Re: I'm listening to...

On Aug 26, 9:44=A0am, David Levy <dl...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> > And I did not know that until now. I also played Mercer & Arlen's
> > SARATOGA-- which ought to get a concert revival. Perhaps with Carol
> > Lawrence in the Odette Myrtil role.
>
> Today I'm listening to Arlen and Harburg's BLOOMER GIRL. =A0I managed to
> get my hands on a copy of the televised version with Barbara Cook,
> which I started watching last night, so this morning I decided to
> revisit the original. =A0This is definitely an underappreciated score
> (perhaps because it's saddled with a rather silly book).


I agree it's an underappreciated score - some cabaret singers do Right
as the Rain every now and then, but that's about it - but the book may
seem silly to our twenty-first century minds; it wasn't thought of as
particularly silly in the 1940s.  As time goes by, the theatre gets
more sophisticated, and Bloomer Girl's relatively early attempt to
deal with women's rights and racial rights went from seeming bold to
looking quaint.

Arlen and Harburg did better work, separately and together.  More than
a few of the funny lyrics brought out the prosaic in the usually
masterful Arlen.  T'morrow, Good Enough for Grandma, Never Was Born -
not top notch.  But I love When the Boys Come Home, a waltz that
sneaks in a jazz chord without betraying the period.