My Fair Lady

To reviewer Martin I. Saperstein - and anyone else I can buttonhole: My Fair Ladyitis was NOT confined to NYC in the mid-1950s! As a 7 year-old Londoner, I was transfixed by the LP my father brought home for me and my brother. Now that I have listened to this recording again, as a 60 year-old, I am beginning to understand why. On so many levels, My Fair Lady, and this version in particular, is an artistic and cultural tour-de-force. What an education in speech, music, song-writing, the mysterious nature of men and women, the relations between them - and how to encapsulate all of this in magnificent songs, brilliantly performed - to put in the hands of a child. But there is still another dimension that catapults this piece of art beyond the category of best 1950s musical, or even best all-time musical - the plot is built on one of the Greek myths that still offers insight into the nature of men and women, at a very deep level. The delightful cartoon/caricature on the album sleeve quietly alludes to all that, and more. My father had his own caricature of the title of the song that climaxes the whole musical: he would sing "I've thrown a custard in her face" (we were also all great fans of slapstick at the time). We all laughed at this, but I knew, even at 7, that if we had not, then we would all have cried. Even now, I cannot understand how such a young child could have had such an excellent intuitive understanding of a fundamental contradiction that so many men face in their attitude towards Woman. Why can't our present culture produce art like this?

As critic Ethan Mordden points out, MY FAIR LADY is a weird kind of musical play. In a field given to American themes and settings, this one is set in Edwardian England, only incidentally features male-female romance (in fact, has a great deal to say against the very idea), leans heavily on the published words of G.B. Shaw's PYGMALION, and features no small amount of songs and Sprechstimme about the glories of the English language. But we Americans are a pragmatic lot and why argue with success? The songs are wonderful, delivery crisp (even Rex Harrison's studied non-singing vocals), and the play ran for years on Broadway in the Fifties, a year or two back then equalling a good five years for today's media-drenched pop operas and jukebox musicals. This MY FAIR LADY cast album, produced by the justly famed Godard Lieberson, found its way into countless American homes. Now it's readily available on CD, one of the great glories of American musical theater. Personally speaking, I'd rather have this cast album in my home than the 1964 Warner Bros. movie on DVD, because the words, wit and tunes outweigh the visuals, great though they are too.

Known among "Theatre Officianatos" as "The White Album", I grew-up with this recording and have always loved it! From a historical perspective, it's one of the "Best Selling" recordings of all time (Topping all genres including Pop, Rock, Country, etc.) Columbia Records and producer Goddard Lieberson were last minute "Broadway Angels" investing $400,000 in the original production for the rights to record the Original Cast Album. The show may never had made it to Broadway without the Columbia's investment which is one of the most lucrative ever made (they also went on to record The Original London Cast ("The Green Album") and release The Original Film Soundtrack.) Recorded only 10 days after the opening and on the record store shelves the following Wednesday, the performances are fresh, exciting and Miss. Andrews never sounded better (only 20 years old!) There are two additional "bonus tracks", one a live interview with the cast right after the 14 hour recording session the other a Columbia Records Promo from 1961. My only issue is the packaging. I quite frankly don't like the cardboard casing in place of the old "jewel box." As trivial as it sounds, also don't like the "generic" looking center of the CD itself. I loved the grey "Columbia Eye" logo that brings back so many memories of listening to so many of these recordings as a child. The booklet included is quite informative. A must have for any Theatre lover, or lover of any kind of pop-culture in general. Brilliant score!

Thank God - this made it to be a fully re-vitalised CD Original Broadway Cast album. I had a CD version of this for years that was all crackly and clearly just transfered from the LP with no 'work done' to revitalize it! Ho beautiful to hear it in it's full glory here - The impact, the fullness, the sheer intensity that this cast album has - as a current of energy rivals that of any other Broadway Original Cast Album I have heard. Recorded within 10 days of the Broadway opening night - the orchestra and the cast sound as if they are riding a wave that is beyond even themselves. Any other version of this score is, and always will be, compared to the brilliance of this Cast album. The interview on the final track is amazing to hear. Rex and Julie are on SUCH a high after just finishing recording it - and it truly must have been an incredible moment in the history of the Broadway genre all in all. If you are consider yourself and kind of self-respecting Broadway afficionado - GET THIS!

This is a wonderful CD and includes all the songs from the Broadway show featuring Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison. A short segment at the end interviews some of the actors as well as Lerner and Lowe describing how they wrote the songs and music. Rex Harrison's songs were written so he could speak them, not sing them as it sounds like he is doing If you have seen the show or movie, this CD is highly recommended. They don't write songs like this anymore!

Loved the actors, story line and music

Das Original der Aufführung konnte ich nicht erleben, jedoch in einem Kino in Ithaca, New York in der Nähe der Cornell University einen Film derselben sehen. Ich war dort mit Freunden und habe den Film genossen. Er bleibt seit 55 Jahren ein Lebensereignis. Ich geniesse die CD immer wieder. Keine andere Aufführung kommt meiner Meinung nach daran heran.

Excellent CD. My parents had the record and I danced to it when I was young, and now that I bought the CD I listen to it almost every day. I also used to do a small theatrical representation of what I thought would be the last scene of the play for my brother and friends to see. I had already seen the movie starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn in 1965 and wished I could have seen the original play starring Julie Andrews. Anyway it is a joy to remember the good old days through listening to this beautiful operetta !!

You can be sure you have by the initials LP in the top right hand corner of the cover. It will also have a bonus track at the end of the album containing interviews with Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews. The Hallmark version is to be avoided as it is mastered from an inferior source. Why this version? It catches the original cast still enthused with post opening night adrenalin and no other matches it. Don't worry that it isn't stereo. The Sony remastering brings out the best in this wonderful recording. This is pure magic.

classic musical excellent cast and songs

Wonderful I only wish a video of the stage production was available