Search - Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer :: Saratoga (1959 Original Broadway Cast)

A good example of a not very good musical from the past

F. Behrens | Keene, NH USA | 06/06/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As much as I am forever lamenting the decline of the tuneful Broadway musical, I never mean to imply that all of the oldies were necessarily goodies. Plenty of them were barely adequate and closed even before the original cast albums could hit the streets. A good case in point is revealed in the RCA Victor re-release of (09026-63690-2). Its credentials are great on paper: music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, starring roles taken by Howard Keel and Carol Lawrence. And yet it closed after 80 performances, having garnered 1 favorable and 6 unfavorable reviews from the big critics in New York back then. John Chapman praised the costumes, Walter Kerr blamed the book, Richard Watts liked the first half hour, and so on. The problem seems to be that "Saratoga" looked like a period piece but did not sound like one. "I'll be respectable" is just one in the long line of "I'm-gonna-make-it" songs and one of Keel's ballads is given a Cole Porter-ish Latin beat that is totally out of keeping with the mood, time and place of the action. Still, the score is a lot of fun and miles better than the long dry recites of recent musicals in which the composers are content to come up with one good tune and go into rehearsal, as someone wrote about "Evita." Heck, Keel can save a song as no one (but Drake, of course) can; and all in all, this CD is worth the hearing.PS: It is possible that "Saratoga" suffered by comparison with other musicals that opened at the same time--"Gypsy," "Fiorello!" and "The Sound of Music" being the most notable."

A few attractive numbers in this Broadway failure.

Mark Andrew Lawrence | Toronto | 05/24/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"SARATOGA was flop, no question, and a deserved one too. It was ineptly put together and based on a novel that does not really lend itself to a musical comedy treatment.This would be Harold Arlen's final Broadway score and a sad farewell. Arlen reportedly became so depressed during the try-outs that he went home to New York leaving Johnny Mercer to write three songs on his own.All this might lead one to believe the score is a washout. It isn't, even though itr is nowhere near as good as HOUSE OF FLOWERS or ST. LOUIS WOMAN. "Gettin' a man" is a great comedy song ("they understand the promised land, but buying the property ...NO!") but this is followed by "Petticoat High" which has the carefully controlled Clio kicking up her heels with the peasants. Howard Keel sings so well that you imagine if SARATOGA had succeeded he would have made a career of musicals in the 1960s: He would have been far better than Sydney Chaplin in FUNNY GIRL!
Carol Lawrence is quite wonderful, but nothing in the score really shows off her voice. The most interesting voice belongs to Carol Brice who shows up in two cuts.SARATOGA is for collectors of Broadway flops and Harold Arlen fans only."

Arlen and Mercer's swan song - a dying swan.

A. Andersen | Bellows Falls, VT USA | 05/09/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Two of our greatest song writers, Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, who gave their best to the screen and tin pan alley, could not make it on Broadway. This was the last of their attempts and it is, frankly, dull. There are fifteen songs and one ballet. Out of these there are only four that spark some interest: the jaunty GETTIN A MAN, THE MEN WHO RUN THE COUNTRY, and THE CURE as well as the love song, LOVE HELD LIGHTLY. But the rest is just mediocre - acceptable but mediocre. The show lasted only 80 performances with Cecil Beaton earning the show's only Tony Noms (for Sets and Costumes), winning for Costumes. If you like Carol Lawrence or Howard Keel, then by all means buy this. If you're an Arlen or Mercer fan, don't. Remember them by their other works, the hits."