Search - Dorothy Reynolds :: Salad Days: Highlights From The Revival London Cast Recording (1982 Studio Cast)

The lovely Julian Slade musical in all it's glory

Byron Kolln | the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood | 10/18/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"SALAD DAYS was one of the longest-running musicals in London in the 1950s, featuring a lovely score by Julian Slade. The fanciful plot involves Timothy and Jane, who have just graduated from university before getting married. On a balmy summer's day, they meet an old man in the park who owns a magical piano that makes everyone dance. The old man says they may borrow the piano for 1 month and then bring it back. However, things hardly go as planned. Jane and Tim enjoy an eventful summer full of love and heartache, before the story rushes to it's inevitable happy ending.This cast album features members from the acclaimed 1982 London revival of SALAD DAYS, with Julian Slade himself playing one of the pianos featured on the recording. Christina Matthews offers up a thrilling soprano voice as Jane and sings two of the score's choice numbers, "I Sit in the Sun" and "The Time of My Life".Adam Bareham is good in the role of Tim, and sings wonderfully in "We Said We Wouldn't Look Back" and "The Saucer Song". Sheila Steafel is excellent in the dual-roles of Timothy's Mother and Asphinxia, the exotic cabaret diva who sings the comical "Sand in My Eyes". Elizabeth Seal (IRMA LA DOUCE) is criminally under-used as Jane's Mother.Others in the cast include Barry Martin, Malcolm Rennie, Osmund Bullock, Tricia George, Sue Aldred and David Urwin.A lovely cast album and very nice for the price!"