Merrily We Roll Along (Recording)
Louise Gold starred as Gussie, on the Leicester Haymarket Cast album
recording, recorded on 28, 29 and 30 April 1993 at Abbey Road Studios in London.
Catalogue
number: (Double CD) CDJAY2 1245, (Single CD) CDTER 1225,
(Cassette) ZCTER 1225
Cast
Mary
- Maria Freidman
Frank Sheppard - Michael
Cantwell
Gussie - Louise Gold
Charley - Evan Pappas
Joe - Gareth Snook
Beth - Jacqueline Dankworth
Waitress & Evelyn - Julie Armstrong
Terry & Minister - Jon Clairmonte
Meg - Lucy Dixon
K.T. - Kate Copstick
Ru - Phillip Day
Mrs Spencer - Michelle Fine
Bunker - Daniel Gillingwater
Make-up Artiste & Reporter - Deirdre Forrest
Scotty & Mr Spencer - Matthew White
Dory - Dwan Kastelle
Jerome - Phillip Wrigley
Dresser & Secretary - Karen Skinns
Tyler - Alan Mosley
Frank Jnr - Scott Bradley, Dominic Burr, Matthew
Fraser
Party Guests, reporters, TV crew etc
- played by members of the company.
Production Team
Music
and Lyrics - Stephen Sondheim
Book - George Furth
Based on the original play by George S Kaufman and Moss
Hart.
Directed and Staged by - Paul
Kerryson
Designed by - Martin Johns
Orchestrations by - Jonathan Tunick
Musical Direction by - Julian Kelly
Executive Producer - John Yap for JAY/TER
records
Recording and mixing engineer - John Kurlander
Track Listing
Double CD: CDJAY2 1245
CD1/Act One
1. Overture - Orchestra [2’38’]
2. Merrily We Roll Along - Company (The Cast) [3’50’]
3. That Frank - Company (The Cast) [5’34’]
4. Scene - Gussie with Company (Louise Gold with The Cast)
[0’31’]
5. Transition 1 - Company (The Cast) [1’13’]
6. Old Friends/Like It Was - Mary and Charley (Maria Friedman and Evan
Pappas) [4’08’]
7. Franklin Sheppard Inc. - Charley (Evan Pappas) [5’49’]
8. Transition 2 - Company (The Cast) [0’50’]
9. Old Friends - Frank, Charley, and, Mary (Michael Cantwell, Evan Pappas,
and, Maria Friedman) [4’05’]
10. Growing Up Part One - Frank with Gussie (Michael
Cantwell with Louise Gold) [3’59’]
11. Growing Up part Two - Gussie (Louise Gold) [2’59’]
12. Transition 3 - Company (The Cast) [0’57’]
13. Not A Day Goes By Act One - Frank and
Beth (Michael Cantwell
and Jacqueline Dankworth) [2’15’]
14. Now you Know - Scotty, Mary, Tyler, Frank, and Company (Matthew
White, Maria Friedman, Alan Mosley, Michael
Cantwell, and The Cast) [4’25’]
CD2/Act Two
1. Entra’acte - Orchestra
[1’31]
2. Act Two Opening (Good Thing Going) - Gussie (Louise
Gold) [2’00’]
3. It’s A Hit! - Frank, Charley, Mary, Joe, Beth,
Theatregoers (Michael Cantwell,
Evan Pappas, Maria Friedman, Gareth Snook, Jacqueline Dankworth, and the chorus) [4’05]
4. Transition 4 - Company (The Cast) [0’54’]
5. The Blob - Gussie and Guests (Louise Gold and The Company)
[2’35’]
6. Growing Up Act Two - Gussie and Frank (Louise Gold and Michael Cantwell) [3’06’]
7. Good Thing Going - Charley and Frank (Evan Pappas and Michael Cantwell) [2’21’]
8. The Blob Conclusion - Company (The Cast) [1’39]
9. Transition 5 - Company (The Cast) [1’03’]
10. Bobby And Jackie And Jack - Charley, Frank, and, Mary (Evan Pappas,
Michael Cantwell, and,
Maria Friedman) [4’44’]
11. Not A Day Goes By Act Two - Frank, Beth,
and, Mary (Michael
Cantwell, Jacqueline Dankworth, and, Maria
Friedman) [2’19’]
12. Transition 6 - Company (The Cast) [0’35’]
13. Opening Doors - Charley, Frank, Mary, and, Joe (Evan
Pappas, Michael
Cantwell, Maria Friedman, and, Gareth Snook) [7’13’]
14. Our Time Part One - Frank (Michael
Cantwell) [3’59’]
15. Our Time Part Two - Frank, Charley, Mary, and Company (Michael Cantwell, Evan Pappas, Maria
Friedman, and, The Cast) [3’41’]
16. Bows - Company (The Cast) [1’33’]
17. Exit Music - Company (The Cast) [1’44’]
Single CD: CDTER1225
1. Overture - Orchestra [2’38’]
2. Merrily We Roll Along - Company (The Cast) [3’46’]
3. That Frank - Company (The Cast) [3’42’]
4. Transition 1 - Company (The Cast) [1’13’]
5. Old Friends/Like It Was - Mary and Charley (Maria Friedman and Evan
Pappas) [3’21’]
6. Franklin Sheppard Inc. - Charley (Evan Pappas) [5’12’]
7. Transition 2 - Company (The Cast) [0’52’]
8. Old Friends - Frank, Charley, and, Mary (Michael Cantwell, Evan Pappas,
and, Maria Friedman) [3’53’]
9. Growing Up Part One - Frank (Michael
Cantwell) [3’34’]
10. Growing Up part Two - Gussie (Louise Gold) [2’46’]
11. Transition 3 - Company (The Cast) [0’47’]
12. Not A Day Goes By Act One - Frank and
Beth (Michael Cantwell
and Jacqueline Dankworth) [1’45’]
13. Now you Know - Scotty, Mary, Tyler, Frank, and Company (Matthew
White, Maria Friedman, Alan Mosley, Michael
Cantwell, and The Cast) [4’07’]
14. Entra’acte - Orchestra
[1’31]
15. Act Two Opening (Good Thing Going) - Gussie (Louise
Gold) [2’00’]
16. It’s A Hit! - Frank, Charley, Mary, Joe, Beth,
Theatregoers (Michael
Cantwell, Evan Pappas, Maria Friedman, Gareth Snook, Jacqueline
Dankworth, and the chorus) [4’05]
17. Transition 4 - Company (The Cast) [0’54’]
18. The Blob - Gussie and Guests (Louise Gold and The Company)
[1’48’]
19. Growing Up Act Two - Gussie and Frank (Louise Gold and Michael Cantwell) [2’53’]
20. Good Thing Going - Charley and Frank (Evan Pappas and Michael Cantwell) [1’52’]
21. The Blob Conclusion - Company (The Cast) [1’32]
22. Transition 5 - Company (The Cast) [0’45’]
23. Bobby And Jackie And Jack - Charley, Frank, and, Beth (Evan Pappas,
Michael Cantwell, and,
Jacqueline Dankworth) [4’44’]
24. Not A Day Goes By Act Two - Frank, Beth,
and, Mary (Michael
Cantwell, Jacqueline Dankworth, and, Maria
Friedman) [2’00’]
25. Transition 6 - Company (The Cast) [0’35’]
26. Opening Doors - Charley, Frank, Mary, and, Joe (Evan
Pappas, Michael
Cantwell, Maria Friedman, and, Gareth Snook) [7’13’]
27. Our Time (Parts One & Two) - Frank,
Charley, Mary, and Company (Michael
Cantwell, Evan Pappas, Maria Friedman, and, The Cast) [5’25’]
The Cassette ZCTER, follows the same listing as the Single CD CDTER1245, with tracks 1 to 14 on Side A,
and tracks 15 to 27 on Side B.
According to the sleeve notes the only additional items included
on Double CD:
CDJAY2 1245
that are not on Single CD CDTER1245 are: the scene at the party where Gussie attacks Meg and tells
Frank they are finished, Michael
Cantwell’s Our Time
solo, and the Bows and Exit Music at the very end. However, in
actual fact, there is also around a further 7 minutes on the double CD that is
not on the single CD. This has been arrived at by cutting the lengths of
various tracks on the single CD. Although the sleeve notes give the track
lengths on the single CD as being the same as the double CD this is in fact not
the case. For example, on the track Growing Up part one, the dialog scene between Michael Cantwell and Louise Gold
(when Gussie announces that she has “done it” - left Joe) is omitted from the
single CD version, as is the spoken dialogue by both Louise Gold and Michael Cantwell on the track Growing Up part two. Although the sleeve notes for
the single CD still list Louise Gold’s Gussie as featured on the Growing Up part one track, her part on that track is
omitted altogether from the single CD version. Similarly on the track where Evan
Pappas and Michael
Cantwell sing Good Thing Going, part of Louise Gold’s introductory dialogue, involving
the line “You are going to be able to say “I was there when...” is cut.”
. It should also be mentioned that on the single CD the two parts of the number
Our
Time are
merged and cut. In the track listing above an attempt has been made to give the
actual lengths of the tracks on the single CD (which in around half the cases
are not those stated on the sleeve notes).
It
is perhaps worth noting that in Merrily We Roll Along, Gareth Snook’s
character, Joe is that of a producer of Broadway Musicals. It turns out that in
the same year that he played Joe in MWRA, Gareth Snook (along with the
Queen of West End Musical Directors, Kate Young) produced a charity
production of The Hired Man at The Palace Theatre in London,
he also worked as a producer on a production of The King Of Comedy.
Michael Cantwell, Louise Gold, Gareth Snook
and Michelle Fine would be reunited later that year in another Stephen Sondheim musical Assassins
.
Maria Friedman and Louise Gold had previously appeared together in: Kids At Heart, they have gone on to appear
together in A Time To Start Living, and, Sondheim At The Barbican. They also
appeared separately in Chicago & Company, and may have
appeared together in Will-Aid
Louise Gold and Michelle Fine were also reunited on the JAY/TER
recording of Stop The World I Want To Get Off.
Louise
Gold and Gareth Snook later appeared on the JAY/TER recording of On The Town and Anything Goes (recording) - Website Recommended Album.
Michael
Cantwell, Louise Gold and Daniel Gillingwater were reunited several years later in One Touch Of Venus.
Louise
Gold returned to The Leicester Haymarket theatre two and a half years later to head the cast
(which included Alan Mosley) in Calamity Jane.
Louise Gold, Maria Friedman, Jacqueline Dankworth, Michael
Cantwell, Kate Copstick, Lucy Dixon,
and, Gareth Snook subsequently appeared
on the JAY/TER recording of Cabaret .
Maria Friedman is also featured on The History Of The Musical
John
Kurlander was also the engineer on Nunsense (recording)
Julian
Kelly was also the conductor on some of the
tracks on Simply Musicals, The
Great Musicals - Wonderful Tales, The Great Musicals – Dashing Heroes, Blushing Maidens,
and, The Best Of The Musicals.
Louise
Gold under the direction of Paul
Kerryson and the musical direction of Julian
Kelly went on to appear in the Sondheim
musical Follies
Orchestrator Jonathan
Tunick’s own conducting can be found on The Greatest Musicals of the 20th Century.
Lucy
Dixon, and, Michelle Fine may have gone on to appear in Dear Ralph.
Jacqueline
Dankworth, Maria Friedman, and, Louise Gold’s recording credits include Centre Stage Showtime!, and, The Great Musicals - From Broadway to Hollywood.
Michael
Cantwell, and, Louise Gold went on to appear in Mary Poppins, and as part of The Company Of Mary Poppins in a late
night FUNdraising special.
Jacqueline
Dankworth’s recording credits include The Great Musicals – Laughter And Tears.
Jacqueline
Dankworth’s recording credits also include Magic Of The Musicals, on which Julian
Kelly’s conducting can also be found.
Gareth
Snook, Jacqueline Dankworth, Evan Pappas,
and, Deidre Forrest may have previously
taken part in Thing A Thon, which Maria Friedman was involved
with.
Jacqueline
Dankworth, Maria Friedman, and, Julian Kelly’s recording credits include 100 Hits Musicals.
Louise
Gold, and, Jacqueline Dankworth’s recording credits include Let’s Go On With The Show – Hit Songs From The West End
& Broadway.
Stephen
Sondheim of course also wrote the lyrics for Gypsy, and, Candide In Concert.
.
Review
by Emma
Shane
This is one
of those Sondheim albums where you either love it, or you hate it, and
for those of us who love it, it has often been a case of having grown to love
it, once one has got accustomed to it. For me this is best illustrated by my
own reaction to the song Good Thing Going. The first time I heard
Good Thing Going as sung by Louise Gold on the track Act
Two Opening, I hated it. The second time I heard it, thought (to borrow
a stock phrase from The Muppet Show) “Well it wasn’t that bad”.
The third time I heard it, I could appreciate that the song, and in particular
Ms Gold’s interpretation of it was very clever, even though it was not to my
taste. The fourth time I heard the song (to borrow a phrase from Statler and
Waldorf) “I kinda liked it”. And by the time I had heard it five
times, I had come right round to admiring and liking the song very much indeed,
and to thinking it is one of the most effective pieces of sheer ‘performance’
on the entire CD. The truth of the matter is Stephen Sondheim is such an
extraordinary subtle sophisticated song writer, and similarly Louise Gold
is such an extraordinary subtle sophisticated singer that sometimes it can take
a while for a listener to acquire the insight and understanding, necessary to
appreciate the ingenious complex artistry of an individual piece of their work,
especially when their incredible talents are combined.
Not all
the interpretations on the album, are quite as complicated as that. The three
ladies in particular each have their own moment at expressing sweet sincerity
combined with potent frustration: Jacqueline Dankworth with the powerful
Not A Day Goes By. Maria Friedman does an incredible job
with Like It Was sounding as if she really does want it the way
that it was, and who, after all hasn’t sometimes felt such a longing. While Louise
Gold’s Gussie shows an unexpectedly tender side and sweet voice singing Growing
Up, which, besides being a wonderfully deep and meaningful song in its
own right, is one of the most beautifully sung pieces on this recording.
There is
much more to this album, though, than moving lyricalness, Stephen Sondheim
is one of those very versatile songwriters, capable of writing many different
sorts of songs, and this album also abounds with some really good, though
sometimes quite dark, comedy numbers, such as: That Frank, Franklin
Shepard Inc, Now You Know, It’s A Hit, The
Blob, Opening Doors, and one of my favourites Bobby
And Jackie And Jack. All of these seven stand out in their own
individual ways. That Frank is basically a hilarious envious riot
about a ‘successful’ man. Sondheim describes the same character in a much more
sophisticated manner in Franklin Shepard Inc. Brilliantly
performed by Evan Pappas (it would be hard to find anyone who could
equal that performance of the song) it is a great number about the frustrations
of trying to work in partnership with an entrepreneur who is always on the go
with other projects. There is also an amount of sophistication in Opening
Doors, although mainly a hopeful song about young people setting out to
make their way in the world, they do encounter problems and do not necessarily
overcome them. Similarly Its A Hit, although a cheerful upbeat
number celebrating a successful opening night, also reminds us of the down side
to show business failure. It is put across by Michael Cantwell, Evan
Pappas, Maria Friedman, Gareth Snook, Jacqueline Dankworth
and the company with much heartfelt feeling. Darker humour can also be found in
the deceptively upbeat Now You Know. The tune is upbeat, and this
is basically a song about making a fresh start and moving on in life after a
trauma (such as divorce). New York’s in set is wickedly portrayed in The
Blob. Sondheim is possibly one of the greatest satirical writers to
grace the America musical theatre stage, and this number is performed by one of
Britain’s finest political satire performers, Louise Gold, here making
some brave efforts at fast tempo singing. More political satire can be found in
Bobby And Jackie And Jack, sung with great enthusiasm by the
moderately good Michael Cantwell, the excellent Evan Pappas and
the marvellous Maria Friedman. On the surface the song seems to be just
a jolly romp about Richard Nixon loosing a presidential election to the
Kennedy clan. But on closer inspection the song turns out to be a political
satire about the Kennedy’s, and a great introduction into learning who was who
among them all, and in some ways might even be seen as a sort of anthem to them
(well if you enjoy political satire it might). It’s also noticeable on this
particular track that Maria Friedman does a good job with voices.
Clearly
it is quite an album, especially if you admire the sophisticated satire of Sondheim’s
lyrics, and want to hear them performed by sophisticated talented performers.
That said, some people may prefer to hear even Sondheim’s satire sung
more directly, than some of the artistes on this album do it. Louise Gold
is a particularly good example here, of a performer who’s clever
interpretations of Sondheim’s highly intelligent work, may be too subtle
and sophisticated for some listeners. It is also the case that when listening
to the album one may need to persevere for a while, you will not necessarily
‘get it’ the first time, or even the second or third time. That said, if you
admire the kind of performers who appear on this album, especially either: Maria
Friedman, Louise Gold, or Evan Pappas, then it is certainly
an album well worth getting, because they have some terrific material to
display their talents with.
This
leaves one with the important question, when considering the CD, of whether it
is worth getting the Double CD or if the Single will suffice. By and large the
single CD does give a very good summary of recording, and of all the great
performances. Of the four tracks that are cut completely I think that 3 of them
one can certainly do without. The only one which I really miss on the single CD
is the half a minute scene from the party, where Gussie tells Frank they are
finished. If one of your main reasons for choosing this CD is that you are a
fan of Louise Gold’s, then this scene makes the double CD something of a
must, as she has a superb half a minute displaying her dramatic acting skills
as Gussie gets her revenge on Meg, and Frank. Then there is the matter of the 7
minutes made up of cuts from various tracks, most of these are dialog bits, and
the songs are certainly listenable and understandable without them. However,
this is a cast album recording of songs from an actual show, made by a group of
actors who were actually in the production, and personally I think the dialog
excerpts help to give one an idea of what it must have been like to see them
perform this show. In addition some of these actors, such as Evan Pappas,
Michael Cantwell, and Louise Gold, really do speak good dialog
rather well, with much feeling, so it is a shame not to hear them do so.
Therefore although the single CD is certainly satisfactory in giving a good summary
and flavour of the show, it is much more than a mere “highlights” album; if you
can afford it, then the double CD is just that bit better and well worth
having; especially if you are a fan of either Louise Gold or Michael
Cantwell, in particular. But the single version is certainly better than
not buying it at all.
Critics
Comments
“The off-Broadway cast recording
(Varese-Sarabande) has immense clarity and authentic American accents,
something distinctly lacking in the Leicester Haymarket recording (TER), aside
from the excellent Evan Pappas and a sparky Louise Gold. Still the Leicester
actors make up for that in sheer guts, giving this recording an edge on its
rival.” David Benedict, BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE, July 1996, pages 50 to 53 (Article
titled: Building A Library: Musical Theatre Works Of Stephen Sondheim).
"Well
mostly Louise Gold sings the hell out of
‘Good Thing Going’ as Gussie in Merrily doing the stage version of ‘Good
Thing Going’, which is mostly not a good thing, but it is very very funny, as
you see this nice sensitive song sung at the piano by these two guys becoming
anything but sensitive in her approach to it" Gordon Carruthers
(Castrecal List Member)
Links about Merrily
We Roll Along (Recording)
JAY Records page for this recording: http://www.jayrecords.com/jay/site/pages/recordings/merrilyweroll/recording.htm
Eur.Com
Musicals listing for this recording: http://www.eur.com/musicals/rec.cfm?TNumber=407&RNumber=1496
Sondheim
Guide page for Merrily We Roll Along: http://www.geocities.com/sondheimguide/merrily.html
About
Maria page for Merrily We Roll Along: http://www.aboutmaria.com/merrilywerollalong.html
Cast
Album.org database’s entry for this album: http://www.castalbums.org/recordings/1624
Hit
That CD’s review including one for this album:
http://www.germanbooks88.com/music61/hit_that_cd_single_import.html
FYE.com’s page for the album: http://www.fye.com/Merrily-We-Roll-Along--1992-Leicester-Haymarket-Theatre-Cast---Complete--Front-Page_stcVVproductId1083858VVcatId455366VVviewprod.htm
Return To Site Guide | Return To Recordings | Merrily We Roll Along (Stage Production) |