By Steven Suskin
20 Oct 2011

	Cover art for Do Re Mi

Do Re Mi [Sepia 1179]
Speaking of Bernie Gersten, Sepia has just brought us the 1961 London cast album of the Jule Styne-Betty Comden-Adolph Green musical Do Re Mi. Which was directed by Gersten, who had been production stage manager of the Broadway edition. Do Re Mi was a troubled show, stemming from the fact that the material doesn't quite add up. The original had Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker on hand to salvage the affair and mesmerize the critics, who seem to have been overly generous. (In my book "Opening Night on Broadway," I calculated the seven first-night reviews as being five raves and two favorables — a rather ecstatic reception.) Even so, audiences didn't respond; Do Re Mi closed at a loss after a mere 11 months. The abbreviated post-Broadway tour was a financial disaster, as was the London edition.

Styne, Comden and Green wrote a loud and boisterous score, yes, but without the distinction of items already on their collective resumes (such as On the Town, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Wonderful Town, Bells Are Ringing, Gypsy). "Make Someone Happy" stands out as one of their top ballads; otherwise, there are a handful of sturdy show tunes but nothing that approaches the level of the five musicals above.

The London cast album — while clearly and understandably inferior to the New York edition — makes for interesting listening. The understandable inferiority stems from the stars. The leading role in Do Re Mi was not merely created by Silvers; it was written for Silvers, and in places seems to have been improvised by him. London had music hall star Max Bygraves, who might well have been a comic genius for all I know. But this material cries out for Phil Silvers. What we get here is not an imitation, mind you, but the words and the phrasing seem to force Bygraves into an unnatural impersonation.

This is especially clear in the "Late, Late Show" number, which even in Phil's hands was a ragtag sketch. But Silvers made it a comic fiesta, laced with impersonations of Cagney, Bogey, Edward G. Robinson and even some passing machine guns — much of which, I would have to imagine, was contrived by Silvers in the rehearsal hall. What we get in London is Max Bygraves forced to impersonate Phil Silvers impersonating Cagney and Bogey. Nathan Lane did somewhat better when he played the role at City Center Encores in 1999, in a performance captured on CD, but Do Re Mi still seemed like "The Phil Silvers Show" without Phil Silvers.

Nancy Walker, to whose name we really ought to prefix the word inimitable, magnified her material with every breath and sigh. Her character was only given three songs in this non-well-made musical, but sitting at the St. James Theatre you wouldn't have known it. Maggie Fitzgibbon played it in London, and it doesn't amount to much. Nor can Jan Waters equate the comic flair of New York's Nancy Dussault as Tilda Mullen, the pancake house folk singer. The one principal who comes off well is Steve Arlen, in the role created by John Reardon. (Curiously enough, Arlen got his Broadway break in 1970 when he replaced Reardon — prior to the first performance — in Cry for Us All.)

Where this first-time-on-CD recording captures our attention is in the music department. The orchestrations, by Luther Henderson and friends, are marvelously brassy and catch the humor of the show. The London album, recorded by Decca, brings out colors that we don't especially hear on the Broadway album. This will keep those of you who enjoy the score listening intently.

Sepia, as usual, adds an assortment of bonus tracks. These include Rose Marie Jun — who regularly recorded demo albums for musicals from the Chappell publishing house — on "Don't Try to Figure It Out" and ""Life's Not That Simple," two songs that were (understandably) cut. But Sepia gives us a true gem in a single of that delicious pastiche "What's New at the Zoo," with the unlikeliest singer imaginable. Who ever thought to mix Styne, Comden & Green with Bea Lillie? But here she is ouching and eeking and making all sorts of zoo sounds. "Unk, eek, ow, oh, oooh" indeed.

(Steven Suskin is author of the recently released updated and expanded Fourth Edition of "Show Tunes" as well as "The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators and Orchestrations," "Second Act Trouble" and the "Opening Night on Broadway" books. He also pens Playbill.com's Book Shelf and DVD Shelf columns. He can be reached at Ssuskin@aol.com.)

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