Two on the Aisle (1951 Original Broadway Cast) [Cast Recording] [Original recording remastered]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
A mix of songs and sketches, 1951's Two on the Aisle belongs to the much maligned revue genre. Aficionados of integrated musicals often turn up their noses at this kind of show, but when the songs are composed by Jule Styne, written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and sung by Dolores Gray, you'd be a fool to be a snob. Gray may be half-forgotten by all but hardcore fans these days, but she was one of Broadway's most compelling leading ladies in the 1950s and 1960s (you can get a glimpse of her fabulousness in Vincente Minnelli's film Designing Woman.) Here, she gets five solos, and she shines on all of them. This recording may be the best introduction to her singular genius. Gray also teams up with Bert Lahr, not much of a singer but a comedian with deadly timing, which is good enough for hilarious numbers like "Catch Our Act at the Met," in which Donizetti follows Don Ameche and Met rhymes with Rigolett'. This is a most welcome reissue. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Tracks:

Let Yourself Go
If
How Long Has This Been Going On?
My Funny Valentine
Hanging Around with You (with Jason Alexander)
The Girl in 14G
I'll Tell the Man in the Street
I'm a Stranger Here Myself
Nobody Else But Me
Nobody's Heart Belongs to Me/Why Can't I?
Should I Be Sweet?
He's Just an Ordinary Guy
Going to the Dance with You
On a Turquoise Cloud
You'll Never Know
Daddy

Amazon.com

Kristin Chenoweth won a Tony for the supporting role of Sally Brown in the 1999 revival of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, made a memorably vampy Lily in the 1999 television film of Annie, and had an NBC sitcom created for her, Kristin! Now she grabs the spotlight in Let Yourself Go, her first solo recording. She mixes torchy standards ("My Funny Valentine," "How Long Has This Been Going On?") with Faith Prince-style sauciness ("If"), gets to show off her operatic and scat chops in the miniplay "The Girl in 14G," and shares a light duet with Jason Alexander (reviving his musical theater career post-Seinfeld). Perhaps her "Stranger Here Myself" isn't the weightiest you've ever heard, but this is an enjoyable album with a good deal of old-fashioned class, expertly accompanied by Rob Fisher and the Coffee Club Orchestra. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews:

One of the best ever!.......2007-04-24

Do I mean the best album or the best singer? You are correct if you said both! I saw Kristin Chenoweth on a PBS show "Broadway's Best at the Pops," (though it was not the first time I had heard her) and decided to check out the offerings here. This is a collection of the kind of music and performances I love. She has a great range, a precise pitch, and a great style that is at the same time true to the music and to herself. In an era when singers try to outdo each other re-interpreting the composer's original work, not usually with great success, she is a blessing!

Kristen Chenowith.......2007-02-26

I bought this CD for the Girl in 14G. Yes, it's that good...

Has its moments.......2007-02-19

After watching Candide endlessly and going to see Ms. Chenoweth in The Apple Tree, I was hungry for something more portable to listen to. At times this fits the bill, but what surprised me the most is how thin her voice comes across on this recording. Perhaps it was the joy of seeing her live that has ruined this listener; perhaps I need to upgrade my aging music system. Then again, maybe the recording is just not as good as Ms. C singing Bernstein or as good as staring at Ms. C command a Broadway stage.

Great CD!.......2007-01-19

I truly enjoy listening to this CD. Kristin Chenoweth's vocal style and abilities are very well-matched to the songs selected for this album. If you enjoy classic, older-style Broadway/popular tunes, I would highly recommend this CD. Ms. Chenoweth has a bright, expressive voice and does a fantastic job with this material.

As with any full-length CD, there are a couple of songs I am not as crazy about, but that has to do with the songs themselves, not Ms. Chenoweth's vocal performance. Overall, I love this album and have listened to it several times now, since receiving it as a Christmas gift last month.

This woman has what it takes, and then some..........2007-01-12

Kristin Chenoweth brings new life to some timeless Broadways tunes while introducing a few wonderful new ones. This high pitched vocal goddess effortlessly provides for a nearly flawless and easy listening experience. I definitly recommend this CD for anyone who enjoys jazz vocals, showtunes, or just a new spin on some old classics.

Elaine Stritch - At Liberty (2002 Original Broadway Production)

Average customer rating:

A National Treasure
Stritch is superb
Entertaining but grating on the ears
Great Broadway Review
Elaine Stritch at Liberty

Elaine Stritch - At Liberty (2002 Original Broadway Production)
Elaine Stritch , Irving Berlin , John/ Stritch, Elaine Lohr , Porter P. Grainger , Albert Hague , Stephen Sondheim , Carl Sigman , Richard Rodgers , Sir Noel Coward , George Gershwin , Jule Styne , John Campo , and Billy Miller
Manufacturer: Drg
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Elaine Stritch at Liberty
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Stritch
Company - A Musical Comedy (1970 Original Broadway Cast)
Company (2006 Broadway Revival Cast)

ASIN: B000060P33
Release Date: 2002-04-02

Tracks:

There's No Business Like Show Business (Berlin)
Caca
I Want a Long Time Daddy (Grainger)
A Piece of Mahler
This Is All Very New to Me (Hague/Horwitt)
Going to New York
Marlon Brando
Broadway Baby (Sondheim)
My First Broadway Show
Civilization (Hilliard/Sigman)
Ethel Merman
Can You Use Any Money Today? (Berlin)
Pal Joey
Zip (Hart/Rodgers)
Ben Gazzara
Nokl Coward
Why Do the Wrong People Travel (Coward)
Richard Burton
But Not for Me/If Love Were All (Gershwin/Gershwin)
I'm Still Here (Sondheim)
Booze
Little Things You Do Together (Sondheim)
The Ladies Who Lunch (Sondheim)
John Bay
There Was Never a Baby Like My Baby (Comden/Green/Styne)
I've Been to a Marvelous Party (Coward)
God So Quickly
The Party's Over (Comden/Green/Styne)
Absent Almost Always
Something Good (Rodgers)

Tracks:

I'm Still Here (Sondheim)
Booze
Little Things You Do Together (Sondheim)
The Ladies Who Lunch (Sondheim)
John Bay
There Was Never a Baby Like My Baby (Comden/Green/Styne)
I've Been to a Marvelous Party (Coward)
God So Quickly
The Party's Over (Comden/Green/Styne)
Absent Almost Always
Something Good (Rodgers)

Amazon.com

Elaine Stritch is a legend and she knows it. And so she came up with a whole one-woman show about the best topic she could think of: her life in the theater. And what a trip it's been. From Ethel Merman to Noel Coward, Stritch has worked with some of the greatest names to grace the American stage, and she has anecdotes about all of them (most are included on this recording). In this show, she hits all the marks with the acuity of a seasoned pro who's seen it all and whose love for the theater remains undiluted. Stritch is not a traditionally pretty singer (those gravelly pipes!), but she absolutely knows how to give life to a song, extracting the last drop of meaning, dropping pauses for effect with deadly accuracy. Sondheim's "Ladies Who Lunch" and "Broadway Baby" will be hers forever, and a case could be made for the hilarious "Zip" (from Pal Joey) and the obscure, spectacularly politically incorrect "Civilization" (from the revue Angel in the Wings) as well. Fittingly, this two-CD set includes "I'm Still Here," which may well be Stritch's motto. If you're looking for a concise yet bewitching history of the musical, this is it. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Customer Reviews:

A National Treasure.......2007-07-05

This double CD is stuffed full of great songs and amazing stories. My favorite stories are of Elaine's date with Marlon Brando, what she thought some lyric are/meant, and her time in Compant. The total honesty that she brings it all together is touching and inspiring.

Very few people have the length or variety of a career that Elaine Stritch has had. I am sure that she has enough stories to do ten more shows.

If you love Broadway then you must buy this CD.

Stritch is superb.......2007-06-27

The only disappointment is that I missed the show live. This is a terrific honest performance by an actor who has a deep well of experience from which to draw. From her early childhood memories, through acting school, her loves, her struggles and more, Ms Stritch weaves a fascinating and completely enthralling story. Ultimately, she lives the songs, rather than just performs and this is what really marks her out.
I am so glad, she's still here!

Entertaining but grating on the ears.......2007-05-11

I've never been able to understand what is so great about Elaine Stritch's singing. It's simple: she can't sing. I've tried and tried to like her, and I do, as an actress, but NOT as a singer. Listening to these CDs, all I hear is a grouchy old lady voice with no vibrato, no range, and no ability to hold notes. If she were to try out for American Idol she would get cringes! I love her humor and honesty, and that's why I bought this, but the voice...ugh.

Great Broadway Review.......2007-04-11

I thoroughly enjoy this collection of stories from her experiences from a teenage girl in Michigan through her career, very funny, some sad and great entertainment.

Elaine Stritch at Liberty.......2007-01-19

Completely entertaining---a bit maudilin in places, but a must have for any Elaine Stritch fan.

Certainly worth the money!

Average customer rating:

Two on the Aisle/Together on Broadway
Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme
Manufacturer: Gl Music Co.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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It's Us Again
Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
Greatest Hits, Vol. 1
We Got Us/Eydie & Steve Sing the Golden Hits
Don't Go to Strangers/Softly As I Leave You

ASIN: B00009P9Z3
Release Date: 2004-06-08

Tracks:

Two on the Aisle
'Til There Was You [From The Music Man]
Make Someone Happy [From Do-Re-Mi]
Party's Over [From Bells Are Ringing]
If Ever I Would Leave You [From Camelot]
Namely You [From Li'l Abner]
Lot of Livin' to Do [From Bye Bye Birdie]
Our Language of Love
It's Love [From Wonderful Town]
'Til Tomorrow [From Fiorello]
Just My Luck [From the Body Beautiful]
Put on a Happy Face [From Bye Bye Birdie]
Mame [From Mame]
Sunrise, Sunset
Walking Happy [From Walking Happy]
I Believe in You [How to Succeed in Business (Without Really Trying)]
Honeymoon Is Over [From I Do, I Do]
Cabaret [From Cabaret]
Old Fashioned Wedding [From Annie Get Your Gun]
Come Back to Me [From On a Clear Day You Can See Forever]
Together Forever [From I Do I Do]
Curtain Falls

Average customer rating:

Steve & Eydie, the best!
BROADWAY NEVER SOUNDED BETTER!

Two on the Aisle/Together on Broadway
Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme
Manufacturer: Gl Music Co.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000695NP
Release Date: 2002-09-03

Tracks:

Two on the Aisle
'Til There Was You [From The Music Man]
Make Someone Happy [From Do-Re-Mi]
Party's Over [From Bells Are Ringing]
If Ever I Would Leave You [From Camelot]
Namely You [From Li'l Abner]
Lot of Livin' to Do [From Bye Bye Birdie]
Our Language of Love
It's Love [From Wonderful Town]
'Til Tomorrow [From Fiorello]
Just My Luck [From the Body Beautiful]
Put on a Happy Face [From Bye Bye Birdie]
Mame [From Mame]
Sunrise, Sunset
Walking Happy [From Walking Happy]
I Believe in You [How to Succeed in Business (Without Really Trying)]
Honeymoon Is Over [From I Do, I Do]
Cabaret [From Cabaret]
Old Fashioned Wedding [From Annie Get Your Gun]
Come Back to Me [From On a Clear Day You Can See Forever]
Together Forever [From I Do I Do]
Curtain Falls

Album Description

Two albums (on 1 CD) of Steve and Eydie's favorite stage songs, 'Two On The Aisle released in 1963 & 'Together On Broadway' released in 1967. Never before on CD!

Customer Reviews:

Steve & Eydie, the best!.......2004-05-07

Steve & Eydie, best duo ever in pop music, reissued in cd format one of the best 2-4-1s ever. I always preferred the 2nd album on lp, but, now with cd, the 1st sounds just as great! Most songs are duets & the couple compliment each other like no other 2. In one of the few serious numbers, Sunrise Sunset, Eydie & Steve harmonies surpass the Fiddler on the Roof actors who have done it. Most songs here are fun songs which are just what Mr & Mrs. do best or at least better than anyone else. I've known way too many people who dismiss S&E as "lounge music" not worth taking seriously. But, I say fun songs & Broadway songs deserve respect as much as blues or rock & roll. I feel Broadway has given us our artiest material, our "Shakespearian Drama" of pop music. No one does these 22 Broadway tunes better than Steve & Eydie!

BROADWAY NEVER SOUNDED BETTER!.......2002-08-14

It's been done a million times over. A Broadway album is something you see everyday. Feinstein, Streisand, Bennett, Davis, and the list of greats goes on and on. But this album really hits the mark. Join the husband and wife team of Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, two of the best exponents of ANY song, as they give their regards to Broadway. The tunes are all familiar, and treated with class by the singers and arrangers (Don Costa and Patrick Williams) Eydie's take on the Jules Styne classic THE PARTY'S OVER is touching and warm, treated with less pathos than Judy Holliday's version in the musical BELLS ARE RINGING. Steve doesn't do a bad job on the quaint swinger NAMELY YOU either. While both Steve and Eydie are consummate performers by their own right, everyone knows a Steve and Eydie duet is where the real thrills are. This album has many such occassions to relish. The lilting lullaby quality of TILL TOMORROW from the musical FIORELLO is a duet by Steve and Eydie and really hits the mark. Fans of Steve and Eydie will be jumping in the aisles to see two of their hits FINALLY on a compact disc, the sleek rendition of I BELIEVE IN YOU, which makes for one heck of a run as a male/female duet; very inspired idea, and the swingin' THE HONEYMOON IS OVER, with humor, great vocals by Steve and Eydie, and a rip-roaring chart by Patrick Wlliams. Steve and Eydie also have fun with such other B'way classics as Jerry Herman's MAME (Listen to Eydie vamp it up as a real southern belle) and the self-titled CABARET. Another standout here is the Irving Berlin penned AN OLD FASHIONED WEDDING. I personally like that one the best of all the "new songs" on this CD. I say "new" because this is the first time many lucky listeners will be hearing these sides, as this is the initial release of these two albums on compact disc! It's a great collection for anyone who likes Broadway tunes or Steve and Eydie...or just fantastic music! Not to be missed!

Two on the Aisle (1951 Original Broadway Cast)

Average customer rating:

There's No Show & No Play: Just Bert Lahr & Dolores Grey
average score, average recording
A FORGOTTEN MUSICAL THAT DESERVES TO BE REDISCOVERED
Yawn
A worthy addition to your collection

Two on the Aisle (1951 Original Broadway Cast)
Jule Styne , Betty Comden , and Adolph Green
Manufacturer: Decca Broadway
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Company (2006 Broadway Revival Cast)

ASIN: B00005O6KR
Release Date: 2001-09-25

Tracks:

Overture
Show Train
Hold Me, Hold Me, Hold Me (Hold Me Tight)
Here She Comes Now
There Never Was a Baby Like My Baby
Vaudeville Ain't Dead
Catch Our Act at the Met (Finale, Act I)
Give a Little -- Get a Little
Everlasting
If You Hadn't but You Did
The Clown
How Will He Know?
Finale

Amazon.com

A mix of songs and sketches, 1951's Two on the Aisle belongs to the much maligned revue genre. Aficionados of integrated musicals often turn up their noses at this kind of show, but when the songs are composed by Jule Styne, written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and sung by Dolores Gray, you'd be a fool to be a snob. Gray may be half-forgotten by all but hardcore fans these days, but she was one of Broadway's most compelling leading ladies in the 1950s and 1960s (you can get a glimpse of her fabulousness in Vincente Minnelli's film Designing Woman.) Here, she gets five solos, and she shines on all of them. This recording may be the best introduction to her singular genius. Gray also teams up with Bert Lahr, not much of a singer but a comedian with deadly timing, which is good enough for hilarious numbers like "Catch Our Act at the Met," in which Donizetti follows Don Ameche and Met rhymes with Rigolett'. This is a most welcome reissue. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Customer Reviews:

There's No Show & No Play: Just Bert Lahr & Dolores Grey.......2004-10-20

A forgotten revue that played a half-season on Broadway. Even at the time it was pleasant though unsensational entertainment. The recording has long been out-of-print and has never generated the same demand as other forgotten flops. Without the comic sketches which were the show's high points, the album is curiously flat, and contains a great deal of filler. "Everlasting" has to be one of the most boring love songs ever written for the Broadway stage. Grey shines in her big number "If You hadn't But You Did" and shares the spotlight with Lahr for "Vaudeville ain't dead/Catch our act at the Met."

It should be said that the music is far from jule Styne's best and Comden and Green's lyrics are nothing special.

average score, average recording.......2003-07-09

Decca Broadway have brought back into the light another of those fabulous musical rareties, TWO ON THE AISLE. Grab this recording if only for the sublime performance of Dolores Gray.

Yes, Dolores Gray is the only real reason you should buy this cast-album. Her songs are fantastic, with her wit and high-wattage talent easily evident in numbers like "There Was Never a Baby Like My Baby", "Hold Me, Hold Me, Hold Me (Hold Me Tight)", and her 2 show-stoppers "How Will He Know?" and "If".

Bert Lahr STILL sounds like the Cowardly Lion from THE WIZARD OF OZ, and his numbers are comical if nothing else. I particularly enjoyed his "The Clown", but, like another reviewer has said, he just doesn't come off well in recordings.

The score, by Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Jule Styne, is average if anything. Decca Broadway's remastering of this album is quite patchy, with quite a bit of hiss and excessive surface-noise. During Gray's "How Will He Know?" there is quite a bit of hiss in evidence.

However, die-hard Broadway fans will get a kick out of listening to Dolores Gray's 'summer-of-1951 hit.

A FORGOTTEN MUSICAL THAT DESERVES TO BE REDISCOVERED.......2003-02-09

"Two on the Aisle" was the first show Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Jule Styne wrote together, and it is a humdinger! The show, first presented in 1951, is actually a revue with some of the most memorable songs the trio ever wrote. Starring Bert Lahr and Dolores Grey, it has forgotten gems that will make you laugh out loud. This was the last of the star-powered extravaganzas such as Ziegfeld used to produce with lavish spectacle, enormous choruses and sets that went for for days, if not weeks. Still, the quality of the music and lyrics cannot be overlooked. The show has pretty much fallen into complete obscurity, but anyone with a love for musicals and respect for the revue form will greatly enjoy listening to it over and over again. (Submitted by staff member Stephen J. Finn)

Yawn.......2003-02-01

Absolutely tedious. Hardly any songs of even passing merit--this is Styne at his most generic. Worse, Bert Lahr hardly appears; this is very much the Dolores Gray show, and who wants that? Lahr's one number is indeed entertaining, but not worth the cost of the disc.

A worthy addition to your collection.......2002-02-23

One of the last and best revues. Bert Lahr and Delores Grey are in fine form. Comden and Green's lyrics (especially their reviews of the other shows on Bway) are particularly sharp. Not my favorite CD, but a worthy addition to my collection.

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