The original Broadway cast recordings of Fiddler on the Roof; Hello, Dolly!; and Oliver! will hit record stores June 3. All three CDs will feature digital remastering, never-before-released recording session photos and several bonus tracks.
Starring Zero Mostel, Maria Karnilova and Beatrice Arthur, Fiddler on the Roof opened Sept. 22, 1964, and ran for a record-breaking 3,242 performances. In addition to such classic songs as “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Miracle of Miracles” and “Sunrise, Sunset,” the new release features two songs cut from the show, “When Messiah Comes” and “How Much Richer Could One Man Be?” Those two songs — plus a version of “If I Were a Rich Man” — are tracks from An Evening with Sheldon Harnick. The CD also features a new interview with lyricist Harnick that was conducted in February 2003.
Although Barbra Streisand played her on screen, for Broadway fans, the character of Dolly Levi will forever be associated with Carol Channing, who created the role on The Great White Way and played her innumerable times throughout her career. The original Broadway cast recording features such Herman tunes as “Before the Parade Passes By,” “It Only Takes a Moment” and “Ribbons Down My Back,” and the new release boasts recordings from several other women who have played the role: Mary Martin’s versions of “I Put My Hand In” and “So Long Dearie”; Pearl Bailey’s renditions of the title song and “Before the Parade Passes By”; and Ethel Merman’s take on two songs inserted into the score when she joined the cast, “Love, Look in My Window” and “World, Take Me Back.” A recent interview with Carol Channing is also part of the new release.
“Food, Glorious Food,” “Boy for Sale,” “Where Is Love?,” “Consider Yourself,” “It’s a Fine Life,” “I’d Do Anything” and “As Long As He Needs Me” are just a few of the well-known tunes from Lionel Bart’s Oliver!, which opened on Broadway with Clive Revill and Georgia Brown. The new release also features three tracks from the original London cast recording: “That’s Your Funeral” (sung by Barry Humphries a.k.a Dame Edna, Paul Whitsun-Jones and Sonia Fraser), “You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two” (Ron Moody, Keith Hamshere and the Boys) and “Reviewing the Situation” (Moody). Patti LuPone also offers her belty version of “As Long As He Needs Me,” and the recording concludes with an interview with Donald Pippin, who conducted Lionel Bart’s score on Broadway.
For more information about RCA Victor recordings, visit www.victor-music.com.
