Search - Charles Strouse, Lee Adams, Ray Bolger :: All American (1962 Original Broadway Cast)

A Wonderful Neglected Score!

David | N.J. | 09/30/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As with their previous hit, "Bye, Bye Birdie", this show was a satire. Unfortunatley, this was not a hit. It may have been because of a newspaper strike, but more likely because of it's book. It tried to be too many things, and as a result the story telling became distorted.







The score is a different story. From the great overture, to the wonderful comedy numbers, to the lovely ballads, the score always has your attention. Performance wise, it does have it's share of flaws. Ray Bolger (Wheres Charley?), does a good job, though it is nothing to get excited about. Eileen Herlie, who play the dean, has an annoying vibrato. Just skip through her tracks and the rest is smooth sailing. Ron Hussman was allowed to appear on this columbia record, but he did have a contract with capitol records. He gives a wonderful performance as the love-struck college student.



All in All, a cd that would be worth your investment, because it looks like it is slowly going out of print. Pick yours up today."

Pure Strouse - a pure Delight!

J. Sonne | Berlin, Germany | 08/09/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I can't stop wondering why this show did not succeed. The score is better than the most of Strouse's scores at that time (it's even better than Bye Bye Birdie). There isn't one song that doesn't urge you to hum itself and songs like "Melt us", "We speak the same language", "Nightlife" or "I've just seen her" are songs of a quality Broadway hasn't brought forth for maybe 20 years. Of course at that time (early sixties) there were more great musicals on Broadway and when "All American" opened there was strong competition with shows like "How to succeed..." and "A funny thing happened..." but could that be the reason to not even give it a tony best score nomination. Well,...."