Album Release Date: July 12, 2011 |
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“An absolutely delicious and memorable score ... sublimely melodic and frequently hilarious, as good as musical comedy preservation and resuscitation gets ”
–Style Chicago
“An excellent complete recording, extremely pleasurable. Part of its appeal is the youthfulness and high spirits of both the lyrics and the music. A rich score [performed by] an impressive, spirited cast, and conducted with finesse by Eric Stern.”
–Howard Kissel, Huffington Post
“Rightly called 'the best musical that no one has ever heard.' Llisten to the truly great songs and rediscover the joy of hearing the likes of Marin Mazzie, Phillip Chaffin and Toronto’s Graham Rowat unearth a masterpiece!”
–Toronto Star
“Takes you back to the time [when] writers really had something to say. This was a flop? Unthinkable. Follow the adventures of Solomon Bundy through time and enjoy a treat that’s not a forbidden fruit but one that was out of reach for far too long. Top shelf all the way. ”
–Midwest Records
“Like manna from heaven. The lush score is a proverbial gold mine of sparkling tunes – here recorded and presented for the first time with superb liner notes by producer Tommy Krasker. And, oh, that cast! ”
–Next Magazine
“Thanks to PS Classics, this shamefully neglected score is beautifully rendered with a first-class cast. ”
–Stamford (CT) Times
“An astonishing restoration, filled with gorgeous melodies and some truly witty lyrics, which are delivered by an A-list cast. Musical theater lovers will most likely be cheering the arrival of this release for years to come.”
–Theatermania
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Sweet Bye and Bye
2011 Studio Cast Recording
Marin Mazzie, Philip Chaffin & Danny Burstein
Could SWEET BYE AND BYE be the greatest theatre score no one’s ever heard? It certainly boasts an amazing pedigree: music by Vernon Duke, lyrics by Ogden Nash, a book by S. J. Perelman and Al Hirschfeld. It crashed and burned during its pre-Broadway tryout in 1946 for various reasons -- some conceptual, some creative, some casting-related -- but at the end of the day what’s left is a glorious collection of songs: restlessly inventive, playful and romantic -- perhaps Vernon Duke’s finest theatrical achievement. A futuristic farce sending up big business, telecommunications, robotics, space travel, self-help groups and even the traditions of courtship and matrimony, at heart SWEET BYE AND BYE is a simple love story with some of the most beautiful ballads Broadway had ever heard. The world premiere recording of this Broadway-musical-that-never-was has been lovingly restored from Duke and Nash’s original manuscripts by producer Tommy Krasker and orchestrator Jason Carr. With conductor Eric Stern leading the orchestra, and featuring a cast of Broadway and recording veterans -- including Danny Burstein, Philip Chaffin, Jim Stanek, Heidi Blickenstaff, Graham Rowat, Michele Ragusa, Telly Leung, Sara Jean Ford and, in the starring role originated by Dolores Gray, Marin Mazzie (with guest appearances by Fred Applegate, John Cullum, Georgia Engel, Joel Hatch, Edward Hibbert and Rebecca Luker) -- SWEET BYE AND BYE is perhaps the ultimate jewel in the crown of PS Classics’ forgotten musicals series.
"It's a ball! Danny Burstein is amusingly all bluster and bellowing as a big business bigwig who's easily frustrated, full of himself and full of baloney. His satisfying showpiece of self-satisfaction and self-aggrandizement, 'Ham That I Am,' is a buoyant tour de force. He's a high-energy hoot as he tries to play his cards right with a simple, shy, bewildered tree surgeon named Solomon who inherits a fortune and controlling interest in the company. Solomon is played and sung cannily by Philip Chaffin, who doubles as co-head of PS Classics and one of its leading vocal lights on their studio cast albums and his solo CDs. He brings a nerdy naïf's fish-out-of-water wonder to the role in the early sections, making what could be just a cartoony lost soul surprisingly soulful. His 'Round About' has great range, with tenderness, frustration and an explosion of rage. Marin Mazzie struts with splash in the brash 'Diana,' selling herself confidently as the person ready, willing, and super-able to polish Solomon into a hard-nosed corporate sharpie. -- Rob Lester, Talkin' Broadway
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- Prologue
- Sweet Bye and Bye
- "Scientists Scene"
- Born Too Late
- Ham That I Am
- "Solomon at Futurosy"
- Yes, Yes
- As You Were Saying
- Diana
- Factory Ballet
- Too Enchanting
- I Says to Him
- Let's Be Young
- "Diana Says Goodbye"
- Round About
- Executives Anonymous
- Knife's Recitative
- Our Parents Forgot to Get Married
- My Broker Told Me So
- Just Like a Man
- Utility Polka
- It's Good
- Where is Bundy?
- The Sea-Gull and the Ea-Gull
- Eskimo Bacchante
- Sweet Bye and Bye (reprise)
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