David Merrick's "Hits" and Cast Album of A Thurber Carnival Get Winter Reissues From Sony

By Kenneth Jones
19 Jan 2012

Cover art for A Thurber Carnival
Cover art for A Thurber Carnival

Masterworks Broadway's ongoing reissue campaign, offering classic cast recordings previously unavailable in the CD era, presents A Thurber Carnival (1960 Original Cast) and "David Merrick Presents Hits From His Broadway Hits" (1964, featuring Ann-Margret and others) in the coming weeks.

The recordings will be available as downloads through all major digital service providers and as disc-on-demand, with the original cover art and liner notes, via ArkivMusic.com and Amazon.com. Both releases will be accompanied by new album pages and photos on MasterworksBroadway.com.

Making its CD debut, A Thurber Carnival opened at the ANTA Theatre in New York City on Feb. 26, 1960, and ran for 223 performances. The original cast recording, with music by Don Elliott, includes sketches from the satirical revue which brought James Thurber's famous New Yorker cartoons and short stories to life.

Featuring Tony Award winner Peggy Cass, Paul Ford, John McGiver, Alice Ghostley, Peter Turgeon, Wynne Miller, Margo Lungreen and Charles Braswell, A Thurber Carnival will be available on Jan. 24.

On Oct. 1, 1964, RCA Victor released "David Merrick Presents Hits from His Broadway Hits." Shortly after Merrick opened his biggest hit, Hello, Dolly!, record producer George R. Marek thought an album should celebrate the producer. Marek used his recording artists John Gary, Ann-Margret and The Merrill Staton Voices to give lush treatment to a dozen songs from a dozen different Merrick musicals — eight of which, starting with Gypsy, received Tony nominations for Best Musical.

The songs range from standards to obscurities — "Small World," "Make Someone Happy," "Take Me Along," "Love Makes the World Go Round" and the lesser-known "Anyone Would Love You." On CD for the first time, and with new liner notes by theatre journalist and MasterworksBroadway.com blogger Peter Filichia, "David Merrick Presents Hits From His Broadway Hits" will be available on Feb. 21.

Masterworks Broadway is a label of Sony Masterworks. For email updates and information on Masterworks Broadway, visit www.masterworksbroadway.com.