Description
Roberta, a musical comedy by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach, which opened at New York’s New Amsterdam Theatre in November 1933, was intended to follow a similar structure of his two previous musicals, The Cat And The Fiddle (1931) and Music In The Air (1932). These musicals were chic, sophisticated tapestries of dialogue, song, and dance interwoven with nearly continuous underscoring. Based on Alice Duer Miller’s novel, Gowns By Roberta, the musical is a romantic coming-of-age comedy about a young American’s growth from naïve college athlete to sophisticated owner of his Great-aunt Minnie’s Parisian fashion house. Like The Cat and The Fiddle, which had been set in Brussels, Roberta presents a comedic clash between Old World Europe and brash New World America Likewise, the wonderful Kern score contrasts such haunting songs as “The Touch Of your Hand” and “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” with the brassy “I’ll Be Hard to Handle” and “Let’s Begin.” Conducted by Rob Berman, one of Broadway’s finest musical directors, the cast includes West End, Broadway, and opera stars Kim Criswell, Annalene Beechey, Jason Graae, and Diana Montague. There have been previous recordings of the songs from Roberta, but this is the first recording of the complete score in its original orchestrations by Kern’s orchestrator-of-choice, Robert Russell Bennett.
Disc: 1
1. Let’s Begin
2. Lindy Hop
3. Madrigal
4. You’re Devastating
5. Dialogue 1
6. Finaletto
7. Dialogue 2
8. You’re Devastating: Stephanie’s Reprise
9. Dialogue 3
10. Yesterdays
11. Dialogue 4
12. Dialogue 5
13. Something Had to Happen
14. Rhapsody in Prose
15. Dialogue 6
16. The Touch of Your Hand
17. Scene and Trio
18. Scene and Sidonie’s Reprise
19. Opening of Scene 4
20. Fashion Show
21. I’ll Be Hard To Handle
22. Yesterdays Dance
23. Act One Finale
Disc: 2
1. Entr’Acte
2. Hot Spot
3. Dialogue 7
4. Scene: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
5. Dialogue 8
6. Let’s Begin: Reprise 1
7. Dance Scene
8. Dialogue 9
9. Something Had to Happen: Reprise
10. Dialogue 10
11. Let’s Begin: Reprise 2 and Sewing Dept. Dance
12. Don’t Ask Me Not to Sing
13. The Touch of Your Hand: Party Performance
14. Scene Change
15. Wardrobe Scene
16. Clementina
17. Reprises: I’ll Be Hard to Handle & Let’s Begin
18. Finale Ultimo
19. Appendix: Armful of Trouble
20. Appendix: I Won’t Dance
21. Appendix: Lovely to Look At
22. Exit Music
23. Song: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.