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Gershwin: Oh, Kay! / 1994 Studio Cast


Release Date: 05/16/1995 
Label:  Nonesuch   Catalog #: 79361   Spars Code: n/a 
Composer:  George Gershwin
Performer:  Fritz Weaver,  Liz Larsen,  Robert Westenberg,  Patrick Cassidy,   ... 
Conductor:  Eric Stern
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Orchestra of St. Luke's
Number of Discs: 1 
Recorded in: Stereo 
In Stock: Usually ships in 24 hours.  

This CD is reissued by ArkivMusic.

Notes and Editorial Reviews

The key number is "Fidgety Feet," for that's what you'll get once you hear all these danceable songs.

At the time of its first productions in New York and London, just four songs from Oh, Kay! were recorded, and these have been the ones that have held their place in the standard repertory ever since: "Someone to Watch Over Me", "May-be", "Clap Yo' Hands" and "Do, Do, Do." Ira Gershwin claimed that anything could be "leeringly inflected" to imply overtones and undertones. The great merit of this, the final in the current series of Gershwin musicals from the Library of Congress Recordings and Publishing Project, is that Eric Stern, his orchestra and Read more soloists, don't try to add layers of innuendo, they let Gershwin's music and the lyrics speak for themselves. Above all we get to hear ten other songs, the key number being "Fidgety Feet," for that's what you'll get once you hear all these danceable songs, and start to shake the hoodoo. Dawn Upshaw in the Gertie Lawrence role, Kurt Ollmann as the hero with marriage problems, and Patrick Cassidy as the Bootlegger all enter into the spirit of the thing. As always, the work of Tommy Krasker has snatched the show from the dusty bundles of manuscript and given it back almost as good as new.

— Gramophone [11/1996]

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Principal cast: Dawn Upshaw (Kay); Kurt Ollmann (Jimmy Winter); Patrick Cassidy (Larry Potter); Adam Arkin (Shorty McGee); Robert Westenberg (The Duke); Liz Larsen (Phillipa Ruxton); Stacey A. Logan (Dolly Ruxton); Susan Lucci (Constance Appleton); Fritz Weaver (Judge Appleton).

Additional personnel includes: Eric Stern (orchestra conductor); Orchestra Of St. Luke's.

Recorded at The Hit Factory, New York, New York on May 14-15, 1994. Includes liner notes by Lee Davis, Evan Ross & Tommy Krasker.

All songs written by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin except "When Our Ship Comes Sailing In," "Heaven On Earth," and "Oh, Kay!" (Gershwin/Gershwin/Dietz).
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Works on This Recording

1. Oh, Kay! by George Gershwin
Performer:  Fritz Weaver (Voice), Liz Larsen (Voice), Robert Westenberg (Voice),
Patrick Cassidy (Voice), Kurt Ollmann (Baritone), Adam Arkin (Voice),
Dawn Upshaw (Soprano), Stacey A. Logan (Voice), Susan Lucci (Voice)
Conductor:  Eric Stern
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Orchestra of St. Luke's

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