Greenwillow (1960 Original Broadway Cast) [Cast Recording]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Greenwillow is a little-known Frank Loesser gem in the Broadway bucolic mode, a genre that includes his own Most Happy Fella, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma, and Lerner and Loewe's Brigadoon. This recording has become something of a cult classic, perhaps because it stars Anthony Perkins (yes, the Psycho guy) in the lead role of Gideon Briggs. Perkins has a light but pleasant tenor that he uses to great effect, especially on his haunting solo "Never Will I Marry." Greenwillow has a lovely score with some particularly fine ensemble singing. This is a surprisingly subtle show that is sometimes dismissed by critics as a bit of pastoral fluff, but if you listen to it carefully you will discover that it is one of Loesser's finest works. --Michael Simmons

Tracks:

A Day In Hollywood A Night In Ukraine: Just Go To The Movies - Priscilla Lopez/David Garrison/Frank Lazarus/Stephen James/Peggy Hewett/Kate Draper
Babes In Arms: I Wish I Were In Love Again - Christopher Fitzgerald Jessica Stone
Pal Joey: Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered - Patti LuPone
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend - KT Sullivan
Nunsense: I Just Want To Be A Star - Christine Anderson
Louisiana Purchase: Wild About You - Debbie Gravitte & New York Voices
Oil City Symphony: Beaver Ball At The Bug Club - Mike Craver/Mark Hardwick/Debra Monk/Mary Murfitt
Falsettoland: The Baseball Game - Michael Rupert/Chip Zien/Faith Prince/Janet Metz/Heather MacRae/Stephen Bogardus
Very Good Eddie: Isn't It Great To Be Married? - Virginia Seidel/Spring Fairbank/Charles Repole/Nicholas Wyman
The Fantasticks: A Perfect Time To Be In Love - Harvey Schmidt
Call Me Madam: You're Just In Love - Tyne Daly/Lewis Cleale
Taking My Turn: Fine For The Shape I'm In - Margaret Whiting/Marnie Nixon/Cissy Houston
A Party With Betty Comden & Adolph Green: The French Lesson - Betty Comdon/Adolph Green
The Madwoman Of Central Park: Better - Phyllis Newman
Greenwillow: Never Will I Marry - Anthony Perkins
Song Of Singapore: I Can't Remember - Loretta Swit & Company
Tintypes: Elite Syncopation/I'm Goin' To Live Anyhow, 'Til I Die - Lynne Thigpen
I Love My Wife: Someone Wonderful I Missed - Joanna Gleason/Ilene Graff
The Good Companions: The Pleasure Of Your Company - Malcolm Rennie/Christopher Gable
Forbidden Broadway 20th Anniversary: Liza One-Note - Christine Pedi
Meet Me In St. Louis: The Trolley Song - Donna Kane & Ensemble

Tracks:

4 Guys Named Jose...And Una Mujer Named Maria!: Feel It - Philip Anthony/Henry Gainza/Allen Hidalgo/Ricardo Puente
Fame - The Musical: There She Goes!/Fame - Natasha Rennalls & Ensemble
Do Re Mi: What's New At The Zoo? - Heather Headley/The Animal Girls
High Society: Once Upon A Time/True Love - Melissa Errico/Daniel McDonald
Tenderloin: Artificial Flowers - Patrick Wilson
State Fair: Driving At Night/Our State Fair - Company
Kiss Me, Kate: Were Thine That Special Face - Brian Stokes Mitchell
Black And Blue: Black And Blue - Linda Hopkins/Ruth Brown/Carrie Smith
The Green Bird: O Foolish Heart - Company
Out Of This World: From This Moment On - Marin Mazzie/Gregg Edelman
The Boys From Syracuse: This Can't Be Love - Davis Gaines/Sarah Berry
Snoopy!!!: Poor Sweet Baby - Pamela Myers
SeesawNobody Does It Like Me - Michele Lee
March Of The Falsettos: I Never Wanted To Love You - Michael Rupert/Stephen Bogardus/Alison Fraser/Chip Zien/James Kushner
Lunch: Perfectly Alone - Carol Burnett
3hree: Foolish Dreamin'/Something Beautiful/Real Enough To Change My Mind - Jessica Molaskey/Will Gartshore/Rachel Ulanet
Lucky In The Rain: Love Me As If There Were No Tomorrow - Barbara Cook
Godspell: All Good Gifts - Sal Sabella & Company
The Act: Walking Papers - Liza Minnelli & Company

Customer Reviews:

Great compilation.......2002-05-10

I don't actually own this particular compilation, however, since I own nearly every recording represented on these discs...I think I'm qualified to comment. This is a wonderful representation of the high quality of work that DRG Records does.
The previous review is way off the mark. This is definitely not a waste of time or money. This is 25 years of preserving Broadway shows, Off-Broadway shows, studio recordings (mostly from the city center concerts), etc. So what if they "aren't as good as the original", DRG is preserving many recordings and artists that other mainstream labels don't or won't. You have wonderful recordings from Brian Stokes Mitchell, Nathan Lane, Debbie Gravitte, Tyne Daly, Anthony Perkins, Joanna Gleason, Marin Mazzie, Carol Burnett, Heather Headley, Patti LuPone, Barbara Cook, etc., and many of these are from Original Cast Recordings just as they appeared on Broadway. This is an excellent sampler of the work going on at DRG. No...I'm not an employee...just an avid listener and collector of theatre recordings.

A disappointment.......2001-12-15

There's a reason you've probably never heard of most of the songs and shows on this album, not to mention most of the artists. This is a second-rate collection of second-rate numbers performed by mostly second-rate artists. In the case of the shows that were revivals, the performances on the original cast recordings were better. Don't waste your money.

Average customer rating:

Broadway Musicals of 1960

Manufacturer: Bayview
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Musical Theater | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Curtains (2007 Original Broadway Cast)
The Broadway Musicals of 1953
Company (2006 Broadway Revival Cast)
Broadway Musicals of 1926
Grey Gardens - A New Musical (2006 Original Broadway Cast)

ASIN: B0007N1A7M
Release Date: 2005-02-08

Tracks:

Hey Look Me Over [From Wildcat]
How to Handle a Woman [From Camelot] - Brent Barrett
One Boy [From Bye Bye Birdie] - Liz Larsen
Lusty Month of May/Before I Gaze at You Again [From Camelot] - Lisa Vroman
Summertime Love [From Greenwillow]
I Know About Love [From Do Re Mi] - Marc Kudisch
Little Old New York/Picture of Happiness [From Tenderloin] - Eddie Korbich, Liz Larsen
Our Language of Love - Lisa Vroman
Tall Hope [From Wildcat]
I Ain't Down Yet [From the Unsinkable Molly Brown] - Eddie Korbich, Marc Kudisch, Liz Larsen
Kids [From Bye Bye Birdie] - Tovah Feldshuh
Ism Vintage 60 [From Vintage 60] - Tovah Feldshuh
One Last Kiss [From the Musical "Bye Bye Birdie"] - Marc Kudisch
Fireworks [From Do Re Mi] - Brent Barrett, Lisa Vroman
You're a Liar [From Wildcat] - Marc Kudisch, Liz Larsen
Christine [From Christine]
Late, Late Show [From Do Re Mi] - Eddie Korbich
Make Someone Happy [From Do Re Mi] - Marc Kudisch, Lisa Vroman
Camelot [From Camelot] - Brent Barrett
Lot of Livin' to Do [From Bye Bye Birdie]

Greenwillow (1960 Original Broadway Cast)

Average customer rating:

FRANK LOESSER'S LYRICAL, POETIC GEM . . . .
A Forgotten Gem of a Musical
A delightful surprise
Frank Hoffman

Greenwillow (1960 Original Broadway Cast)
Frank Loesser
Manufacturer: Drg
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

Traditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn (1951 Original Broadway Cast)
The Golden Apple (1954 Original Broadway Cast)
Skyscraper (1965 Original Broadway Cast)
Tovarich
The Rothschilds: A Musical (1970 Original Broadway Cast)

ASIN: B000000PIL
Release Date: 1995-05-23

Tracks:

Overture/A Day Borrowed From Heaven - Orchestra
The Music of Home - Ensemble/Anthony Perkins
Dorrie's Wish/Gideon Briggs, I Love You - Bruce Mackay, Anthony Perkins, Chorus
Summertime Love - Anthony Perkins, Ellen McCown
Greenwillow Walk - Orchestra
Walking Away Whistling - ellen McCown
The Sermon - Cecil Kellaway, William Chapman
Greenwillow Christmas (Carol) - Chorus
Could've Been A Ring - Pert Kelton, Lee Cass
Never Will I Marry - Anthony Perkins
Faraway Boy - ellen McCown
Clang Dang the Bell - Anthony Perkins, Pert Kelton, Lynn Brinker, Jan Tucker, Brenda Harris, John Megna
What A Blessing - Cecil Kellaway
He Died Good - The Villagers
Summertime Love (Reprise) - Entire Company
Finale - Entire Company

Amazon.com

Greenwillow is a little-known Frank Loesser gem in the Broadway bucolic mode, a genre that includes his own Most Happy Fella, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma, and Lerner and Loewe's Brigadoon. This recording has become something of a cult classic, perhaps because it stars Anthony Perkins (yes, the Psycho guy) in the lead role of Gideon Briggs. Perkins has a light but pleasant tenor that he uses to great effect, especially on his haunting solo "Never Will I Marry." Greenwillow has a lovely score with some particularly fine ensemble singing. This is a surprisingly subtle show that is sometimes dismissed by critics as a bit of pastoral fluff, but if you listen to it carefully you will discover that it is one of Loesser's finest works. --Michael Simmons

Customer Reviews:

FRANK LOESSER'S LYRICAL, POETIC GEM . . . . .......2006-09-17

To be honest, I've long avoided GREENWILLOW, partially because I was apprehensive about hearing Tony Perkins sing, but mostly because it was the great Frank Loesser's only Broadway failure. Obviously - so I surmised - the score wasn't up to the standards of WHERE'S CHARLEY?, GUYS & DOLLS, THE MOST HAPPY FELLA, and HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS. How wrong I was.

Loesser's score for GREENWILLOW is a major achievement, weaving lovely ballads like "Summertime Love" (recorded by the likes of Eddie Fisher, Harry Belafonte, Bud & Travis), "Never Will I Marry" (Linda Ronstadt & Barbra Streisand, to name a few), and "Faraway Boy" with clever novelty numbers like "Could've Been a Ring," "The Sermon," and "Clang Dang the Bell (Baptism of a Calf)" and the pastoral "The Music of Home." Loesser also takes a stab or two at organized religion with "He Died Good" and "What a Blessing," sung by the Rev. Birdsong (Cecil Kellaway): "What a blessing to know there's a devil, and that I'm but a pawn in his game/That my impulse to sin doesn't come from within, and so I'm not entirely to blame."

Based on the popular novel by B.J. Chute, GREENWILLOW is a ". . . lyrical and poetic fable . . . [that] tells of the romance between young Gideon Briggs, who walks in the shadow of a family curse and vows never to marry, and Dorrie, the orphan girl he loves." (Amazon.com's Book Description) If the whimsical town of Greenwillow reminds you of BRIGADOON or the folk-like melodies recall THREE WISHES FOR JAMIE or FINIAN`S RAINBOW, what the heck. All I can say is that GREENWILLOW is a true original and, next to MOST HAPPY FELLA, Loesser's finest score.

Ellen McCown (SEVENTEEN) is a delightfully sweet Dorrie; William Chapman (CANDIDE) an operatic Rev. Lapp; Pert Kelton (THE MUSIC MAN) a hilarious Gramma Briggs; Lee Cass (THE MOST HAPPY FELLA) a humorous Thomas Clegg; and the aforementioned Cecil Kellaway (Oscar nominee for "Luck of the Irish" & "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner") a spry and earthy Rev. Birdsong. But the major surprise is Anthony Perkins. He's actually very, very good. (Incidentally, he was filming "Psycho" while GREENWILLOW was in rehearsal.)

Additional praise for Don Walker's lush orchestrations and the uncredited choral arrangements. It's unfortunate that the present economic reality of Broadway prohibits orchestras and choruses of the size common in the 60s. Today's musicals suffer because budgets dictate only 16 singer/dancers on stage and synthesizers instead of "real" instruments in the pit - a major reason why most modern revivals seldom sound as good as the originals.

Anyway, GREENWILLOW is a musical gem, and I heartily recommend it.

PS. An interesting side bar: Although GREENWILLOW was released as an RCA Victor LP, my copy is by Columbia Special Products. Just how long has the merger of the two giants been in the works? Let's hope Sony/BMG re-releases the complete MOST HAPPY FELLA as part of their Masterworks/Broadway series, far superior to the 1992 revival currently in its catalogue.

And when in the world will there ever be a release of WHERE'S CHARLEY?

A Forgotten Gem of a Musical.......2002-12-13

Ethan Mordden begins his book "Open a New Window: The Broadway Musical in the 1960s" by talking about "Greenwillow", which he calls "perhaps Loesser's greatest set of music and lyrics". I saw this show in tryouts as a teenager and was sure it would go on to a long run in New York. After three months it was gone. I recently purchased the CD and began listening again. It is a delightful score if a bit old fashioned in this day and age. What a shame more people aren't familiar with it!

A delightful surprise.......2000-12-05

All I could recall, musically at least, of Tony Perkins was his bit of froth "Moonlight Swim" which was on the hit parade when I was a teenager in the 1950s. Certainly, I had never heard of "Greenwillow" until I read Winecoff's biography of Perkins. It rather whetted my curiosity and, I have to say, I was not disappointed with the CD when it arrived. The music is a lovely, rather nostalgic glimpse (for me at least) of the musical genre of the late 50s. A worthwhile addition to my collection.

Frank Hoffman.......2000-04-29

Interesting in large part for the performance by Tony Perkins, fresh from his career-defining (in both the good and bad senses) role in Hitchcock's "Psycho" -- a very different work than "Greenwillow," obviously. At the time, apparently, many considered this play to be more of a lesser gem than a "Loesser gem" -- and this recording was not held to be as good as the best live performances. Some fascinating background and history of this show can be found in Charles Winecoff's biography of Perkins, titled "Split Image" -- including the reaction of his fellow cast members to seeing "Psycho" all together one evening and how that affected the next performance of "Greenwillow." Also worth noting that it was during this production that Perkins met Grover Dale, with whom he subsequently had a mostly closeted romantic relationship for about six years.

Music:

Music

Music