads that deserve to be better known. But two chorus numbers "Tall Hope" and "Corduroy Road" hint at Coleman's musical gifts that are only beginning to develop.

RCA Victor recorded the cast album in Webster hall two days after the show opened. The sound, as is typical of RCA cast albums of that period has a harshness that digital restoration cannot eliminate. The record was in stores in January 1961 and remained in print until 1970 when it was discontinued. RCA's CD edition was released in 1991, and it also had a healthy 10-year run in the active catalogue. Now DRG is giving it another shot, mainly for those who missed it the first time, and for the growing base of fans of Lucille Ball (and Lucy.)

Physical exhaustion and severe illness forced Lucille Ball to prematurely end her acclaimed Broadway musical debut in WILDCAT, however the sparkling cast album remains for us to savour.

Tailored around the talents of it's ebullient, red-headed star, WILDCAT opened on Broadway, during a crippling blizzard, on December 16th 1960 at the Alvin Theatre following a very promising tryout in Philadelphia where critics praised Ball's exciting musical performance as Wildcat Jackson. Unfortunately for Ball, still suffering from a nasty leg injury she'd sustained during the filming of THE FACTS OF LIFE, and not quite prepared for the rigours of doing eight performances a week on Broadway, illness and exhaustion soon set in. Lucy--and the show--bravely limped along for 171 performances.

Lucy glows on the cast album however, where she joyfully crows what would become the show's hit song "Hey, Look Me Over!". Other delights to be had include "Tippy Tippy Toes", "Corduroy Road", "Tall Hope", and "What Takes My Fancy". The wonderful supporting cast boasted Keith Andres as Wildcat's love interest, and Paula Stewart as her lame sister Janie.

Thankyou DRG, for bringing back the bouncy WILDCAT! [DRG-19119]

Lucille Ball can sing through most of these number showing she can sing! Her voice had only been showcased in Dance Girl, Dance, DuBarry was a Lady, and the Long, Long Trailer, but her Lucy's voice shines. Most of the songs are carried out to vocal excellency especially "Hey Look Me Over!" For any Lucy fan this CD is a must, and it is ten times better than the Mame soundtrack. (Personally, I only like there the numbers "Open a New Window" and "Bosom Buddies.")

Have you ever heard a song just one time and found it permanently engraved in your memory? Well, for me that song was "Hey look me over". I heard it just one time one a summer night in the early sixties. A local radio station was playing this album with the announcer reading the story line between tracks. The show failed because Lucy's health just couldn't stand up to being on center stage for ninety percent of the show twice a day for six days a week, so I never heard it again. Occasionally I would hear some marching band playing the tune, but I never heard the words sung again for forty years. The remarkable thing was that, from that one hearing, I could remember every word but one. the missing word was from the line that goes; "I'm a little bit short of the elbow room, but let me get me ...., then look out world, here I come!". Then, after forty plus years, I looked it up and found that it was available from Amazon, so the very next payday I ordered it. It was pretty costly but I felt it was worth it just to find out what that @#$% missing word was. Then I found out why it was so expensive. The album had never been released on CD, but an archive had it stored in their computer and was able, by paying royalties to the record company to offer a replication complete with a copy of the original artwork and liner notes reduced to fit in a jewel box case with the CD. Finally, I was able to listen to the entire soundtrack and hear the missing word: it was "some". and I was pleased to notice that the song was just the way I remembered it and had sung it back to myself over a hundred times over the years. I hadn't remembered the other songs on the album, but they were worth listening to.
How would I critique this album? Pure Lucy! It is easy to see why the show had to fold when Lucy collapsed on stage. Even on the album, she towers over the rest of the cast like a redheaded dynamo. Nobody in the world at the time could have taken her place except, possibly, Debbie Reynolds. Over the years, we have been so impressed by her comic genius that we tend to forget that she was just as brilliant as a singer, dancer and actor. This album showcases that other side of her skills. It is a shame that she never got a chance to make a movie version of this show, because it would have certainly have outshone her other musical, Mame.
The music in this show is light and cheery, and most of the cast was equal to their parts. The plot is basically an excuse for the songs and is forgettable for the most part. There is a bit of condescention towards Hispanic people that grates, now that we know more of the history of that culture. Nobody who knows the courage of the Mexican people and the suffering they have endured in their long quest for freedom can be content to see them portrayed as funny little men in floppy hats, living only for the next fiesta. It is saddening to see how ignorant we were just forty years ago. Aside from that short digression into stereotyping the play is basically just a fun evening. Nothing serious, a comedy tonight. If I had been able to get a ticket, I would have gone, had a good time, and carried the memory down through the years of seeing a great lady of comedy at the height of her powers.
I hope the record company will see fit to re-release this album, because every Lucy fan should get a chance to hear her perform at one of the major turning points in her career. For those who love lucy, this album is a Must Have Item.

First of all, I must admit, I am a Lucille Ball fan. But that being said, this is truly a great cast album to add to your collection. First of all, you get Cy Coleman's music from his first musical. From the opening bars of the Overture, you can tell this is going to be an energetic musical and it is. "Hey, Look Me Over" in particular has to be one of the best 6/8 marches ever written for a musical. Secondly, you have Lucille Ball. I was amazed at how well Ball sang, being that she is Lucy who can't carry a tune. The rest of the cast is in fine form and the "Living Stereo" recording from RCA captured the orchestra just right, making it seem fuller than the usual broadway cast recordings of its time. By the way, just a note to a previous review, this show closed because Lucille Ball could not keep up healthwise with doing 8 performances a week. She passed out at a performance and wanted to close the show down for more than a month, but because of the musicians union, they couldn't afford to keep it open. Overall, a fun album to own.