Customer Reviews

She Loves Me [Original Broadway Cast]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I purchased this recording, I thought that Bock and Harnick would have the ghost of "Fiddler" haunting this, because that is a great show. This Cd made me forget about "Fiddler". Yes, it is that good. You recieve all the charm of a musical comedy, but much more wit than other comedies. Do Not put this on while you are doing household chores. The show is so absorbed in the music that you must pay attention to enjoy it fully. A good majority of the songs are short, but they still shine. The sound is very good. Most of the performances are great, especially Barbra Cook. She proves she can play, and sing, any role. She plays the pompus librarian in "The Music Man", and plays the unsure store clerk here. Why dont you own this yet? Buy it today.

SHE LOVES ME is one of the most beautiful Broadway musicals ever to grace the stage. The gorgeous Sheldon Harnick-Jerry Bock score is filled with strong numbers, there's not a clinker in the bunch. The original 1963 Broadway cast album is still the best-ever available recording of the show (not to mention the most complete).

Based on the film THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER, the story concerns shopkeepers at a European perfumerie store. Barbara Cook (THE MUSIC MAN, CANDIDE, PLAIN AND FANCY) stars as Amalia Balash; with Daniel Massey (STAR!) as Georg Nowack, Barbara Baxley as Ilona Ritter, Ralph Williams as Arpad Laszlo, Jack Cassidy (FADE OUT-FADE IN) as Steven Kodaly and Nathaniel Frey (GOLDILOCKS) as Ladislav Sipos.

Barbara Cook gets the bulk of the show pieces including "Will He Like Me?", "No More Candy", "I Don't Even Know His Name", and the showstopping, now-immortal "Vanilla Ice Cream". Cook joins Daniel Massey for the frenzied, delightful "Where's My Shoe?" and Massey later sings the Title Song to perfection. Barbara Baxley sweeps us up into musical comedy-heaven with the hilarious "A Trip to the Library".

The entire cast is strong and effective. I have said it many times; the Bock-Harnick score surpasses even their biggest hit, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, and its such a crime that the musical isn't well-known to the greater public.

A superb cast album, just as delicious as vanilla ice cream...

I agree with Arne Andersen that She Loves Me made history but only in the fact that it had Barbara Cook. She Loves Me was not the first Broadway Original Cast album to record its music on two disks. Back in 1957 The Most Happy Fella by Frank Loesser not only recorded it's cast album but recorded the complete Broadway performance. It was on three vinyl disks six sides and the boxed set included the lyrics to every number. It is worth tracking down.

This story started as a Hungarian play came to B'way and then Hollywood with James Stewart as "The Shop Around the Corner". It was made into a Hollywood musical with Judy Garland and Van Johnson called "In the Good Old Summertime" and recently was reincarnated as "You've Got Mail" with Tom Hanks. All were good entertainment, but "She Loves Me" is the best. Harnick and Bock have written a perfect little gem and this is the best recording of that gem. Other recordings may have better leads than Daniel Masseybut no one else has Barbara Cook singing Ice Cream-one of Broadway's finest moments!

Thank Heaven Decca Records believed in this show and its incredible score enough to record it on two LP records (One of the first cast albums to get that kind of treatment), so in these times accustomed to modern, easily complete CD cast albums we can rejoice in every last gorgeous note and witty, beautiful lyric of the score as it originally sounded, and even some of the dialogue. And what a cast! Ingeniously constructed of superb singers and fine actors (Barbara Cook, Jack Cassidy), "singing actors" (Daniel Massey), and definitly non-singing actors (Barbara Baxley, Nathaniel Frey), and they all get a great chance to shine. Like every person in the cast, each song has something to recommend it. Bock and Harnick are really good at writing songs that are good enough to stand on their own yet so important to the story that you can't imagine the show they come from without them. It took time for the show to become an acknowledged classic, but better late than never. (Now if only other Bock-Harnick shows, like "Fiorello!", could yank themselves out from under "Fiddler's" long shadow) The score sparkles with the atmosphere, romance, and wit of 1930s Europe, and it bears repeating, this cast couldn't be better. So, what are you waiting for? A table for two is reserved for you at the Cafe Imperiale...

Barbara Cook. Does more need to be said? Beautiful and lovely music, touching, witty, funny, sad, and sounding better than ever in the CD transfer. The entire cast shines, bringing a believability to their performances. A musical theatre must!

This CD contains the score to (arguably) the best score of the 60s, and certainly the last/best score of the Golden Age of Musicals. It also contains the most incredible performance I have ever seen in a Broadway musical. One only has to hear Barbara Cook's coda to "Tango Tragique" or her plaintive "Will He Like Me" to know why she is a legend. This is also a perfect example of a score in which the lyrics reveal characterizations, advance plot and are sumptuously gorgeous. The singing-acting of Ms. Cook, Jack Cassidy and the others is far superior to all the other versions.

Not a single song in this musical is there to make the show long enough or to purposely give it a big hit (although the title song and "Will He Like Me" are just two of the numbers that easily stand alone). If you're a big fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber-style musicals that are visual spectacles with few songs that actually advance the plot, "She Loves Me" isn't for you. You only have to listen to the CD to understand the story. It's wonderful in any version!

I love this version of She Loves Me- But there is one version that I prefer--- the made for TV BBC version in the 60's starring Gemma Craven and Robin Ellis-- their soundtrack is magic-and British! I still can't get my hands on either the soundtrack or the VHS version..but I will never forget it!

Barbara Cook is WONDERFUL in this forgotten gem by Bock & Harnick which has only been rediscovered in the last several years thanks to a Broadway & London revival. Miss Cook considers this one of her favorites too, because she almost always performs songs from it in her cabaret and touring act. I was lucky enough to see the London revival in the gorgeous Savoy Theater. I have all 4 cast cds (orig. 1963 cast, London 1964 cast, 1990s B-way revival & 1990s London revival), but I have a soft spot for this particular recording, even tho Barbara Baxley as Illona CANNOT SING. This recording is the only one that has the sweet but sad song "Tango Tragique" complete with clever lyrics. Future productions cut the song but kept the music as background in the cafe scene.