Sweet Bye and Bye: World Premiere Recording

"[S.J. Perelman] and [Al] Hirschfeld wrote the book, Ogden Nash the lyrics and Vernon Duke the score. If Broadway operated like the Preakness that pedigree should have been surefire. ... There is finally an excellent complete recording of the score on PSClassics with a stellar cast. Listening to this extremely pleasurable score, one can see why it didn't gel back in 1946. ... Still, Duke and Nash wrote a rich score, starting with the lilting title song. The humor still works (as in 'Our Parents Forgot to Get Married') There are ballads that still move you (the haunting 'Round About.') Some of them are are familiar -- producer Tommy Krasker used several on a gorgeous album of Duke songs with Dawn Upshaw a few years ago -- I hope it's still in print.) There's a great song called 'Just Like a Man,' which if I didn't know better I would have attributed to Rodgers and Hart. (It is sung eloquently by Marin Mazzie.) Part of its appeal is the youthfulness and high spirits of both the lyrics and the music. Krasker has assembled an impressive, spirited cast, and the music is conducted with finesse by Eric Stern. An actual revival or even an Encores! presentation might seem as cumbersome as the show seemed 65 years ago. Here you have everything that made it noteworthy and you can listen to it in a comfortable chair" (Howard Kissel, "Sweet Bye and Bye," Huffington Post, 10/23/11).

View catalog record here!