Search - Julie Andrews, Robert Merrill, Giorgio Tozzi :: Show Boat Rose Marie

Two rare cast albums on CD for the very first time

Byron Kolln | the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood | 02/18/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Flare brings back two of RCA's most popular studio cast albums of the late 1950's - SHOW BOAT with Patrice Munsel, and ROSE MARIE starring Julie Andrews. Both will be eagerly welcomed by show music collectors.



Recorded during her stay in the London production of "My Fair Lady", the 1958 studio cast album of ROSE MARIE saw Julie Andrews triumphantly rise to the challenge of performing in the operetta style for incredibly the very first time - something her voice was quite adept to do in that magical period, with it's uncanny capacity for the higher, lyrical soprano passages. One of RCA's first stereo cast albums, ROSE MARIE also features musical direction from Lehman Engel, and famed opera superstar Giorgio ('Hotsy') Tozzi as Jim.



Recorded two years earlier and also under the baton of Lehman Engel, the 1956 studio cast of SHOW BOAT was geared as a showcase for two of the opera world's best crossover artists, Patrice Munsel and Robert Merrill (playing doomed lovers Magnolia and Ravenal), with Rise Stevens as Julie. Because SHOW BOAT was literally composed on the cusp of the operetta and musical theater evolution, the songs come easily for Munsel & Co. SHOW BOAT is a work which does benefit greatly from classically-trained voices. Recorded in warm mono, the album is full of beautiful production values.



Two rare albums for one small price. [Flare Records ROYCD304]"