Search - Ethel Merman, Fernando Lamas, Virginia Gibson :: Happy Hunting (1956 Original Broadway Cast)

A nice musical with a great star

04/10/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Broadway's best diva, the ever original Ethel Merman sings in a show that she had a bit of a tough time with. She didn't like the composer, who apparently didn't like her either, and it shows. But it's a nice musical, with some hummable melodies, that harken back to the time when if you had an idea for a musical, and you could get a big star to do it, you'd get the backing in no time flat."

HUNTING FOR A GREAT SHOW? IT AIN'T THIS ONE

Alan W. Petrucelli | THE ENTERTAINMENT REPORT (ALAN W. PETRUCELLI) | 06/30/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"DRG is a CD company obviously devoted to completists. With their current release of Happy Hunting, you can now have a complete collection of Ethel Merman's Broadway shows. Merman herself referred to the show as a jeep among limos--- the trip was bumpy, but it got you there. Based loosely on the Grace Kelly Monaco marriage, it's quite similar to the Merm's previous Broadway outing, Call Me Madam, except that Hunting is not very good. Merman was lucky and smart enough to surround herself, usually, with talented creators, but the score is awful. Composed by Harold Karr, the man parodied as the composer-cum-dentist in Bells Are Ringing, there is neither a hit nor a memorable song in the show. The male lead, Fernando Lamas, is wooden and unmusical, and caused endless trouble for Merman on and offstage. History reminds us that this was Lamas' only Broadway show, but his antics such as wiping his mouth after an on stage kiss, and then telling a TV talk show host that kissing Merman was like kissing a cross between your uncle and a Sherman tank could not have endeared him to his female lead. Only a solo and a duet with the Merm have been embarrassingly immortalized here. All in all, this is the ultimate CD to play at the end of the night when you want all of your guests to go home. Few if any would survive the first few cuts, and fewer would find an unkinder cut anywhere."

Merman's most obscure musical returns to the catalogue

Byron Kolln | the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood | 08/27/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"In 1956, after a five-year absence from the Broadway scene, Ethel Merman returned in HAPPY HUNTING, which turned out be be one of her worst career missteps. Written by newcomers Matt Dubey and Harold Carr, the show was riddled with problems; most stemming from Merman's uneasy on-stage relationship with her male costar Fernando Lamas. The show played for 412 performances, mainly due to Merman's star wattage.



A fish-out-of-water story not too dissimilar from Merman's last Broadway hurrah "Call Me Madam", HAPPY HUNTING featured a score from the relatively new songwriting team of Matt Dubey and Harold Carr (the show's book was provided by "Call Me Madam" veterans Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse). Inevitably the best numbers go to Merman, and she dazzles with "Gee, But It's Good to Be Here", "Mr Livingstone", "This Is What I Call Love", "The Game of Love", "I'm a Funny Dame", and the Title Song, and gives the score much more fanfare than it deserves. Merman also gets a couple of fun duets with Virginia Gibson, who played her daughter in the show ("Mutual Admiration Society" and "A New-Fangled Tango").



Long out-of-print (probably for very good reason), HAPPY HUNTING will be a delightful surprise for those who missed the last CD edition. Well worth getting for hardcore Broadway collectors or fans of The Merm. [DRG-19108]"