Weill: Lady In The Dark / Stevens, Kaye, Abravanel

Lehman Engel, who had known Weill since 1936 when he helped with the auditions for Johnny Johnson, leads Risë Stevens and Danny Kaye in a performance that is near ideal.

No qualms at all about the sumptuous reissue of the 1963 studio recording of Lady in the Dark. Presented with evocative photographs of the recording sessions, this is an almost complete recording of the musical numbers from this fascinating, curious work. Rise Stevens makes no attempt to imitate Gertrude Lawrence, and her rich operatic mezzo sounds suitably tough - after all she is meant to be the Editor-in-Chief of a glossy magazine, a woman succeeding in a predominantly male world. Ira Gershwin's lyrics are delivered with superb clarity by the Read more un-named chorus, and John Reardon is fine in the Victor Mature role of Randy Curtis, who sings "This is news". In the Danny Kaye part Adolph Green provides an alternative interpretation of "Tchaikovsky". As a fill-up Sony provide Danny Kaye's cover versions of six of the numbers from the show - he failed to upstage Gertrude Lawrence in the production, so he had another go in the recording studio. He takes liberties with the words and music, but it has to be said that his version of "The Princess of Pure Delight" is second to none. Lehman Engel, who had known Weill since 1936 when he helped with the auditions for Johnny Johnson, leads a performance that seems near ideal. Highly recommended.

-- Gramophone [9/1997] Read less

1. Lady in the Dark by Kurt Weill

Performer: Roger White (), Kenneth Bridges (), John Reardon (Baritone),
Stephanie Augustine (), Adolph Green (Tenor), Risë Stevens (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Lehman Engel
Orchestra/Ensemble: Orchestra, Chorus
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1940; USA
Date of Recording: 1963
Language: English
Notes: This selection is a Stereo recording.

2. Lady in the Dark: One life to live by Kurt Weill