By Steven Suskin
19 Jul 2009

LEROY ANDERSON: Orchestral Music 5 [Naxos 8.559382]
Leroy Loves Goldie, I suppose you might say. Goldie being Goldilocks, the 1958 musical comedy that starred Elaine Stritch for a brief run at the newly-converted Lunt-Fontanne. (This was the show wherein the proprietors realized that their theatre — incorporating the vestiges of Charles B. Dillingham's venerable old Globe — had no orchestra pit. Forcing them to blast one out of the cement.) Leroy was Leroy Anderson, a highly successful composer of light orchestral music. You know, the sort of stuff that symphony orchestras would program to keep the less-sophisticated patrons happy by counterbalancing all those long-haired classics. Anderson's biggest hits include the still-familiar "Sleigh Ride" and "The Syncopated Clock." Arthur Fiedler and The Boston Pops just loved programming Anderson, but the very concept of light symphonic music seems quaint nowadays.

George Abbott, for many decades the King of Musical Comedy, was always on the lookout for new composing blood and occasionally took a chance with one of those concert hall-types. First came Leonard Bernstein, with the 1944 musical On the Town; he turned out to be well suited for Broadway. Next came Morton Gould, with Billion Dollar Baby (in 1945), which was something of an artistic success. In 1952, Abbott turned to Anderson for a musicalization of the comedy hit My Sister Eileen with no less than Rosalind Russell in the lead. But Anderson's score, written with lyricist Arnold Horwitt, was rejected by Abbott and Russell; I've never found anyone who actually heard it, but it was found to be grossly unacceptable. Anderson and his songs were left sitting on the curb, and so went Leroy's best shot at Broadway. (Abbott called in Bernstein along with Comden and Green —lyricists of both On the Town and Billion Dollar Baby — and the trio, in less than a month, wrote Wonderful Town.)

Following this disappointing non-debut on Broadway, Anderson was enlisted for a second musical. Goldilocks was a gentle valentine to the days of the silent film; the show's co-librettist/co-lyricist/director, Walter Kerr, was a top theatre critic of the day who loved silent movies. The show underwent a not-untypical series of problems — beginning with the withdrawal of producer David Merrick — and disappeared into the annals of musicals that coulda but just didn't work. But Leroy Loved Goldie, as above stated. Anderson didn't have much time to orchestrate the show when it was being written. (Given his musical prominence, he was nevertheless given co-orchestator billing, in first position, with Phil Lang — although there were four uncredited guys writing charts, including the estimable Russell Bennett.)

Following the show's demise, Anderson prepared a second, full orchestration of the show with a smaller string contingent; this might well have been for the stock & amateur version, which I don't suppose has gotten much use. Anderson then went and made symphonic versions of many of the numbers, for use in the concert hall and on his popular recordings for the light classic market. It is these arrangements that make up 40-odd minutes worth of "Leroy Anderson: Orchestral Music 5," a release within the "American Classics" series from Naxos.

Goldilocks is a fun score, with plenty to recommend it. One need only hear the first track on this new CD, though — a rendition of the overture — to make you want to pull out the original cast album [Sony SK 48222]. This track is labeled "original version, orchestration by David Ross." That is to say, it seems to be a symphonic version expanded from the overture used on Broadway. This more or less retains the routine (although with some alterations) of Lang's overture, recasting them for a larger orchestra. Anyone accustomed to the Broadway album will immediately miss the crisp sparkle — and the immense fun — of that recording. This one sounds sedate; what's more, all that Broadway drum writing sounds positively eerie in this symphonic setting.

The other 12 selections are presumably orchestrated by Anderson, although some seem to heavily borrow from the Broadway charts (such as Bennett's "Lazy Moon" and Lang's "Pussy Foot" — which with its dance extension is quite a treat on this recording). This is perfectly suitable, mind you; the theatre orchestrations are property of the composer, so he is totally within his rights to use them. Some of the ideas within the orchestration might well have originated with Anderson, anyway.

The most interesting among the tracks, to me at least, are the dance items that do not appear on the cast recording. These were devised by Laurence Rosenthal, who also most probably composed the sections that do not incorporate song material. "Lady in Waiting Ballet," originally orchestrated by Lang, is pure joy; Rosenthal and choreographer Agnes de Mille took a line of lyric about Sir Walter Raleigh and turned it into a fanciful fantasia. "Town House Maxixe," which helped nab a supporting actress Tony Award for Pat Stanley, is also quite charming; again, Anderson's chart seems to rely heavily on the Broadway orchestration, this one by Bob Noeltner (who also orchestrated the atmospheric "Pirate Dance" — and had provided orchestrations for de Mille back in Brigadoon). Also on hand is the "Pyramid Dance," based on the somewhat overly busy "Heart of Stone."

Included in these symphonic renderings are three songs with vocals attached, "Save a Kiss," "Shall I Take My Heart and Go?" and "Who's Been Sitting in My Chair?" (the only three full songs that Anderson orchestrated for the stage version). The latter is taken at a fast pace which robs the song of much of its gentle charm. Oh, well. Kim Criswell and William Dazeley do the singing.

The recording, under the direction of Leonard Slatkin, features the BBC Concert Orchestra. (Rounding out the CD is Anderson's 11-minute "Suite of Carols.") It's fine to hear another take on Goldilocks, and I'm glad to get the extensive dance and ballet music (especially the "Lady in Waiting Ballet"). But the overall result is to make you want to put on the original cast album. And if this new recording impels listeners to finally discover that 50-year-old recording, they shall be amply rewarded.

(Steven Suskin is author of "The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators and Orchestrations" as well as "Second Act Trouble," "Show Tunes" and the "Opening Night on Broadway" books. He can be reached at Ssuskin@aol.com)