DavesMusicDatabase.com is devoted to ranking, rating, and reviewing music of all genres and eras. The DMDB blog serves up album and song reviews, best-of lists, music history snapshots, and music-related essays.
This list was first posted on March 22, 2012 in honor of the births of two of musical theater’s most celebrated composers (Stephen Sondheim: March 22, 1930; Andrew Lloyd Webber: March 22, 1948). While this list focused on musical theater, a separate list produced around the same time focused on The Top 100 Songwriters of the Rock Era.
My Fair Lady is “the crowning achievement” AZ for lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe. Some consider it to be “the most perfect stage musical ever.” CL “It boasts a magnificent score…witty, intelligent, beautiful, and romantic.” NRR This is “a collection of performances that long ago became a ubiquitous and indispensable fixture of American musical theater.” AZ
The musical was an updated version of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, a story about “the mythic Greek figure who falls in love with his sculpture.” TM In My Fair Lady, the story focuses on “the relationship between an elocutionist” R-C and “pre-World War I London flower girl Eliza Doolittle, who aspires to a better accent and the social advantages that will come with it.” R-S Its 2,700 performances “gracefully spanned the Eisenhower and Camelot eras, then begat a wildly popular film version, whose 1965 Best Picture Oscar capped the show’s decade of prominence.” AZ
The cast album “captures landmark performances by Julie Andrews, Rex Harrison and Stanley Holloway.” NRR Andrews was a “twenty-year-old revelation” ZS as “the fairest of all ladies,” ZS making the “loverly…score soar” ZS with her “glorious voice and emotional range.” ZS Harrison is “effortlessly charming” ZS in his recreation of the stage role as “Professor Henry Higgins (he had also appeared in the film adaptation of…Pygmalion.” R-S
“The show yielded an astounding number of songs that became standards, including the luminous I Could Have Danced All Night and I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face.” TM Among the other gems in this “embarrassment of riches,” AZ including On the Street Where You Live, The Rain in Spain, Wouldn’t It Be Loverly, and Why Can’t the English?.
For the movie version, Harrison and Holloway were back again, but Andrews wasn’t deemed enough of a star although “embarrassingly, by the time the movie opened, Mary Poppins had made her more than enough of a star to do so.” R-S Audrey Hepburn stepped into the role with the singing voice dubbed by Marni Nixon, who “was an accomplished Hollywood voice ghost, having previously sung for Deborah Kerr in The King and I, Natalie Wood in West Side Story, and Rosalind Russell in Gypsy.” R-S
Ultimately the soundtrack paled to the cast recording, which was considered critically and commercially more successful. The cast recording sold 8 million copies in the U.S. and topped the Billboard charts for 15 weeks. It also spent 19 weeks atop the UK charts.
ZS Zagat Survey (2003). Music Guide: 1,000 Top Albums of All Time. Coordinator: Pat Blashill. Music Editor: Holly George-Warren. Editors: Betsy Andrews and Randi Gollin. Zagat Survey, LLC: New York, NY. Page 170.
I Wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight (RICHARD BURTON)
The Simple Joys of Maidenhood (JULIE ANDREWS)
Camelot (RICHARD BURTON)
Follow Me (BERRY/ MARY SUE)
C’est Moi (ROBERT GOULET)
The Lusty Month of May (JULIE ANDREWS)
Then You May Take Me to the Fair (JULIE ANDREWS/ JAMES YARNELL/ JOHN CULLUM)
How to Handle a Woman (RICHARD BURTON)
Before I Gaze at You Again (JULIE ANDREWS)
If Ever I Would Leave You (ROBERT GOULET)
The Seven Deadly Virtues (RODDY McDOWALL)
What Do the Simple Folk Do? (RICHARD BURTON)
Fire on Goodness (MALE ENSEMBLE)
I Loved You Once in Silence (JULIE ANDREWS)
Guenevere
Finale Ultimo (Camelot Reprise) (RICHARD BURTON)
Songs on Soundtrack:
Prelude and Overture - Orchestra
I Wonder What the King is Doing Tonight - Arthur
The Simple Joys of Maidenhood - Guenevere
Camelot and the Wedding Ceremony - Arthur, Guenevere, and Chorus
C'est Moi - Lancelot
The Lusty Month of May - Guenevere and Women
Follow Me and Children's Chorus - Chorus
How to Handle a Woman - Arthur
Take Me to the Fair - Guenevere, Lionel, Dinadan, Sagramore
If Ever I Would Leave You - Lancelot
What Do the Simple Folk Do? - Guenevere and Arthur
I Loved You Once In Silence - Guenevere
Guenevere - Chorus
Finale Ultimo - Arthur and Tom
Rating:
4.633 out of 5.00 (average of 14 ratings for cast album and soundtrack combined)
Quotable: “One of the great Lerner & Loewe musicals” – Wikipedia
Awards (Cast Album and Soundtrack): (Click on award to learn more).
About the Show:
Lerner & Loewe turned to the legend of King Arthur, specifically T.H. White’s novel The Once and Future King, for their 1960 musical Camelot. Initially, Loewe agreed to write the music, but said he had no interest in the project and that it would be his last score if things went badly. WK-C The production of the show was delayed when Lerner had to seek medical attention after his wife left him. WK-C The show initially ran too long with Lerner noting that “only Tristan and Isolde equaled it as a bladder endurance contest.” WK-C
However, the result was a success. “The advance sale for the show was the largest in Broadway history.” WK-C It opened on December 3, 1960, at the Majestic Theatre and ran for 873 performances. WK-C It starred Richard Burton and Julie Andrews and introduced Robert Goulet in his first Broadway role. WK-C It also won four Tony Awards.
Initial reaction from New York critics was mixed, but a 1993 New York Times review noted that the musical “has grown in stature over the years, primarily because of its superb score.... [which] combined a lyrical simplicity with a lush romanticism.” WK-C A 2003 review said “Camelot has it all – a beautiful English princess swept off her feet by a shy, but passionate bachelor king; an ardent French knight, torn between devotion to his liege and an uncontrollable hunger, reciprocated, to be sure, for the king’s tempestuous wife.” WK-C
The story follows Arthur and Guinevere from their first meeting when they have yet to meet, but stumble across each other accidentally. Arthur – still unknown to Guinevere – persuades her of the joys of Camelot in the title song and she agrees to marry him.
Lancelot, a young Frenchman, enters the picture five years later when he comes to become one of Arthur’s knights after hearing about the Round Table, “a democratic system built around the idea of “a new kind of knight – one that does not pillage and fight, but tries to uphold honor and justice.” WC-C He is devoted to Arthur, but he and Guinevere battle feelings for each other.
Their forbidden love is uncovered by Mordred, Arthur’s illegitimate son, who is determined to overthrow Camelot. He accuses them of treason and Arthur, born by his own law, is obliged to burn Guinevere at the stake. To his relief, the escaped Lancelot returns to save her.
Before Mordred attacks Camelot, Arthur meets Lancelot and Guinevere and forgives them. In camp the night before battle, Arthur is inspired by boy named Tom of Warwick who wishes to join the Round Table. Arthur instructs him “to run behind the lines and survive the battle, so he can tell future generations about the legend of Camelot.” WK-S
The 1964 film version directed by Joshua Logan snagged eight Oscars, but ultimately fell short of the Broadway version. “There wasn’t time for half a dozen songs, which have been deleted, leaving the highlights.” WR-S Richard “Harris is a much more demonstrative King Arthur than Burton, overplaying his role as if he's trying to be a royal Henry Higgins, as played by Rex Harrison (in My Fair Lady).” WR-S Vanessa “Redgrave has the impossible task of replacing Andrews…in fact, she can’t sing.” WR-S Franco Nero, who stepped in as Lancelot, had the singing done by Gene Merlino, who’s “ not a patch on Goulet. The result is a mediocre soundtrack album that really doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as the original Broadway cast recording.” WR-S
Originally posted November 22, 2008.
Last updated
September 3, 2018.
Gigi (soundtrack/cast)
Alan Jay Lerner (lyrics)/ Frederick Loewe (music)
Movie Opened:
May 15, 1958
Soundtrack Charted:
June 23, 1958
Cast Album Charted:
February 9, 1974
Sales (in millions):
US: 0.5 S UK: --
IFPI: --
World (estimated): 0.5 S
Peak:
US: 110-S UK: 2 S Canada: --
Australia: --
C cast album S soundtrack
Quotable:
--
Genre:
show tunes
Album Tracks – Soundtrack:
Gigi Overture (MGM STUDIO ORCHESTRA)
Thank Heaven for Little Girls (MAURICE CHEVALIER/ MGM STUDIO CHORUS)
It’s a Bore (MAURICE CHEVALIER/ LOUIS JOURDAN)
The Parisians (LESLIE CARON/ MGM STUDIO ORCHESTRA/ ANDRÉ PREVIN)
Waltz at Maxim’s (She’s Not Thinking of Me) (LOUIS JOURDAN/ MGM STUDIO ORCHESTRA)
The Night They Invented Champagne (LESLIE CARON/ BETTY WAND/ HERMIONE GINGOLD)
I Remember It Well (MAURICE CHEVALIER/ HERMIONE GINGOLD)
Say a Prayer for Me Tonight (BETTY WAND)
I’m Glad I’m Not Young Anymore (MAURICE CHEVALIER)
Gigi (Gaston’s Soliloquy) (LOUIS JOURDAN)
Finale
Review:
After the Broadway magic of 1956’s My Fair Lady, Lerner & Loewe turned their talents toward movie making. Alan Jay Lerner wrote a screenplay for Gigi, based on the 1944 novella of the same name by Colette. He also provided the lyrics for the film’s featured songs and Frederick Loewe created the music, which was arranged and conducted by André Previn. WK-S
The film, directed by Vincente Minnelli, “is considered the last great Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical and the final great achievement of the Freed Unit, headed by producer Arthur Freed.” WK-S The blockbuster was nominated for and won a then-recording-breaking nine Academy Awards. It was selected to the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry and made the American Film Institute’s list of AFI’s 100 Years…100 Passions. WK-S
“The story concerns Gigi, a free-spirited teenaged girl living in Paris at the turn of the 20th century. She is being groomed as a courtesan in her family's tradition. Before she is deemed ready for her social debut, she encounters the bon vivant bachelor Gaston Lachaille, whom she captivates as she is transformed into a charmingly poised young lady.” WK-C
The film “reminds us why modern Hollywood can at times be dismissed with the wave of a hand. This is a grand musical, with seeds sown for much of the movie music that would follow, with even hints of what John Williams would steal for Star Wars. Frederick Loewe’s music is playful and engaging, but the highlight simply has to be Maurice Chevalier. His turns at Thank Heaven for Little Girls, It’s a Bore (with Louis Jourdan), and the hilarious I Remember It Well are timeless classics. The entire album has successfully incorporated a wonderful Parisian feel that lounge artists like Esquivel would go on to emulate.” SW
In 1973, Gigi was made into a stage musical. “The original Broadway production, produced by Edwin Lester in 1973, ran for a disappointing 103 performances but won the Tony Award for Best Score. A West End production played in 1985. A new production of the musical, adapted by Heidi Thomas and directed by Eric D. Schaeffer, premiered at the Kennedy Center (Washington, DC) in January 2015, and ran on Broadway[1] from April 8 to June 21, 2015 at the Neil Simon Theatre.” WK-C
* 2 versions back-to-back on cast album
** appears only on soundtrack
Singles/Hit Songs:
As was common in the pre-rock era, songs from musicals were often recorded by artists not associated with the musical and released as singles. Here are some of the most notable hit singles resulting from the show:
“On the Street Where You Live” – Vic Damone (#4, 1956), Eddie Fisher (#18, 1956), Lawrence Welk (#96, 1956), Andy Williams (328, 1964)
”I Could Have Danced All Night” – Sylvia Syms (#20, 1956), Rosemary Clooney (#49, 1956), Dinah Shore (#93, 1956), Ben E. King (#72, 1963), Biddu Orchestra (#72, 1976)
”I’ve Grown Accustomed to Your Face” – Rosemary Clooney (#70, 1956), Gordon MacRae (#96, 1956)
”With a Little Bit of Luck” – Percy Faith (#82, 1956), Jo Stafford (#85, 1956)
”Get Me to the Church on Time” – Julius LaRosa (#89, 1956)
Rating:
4.462 out of 5.00 (average of 13 ratings for cast album and soundtrack combined)
Quotable: “The most perfect stage musical ever” – Colin Larkin, Virgin All-Time Top 1000 Albums
Awards (Cast Album): (Click on award to learn more).
Awards (Soundtrack): (Click on award to learn more).
About the Show:
My Fair Lady is “the crowning achievement” AZ for lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe. In fact, some consider it to be “the most perfect stage musical ever.” CL “It boasts a magnificent score…witty, intelligent, beautiful, and romantic.” NRR This is “a collection of performances that long ago became a ubiquitous and indispensable fixture of American musical theater.” AZ
Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner
After several productions in the 1940s, Lerner and Loewe first tasted major Broadway success with 1947’s Brigadoon. They next worked together on 1951’s Paint Your Wagon before adapting George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion into My Fair Lady. It was a story about “the mythic Greek figure who falls in love with his sculpture.” TM In My Fair Lady, the story focuses on “the relationship between an elocutionist” R-C and “pre-World War I London flower girl Eliza Doolittle, who aspires to a better accent and the social advantages that will come with it.” R-S
The show opened on Broadway on March 15, 1956. It ran for 2717 performances, closing on September 29, 1962. It had what was then the longest run in history for a major musical. W-M The production has been called “the perfect musical.” W-M
Julie Andrews was a “twenty-year-old revelation” ZS as “the fairest of all ladies,” ZS making the “loverly…score soar” ZS with her “glorious voice and emotional range.” ZS Rex Harrison is “effortlessly charming” ZS in his recreation of the stage role as “Professor Henry Higgins (he had also appeared in the film adaptation of…Pygmalion.” R-S He “enjoys every wink of his ironies: When he describes himself, in I’m an Ordinary Man, his exaggerated demeanor suggests his character is anything but ordinary. That Harrison caught this specific dynamic so early in what became a historic extended run is remarkable.” TM
“The show yielded an astounding number of songs that became standards, including the luminous I Could Have Danced All Night and I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face.” TM Among the other gems in this “embarrassment of riches,” AZ including The Rain in Spain, Wouldn’t It Be Loverly, Why Can’t the English?, and On the Street Where You Live.
As was common in the 1950s, the cast album “was recorded in one marathon fourteen-hour session on March 25, 1956.” TM “Producers tried to schedule the sessions as close to the opening of the musical as possible, thinking that the nuances of the work would be fresh in the performers’ minds.” TM This sometimes backfired, but here Harrison and Andrews “are beyond lively… and the supporting cast – which, as was often the case with Lerner and Loewe, got the meatiest songs – positively sparkles.” TM
“The recording established a new relationship between Broadway productions and record companies; the album’s critical success and popularity with the public were unrivaled at the time of its release.” NRR The cast album spent fifteen weeks atop the Billboard album chart, making it one of the biggest #1 albums in U.S. chart history. What’s incredible, however, is that those chart-topping weeks were spread out over four years time. Billboard magazine named it album of the year – in 1957 and 1958.
The album stuck around on the charts for a total of 480 weeks. Only Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and Johnny Mathis’ Johnny’s Greatest Hits have logged more weeks.
For the film version, Harrison and Holloway were back, but since they were making their third recordings of the score, they didn’t have much to add…The result was an acceptable recording that did not surpass the Broadway or London cast albums.” R-S However, despite starring in the Broadway and London stage productions, Julie Andrews was deemed “not enough of a star to carry the movie. (Embarrassingly, by the time the movie opened, Mary Poppins had made her more than enough of a star to do so.) Instead, Audrey Hepburn stepped into the role.” R-S
Hepburn’s singing voice was dubbed by Marni Nixon, who “was an accomplished Hollywood voice ghost, having previously sung for Deborah Kerr in The King and I, Natalie Wood in West Side Story, and Rosalind Russell in Gypsy.” R-S She “was fine…lacked the flair that Andrews would have given it.” R-S
A “1965 Best Picture Oscar capped the show’s decade of prominence.” AZ
ZS Zagat Survey (2003). Music Guide: 1,000 Top Albums of All Time. Coordinator: Pat Blashill. Music Editor: Holly George-Warren. Editors: Betsy Andrews and Randi Gollin. Zagat Survey, LLC: New York, NY. Page 170.
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