By Jupiter: A Musical Comedy (1967)

This album of the 1967 Off-Broadway revival cast of By Jupiter is the first ever recording for the score of the 1942 Rodgers & Hart musical that has been unjustly forgotten. It was actually the most successful of the team's shows, at least in terms of the number of performances played by the original production. How did it get lost, then? One good reason is that it opened on June 2, 1942, and soon after the musicians union went on strike, effectively shutting down the record business for more than a year. Otherwise, one or ... Read More

This album of the 1967 Off-Broadway revival cast of By Jupiter is the first ever recording for the score of the 1942 Rodgers & Hart musical that has been unjustly forgotten. It was actually the most successful of the team's shows, at least in terms of the number of performances played by the original production. How did it get lost, then? One good reason is that it opened on June 2, 1942, and soon after the musicians union went on strike, effectively shutting down the record business for more than a year. Otherwise, one or more of the show's big ballads, "Nobody's Heart," "Wait Till You See Her," or "Careless Rhapsody," might have become a hit, assuring the show more of a future. The onset of the original Broadway cast album as a popular form was just around the corner, but the cast couldn't have gotten into a recording studio in 1942, either. (Actually, there were a couple of cover recordings of the comic duet "Ev'rything I've Got," but it didn't become a hit.) Another reason for the disappearance of By Jupiter is that it turned out to be the final new Rodgers & Hart musical; within a year, Richard Rodgers had teamed up with Oscar Hammerstein II for the groundbreaking Oklahoma!, which made silly, if pleasurable entertainments like By Jupiter seem passé. But this well-performed revival demonstrates that it must have been timely in its time, a farce about Greek Amazon women off to war and meek husbands left at home that would have marked a striking role reversal to audiences full of soldiers on leave from World War II. It also shows that Lorenz Hart had lost none of his gift for witty lyrics, even if he was in such physical decline that much of the show reportedly was written in a hospital where he was drying out. Most of the Rodgers & Hart shows are better remembered for their scores than for their weak books, which makes them difficult to revive. This one deserves to have its score better known. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi Read Less

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  	Edition: 2007, DRG CD, Good	Details: UPC: 021471910520 Discs: 1 Label: DRG Released: 2007 Alibris ID: 17730851168	Shipping Options: Standard Shipping: $3.64 Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
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2007, DRG UPC: 021471910520 CD See All from $30.94