MASTERWORKS BROADWAY ANNOUNCES TWO FORGOTTEN ALBUMS MAKING THEIR CD AND DIGITAL DEBUTS
A Thurber Carnival (1960 Original Cast) – January 24
David Merrick Presents Hits from His Broadway Hits (1964) – February 21
MASTERWORKS BROADWAY, praised by the Wall Street Journal for its ongoing reissue campaign, continues to make good on its promise to open its vaults with more classic cast recordings previously unavailable in the CD era. A Thurber Carnival (1960 Original Cast) and David Merrick Presents Hits from His Broadway Hits (1964) will be available as downloads through all major digital service providers and as disc-on-demand, with the original cover art and liner notes, via Arkvimusic.com and Amazon.com. Both releases will be accompanied by new album pages and photos on MasterworksBroadway.com.
Making its CD debut, A Thurber Carnival opened at the ANTA Theatre in New York City on February 26, 1960 and ran for 223 performances. The original cast recording, with music by Don Elliott, includes sketches from the satirical revue which brought James Thurber’s famous New Yorker cartoons and short stories to life. According to Kenneth Tynan’s original New Yorker review A Thurber Carnival is “a tonic anthology of the great man’s work compiled by himself, and easily the funniest show on Broadway … (with) music which is unfailingly spruce and witty.” Featuring Tony Award®-winner Peggy Cass, Paul Ford, John McGiver, Alice Ghostley, Peter Turgeon, Wynne Miller, Margo Lungreen and Charles Braswell, A Thurber Carnival will be available on January 24, 2012 through all major digital service providers and as disc-on-demand, with the original cover art and liner notes, via Arkivmusic.com and Amazon.com.
By 1964, thousands of long-playing record albums had showcased Broadway musicals and performers, but there had never been one that had celebrated a Broadway producer – until October 1, 1964 when RCA Victor released David Merrick Presents Hits from His Broadway Hits. Soon after Merrick had opened his biggest hit – Hello, Dolly! – record producer George R. Marek thought an album should celebrate the producer. Marek used his recording artists John Gary, Ann-Margret and The Merrill Staton Voices to give lush treatment to a dozen songs from a dozen different Merrick musicals – eight of which, starting with Gypsy, received Tony nominations for Best Musical. The songs range from standards (“Small World”, “Make Someone Happy”) to hits (“Take Me Along”, “Love Makes the World Go Round”) to not-famous songs that deserve another listen (“Anyone Would Love You”). On CD for the first time, and with new liner notes by distinguished author, theater journalist and MasterworksBroadway.com blogger, Peter Filichia, David Merrick Presents Hits from His Broadway Hits will be available on February 21 through all major digital service providers and as disc-on-demand, with the original cover art and liner notes, via Arkivmusic.com and Amazon.com.
