After the Ball (Original London Cast)

Original London Cast

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After the Ball (Original London Cast) Review

by William Ruhlmann

The idea of having Noël Coward adapt Oscar Wilde's play Lady Windermere's Fan into a musical seems sound, but as often happens, the resulting show, After the Ball, suffered from problems on its way to the stage that prevented it from being what it might have been. In particular, casting was a problem, as Mary Ellis proved unequal to the vocal demands Coward made in the pivotal role of Mrs. Erlynne, resulting in the elimination of some songs. Along with other difficulties, the result was an indifferent critical and popular response, and the show ran only 188 performances after it opened in London on June 10, 1954. Nevertheless, Philips Records gave it a full cast recording on the only recently conventional 12" LP format, including 16 tracks with a running time of nearly 49 minutes. That, however, still wasn't enough to encompass the entire score, and there was another challenge. Shamus Locke, playing the part of Lord Darlington, was contracted to another label and unavailable to appear on the cast album. His songs, the solo "Stay on the Side of the Angels" and "I Offer You My Heart?," a duet with Vanessa Lee in the role of Lady Windermere, simply were eliminated. So were three other songs, leaving only 14. ("Quartette" is just a reprise of "Oh, What a Century It's Been," and "London at Night" also has a reprise.) The cut songs tend to be ones that advanced the plot, leaving plenty of choral numbers filled with Coward's characteristic wit and some love songs sung by Lee and Ellis. It's still an excellent score, even in this incomplete form, and the troubles of the stage production do not intrude. After half a century had passed and the recording had fallen out of copyright, Sepia Records undertook this unlicensed reissue of the long out of print album, spiffing up the sound and adding as bonus tracks eight songs from earlier Coward shows and/or featuring performers from After the Ball. The highlight of the extras was the three tracks from Pacific 1860, two of them featuring Mary Martin.

Track Listing

Title/Composer Performer Time Stream
After the Ball, operetta
1
Oh, What A Century It's Been
Noël Coward
03:58 SpotifyAmazon
2
I Knew That You Would Be My Love
Noël Coward
Vanessa Lee 02:26 SpotifyAmazon
3
Mr. Hopper's Chanty
Noël Coward
Tommy Gill / Graham Payn 02:26 SpotifyAmazon
4
Sweet Day
Noël Coward
Vanessa Lee 03:31 SpotifyAmazon
5
Quartette
Noël Coward
02:25 SpotifyAmazon
6
Crème de la Crème
Noël Coward
02:20 SpotifyAmazon
7
Light is the Heart
Noël Coward
Mary Ellis 03:13 SpotifyAmazon
8
Why Is It the Woman Who Pays
Noël Coward
04:47 SpotifyAmazon
9
London At Night
Noël Coward
02:52 SpotifyAmazon
10
Aria
Noël Coward
Vanessa Lee 04:38 SpotifyAmazon
11
May I Have the Pleasure
Noël Coward
Irene Browne / Graham Payn 02:05 SpotifyAmazon
12
All My Life Ago
Noël Coward
Mary Ellis 02:43 SpotifyAmazon
13
Faraway Land
Noël Coward
04:08 SpotifyAmazon
14
Something on a Tray
Noël Coward
Irene Browne 02:44 SpotifyAmazon
15
Clear Bright Morning
Noël Coward
Vanessa Lee 02:11 SpotifyAmazon
16
Reprise: London at Night
Noël Coward
02:09 SpotifyAmazon
Sigh no more
17
Matelot
Noël Coward
Mantovani / Graham Payn 03:21 SpotifyAmazon
18
Sigh No More
Noël Coward
Mantovani / Graham Payn 03:14 SpotifyAmazon
Pacific 1860, musical
19
Dear Madame Salvador / My Horse Has Cast a Shoe
Noël Coward
Mary Martin / Graham Payn 04:33 SpotifyAmazon
20
Bright Was the Day
Noël Coward
Mary Martin / Graham Payn 04:50 SpotifyAmazon
21
Fumfumbolo
Noël Coward
Graham Payn 04:33 SpotifyAmazon
Ace of Clubs, musical play
22
In a Boat on a Lake with My Darling
Noël Coward
Graham Payn 03:46 SpotifyAmazon
Gay's the Word, musical
23
Finder, Please Return
Ivor Novello
03:11 SpotifyAmazon
24
On Such a Night
Ivor Novello
03:07 SpotifyAmazon
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After the Ball (Original London Cast)

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