BECAUSE OF THE LENGTH OF THIS WEEK’S SUNDAY OPERA, THE DRESS CIRCLE WILL BEGIN ONE HOUR LATER THAN USUAL AT 8:00 P.M. (ET)
As promised, we’re back with more Literary Based Musicals on this week’s Dress Circle (11/16 8:00 p.m.), Once again, we’ve focused on four novels as source material realized in fourteen songs from six different recordings.
We’ll begin with the worldwide phenomenon “Les Miserables” which was beautifully extracted from Victor Hugo’s five-volume, 1,900 page novel by Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg, and Herbert Kretzmer.From the original Broadway cast, we’ll turn to performances by the original Jean Valjean, Colm Wilkinson, Fantine, Randi Graff, and Cosette (Judy Kuhn), Marius (David Bryant), and Eponine (Frances Ruffelle).
When Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein proposed turning Edna Ferber’s “Show Boat” into a musical, she thought they were insane.However, when she heard a few of the songs they’d written, she knew it would work.We’re turning to a 1932 studio cast recording for performances by the first Jule, Helen Morgan, and the gentleman for whom the role of Joe had been written, Paul Robeson.You’ll also hear Barbara Cook and Stephen Douglas from the 1966 Lincoln Center cast, and Paige O’Hara and David Garrison from the 1988 John McGlinn complete recording that is just a gem.
We’ll follow this with a Rodgers and Hammerstein flop that was based on John Steinbeck’s “Sweet Thursday” (the sequel to “Cannery Row) entitled “Pipe Dream..”The singers here include Judy Tyler (shortly before her untimely death), Helen Trauble, and William Johnson.
Our final show is “Henry, Sweet Henry” which was based on Nora Johnson’s novel “The World of Henry Orient” about a mediocre pianist who is followed by two schoolgirls who are his only real groupies.The cast here features Don Ameche, Carol Bruce, and Robin Wilson.The musical was heavily criticized because a lack of characterization and unfocused book, but one of the real issues came in the fact that another schoolgirl character who is mentioned mostly in passing in the novel, was elevated in the musical and given the two best numbers in the show by composer Bob Merrill.Alice Playten knocks it out of the part with “Nobody Steps on Kafritz.”
You’re sure to know two of the shows this week, but we think you’ll also enjoy the two that are less familiar as well.It’s another hour of good music and great performances.
