Search - Barbara Cook, Chiari :: Gay Life

So good it should have been a great big hit!!

RareRare | 12/18/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Don't pass this one by. Horrible title in today's terms. Renamed "The High Life" by Samuel French. Some of the most beautiful songs ever written for the stage with peerless performances by Barbara Cook, Walter Chiari, Jules Munshin and Elizabeth Allen of "Do I Hear a Waltz?: fame. This one was reworked during previews and performances on Broadway. It was finally great but too late because of earlier reviews."

Barbara Cook fans rejoice!

Byron Kolln | the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood | 05/08/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"THE GAY LIFE gets it's long-overdue CD reissue thanks to the good people at DRG. Capturing Barbara Cook in one of her greatest musical theatre performances, and also featuring the impressive belter Elizabeth Allen (DO I HEAR A WALTZ's original Leona) as well as talented comic actor Jules Munshin, THE GAY LIFE was based on Arthur Schnitzler's "The Affairs of Anatole" with a score by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz. In the pivotal lead role was popular actor Walter Chiari - though he was sadly miscast and may have been one of the factors of the show's quick demise (though the book was most certainly the biggest nail in the coffin). THE GAY LIFE opened at the Shubert Theatre in 1961 and ran for 113 performances.



Barbara Cook memorably played all the female characters in the love-life of Anatole, and got to sing two of the score's most beautiful numbers - "Magic Moment" and "Something You Never Had Before". Because of Walter Chiari's thick accent most of his numbers are slightly diminished nevertheless he has a charming presence on disc. Elizabeth Allen gets the showy gypsy number "Come a-Wandering with Me". Even the Overture is something special and the orchestra features traditional Viennese instrumentation.



Probably one of Schwartz and Dietz's most ambitous scores, certainly one of their most rewarding. For Barbara Cook fans and cast album enthusiasts who missed this cast album's first CD issue (quickly deleted in the early 90's) snap up this edition while you can!"