Wedding in Paris / Can-Can (Original London Casts)

Original London Cast

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Wedding in Paris / Can-Can (Original London Casts) Review

by William Ruhlmann

At first glance, the musicals Wedding in Paris and Can-Can seem to share one characteristic that makes them an appropriate pairing on a single CD: Paris. Actually, however, while Can-Can, with a score by Cole Porter, is set in Paris, Wedding in Paris, which features songs by composer Hans May and lyricist Sonny Miller, takes place on a liner crossing the Atlantic to France. The more important factor that the two shows have in common is that both were produced in London in 1954, Can-Can following a successful Broadway opening, while Wedding in Paris originated in the West End. The date is especially important because, 50 years later, the original London cast recordings for the two shows fell out of copyright in Europe, and Sepia Records stepped in quickly to assemble this unlicensed reissue. As Rexton S. Bunnett acknowledges in his liner notes, only half of the score of Wedding in Paris was recorded, eight tracks with a running time of less than 27 minutes. The British Can-Can had all of its principal songs put on disc, but in abbreviated form; its 13 tracks here clock in at just over 29 minutes. (The CD is filled out to 78 minutes by including medleys of the music from Wedding in Paris and a few stray singles by performers from the casts.) There are also certain musical similarities that make the two sets of recordings a good match. May, an expatriate Viennese living in London, is, not surprisingly, more interested in writing waltz music than Porter, but Miller gives him some witty lyrics in songs such as "A Man Is a Man" and "Strike Another Match" that offer some competition to Porter's characteristically clever sense of wordplay. For his part, Porter turns in some memorable melodies in Can-Can, notably "C'est Magnifique," "It's All Right with Me," and "I Love Paris." And he benefits from the casting of Irene Hilda in the main role of Pistache, who makes a better impression than Lilo did on the original Broadway cast album. Evelyn Laye also impresses in Wedding in Paris, even though she is hamstrung by the elimination of several of her key songs from the recording. This is material that has been out of print for a long time, and Sepia has done an excellent job of putting together a package that shows it off to advantage.

Track Listing

Title/Composer Performer Time Stream
Wedding in Paris, musical play
1
Overture / A Wedding In Paris
Hans May / Sonny Miller
Susan Swinford 04:24 SpotifyAmazon
2
Always Young
Hans May / Sonny Miller
Anton Walbrook 02:46 SpotifyAmazon
3
It Only Took A Moment
Hans May / Sonny Miller
Original London Cast feat: Susan Swinford / Jeff Warren 03:24 SpotifyAmazon
4
I Have Nothing To Declare
Hans May / Sonny Miller
Original London Cast feat: Susan Swinford / Jeff Warren 03:01 SpotifyAmazon
5
A Man Is A Man
Hans May / Sonny Miller
Evelyn Laye 03:21 SpotifyAmazon
6
I Must Have Been Crazy
Hans May / Sonny Miller
Jeff Warren 03:09 SpotifyAmazon
7
Strike Another Match
Hans May / Sonny Miller
Anton Walbrook 03:07 SpotifyAmazon
8
In The Pink
Hans May / Sonny Miller
Evelyn Laye 03:14 SpotifyAmazon
9
Part 1. A Wedding In Paris / Always Young / C'est Paree / It Only Took A Moment / How Do I Know It'
Hans May / Sonny Miller
Original London Cast 03:45 SpotifyAmazon
10
Part 2. Always Young / In The Pink; Strike Another Match; A Wedding In Paris
Hans May / Sonny Miller
Original London Cast 03:33 SpotifyAmazon
Can-Can, musical
11
Overture / Maidens Typical Of France
Cole Porter
Original London Cast 02:47 SpotifyAmazon
12
Never Give Anything Away
Cole Porter
Irene Hilda 02:01 SpotifyAmazon
13
C'est Magnifique
Cole Porter
Original London Cast feat: Irene Hilda / Edmund Hockridge 02:52 SpotifyAmazon
14
Come Along With Me
Cole Porter
Original London Cast feat: George Gee / Alfred Marks 03:08 SpotifyAmazon
15
Live And Let Live
Cole Porter
Irene Hilda 01:41 SpotifyAmazon
16
I Am in Love
Cole Porter
Edmund Hockridge 02:12 SpotifyAmazon
17
If You Loved Me Truly
Cole Porter
Original London Cast feat: Eve Ashley / Vincent Charles / Alan Gabriel / Gloria George / Gillian Lynne / Alfred Marks / Warren Mitchell / Joy Turpin 02:57 SpotifyAmazon
18
Montmart'
Cole Porter
Original London Cast 00:39 SpotifyAmazon
19
Allez-vous En, Go Away
Cole Porter
Irene Hilda 02:28 SpotifyAmazon
20
Never, Never Be An Artist
Cole Porter
Original London Cast feat: Vincent Charles / Alan Gabriel / Alfred Marks / Warren Mitchell / Aleta Morrison 01:55 SpotifyAmazon
21
It's All Right With Me
Cole Porter
Edmund Hockridge 01:58 SpotifyAmazon
22
I Love Paris
Cole Porter
Irene Hilda 02:16 SpotifyAmazon
23
Can-Can
Cole Porter
Irene Hilda 02:12 SpotifyAmazon
24
La Ronde de l'amour (Love's Roundabout), for orchestra (for the film "La Ronde")
Oscar Straus
Original London Cast feat: Vienna Bohemian Orchestra / Anton Walbrook 02:25 SpotifyAmazon
Dear Miss Phoebe, film score
25
I Left My Heart In An English Garden
Harry Parr-Davies
Edmund Hockridge 03:32 SpotifyAmazon
Carousel, musical
26
My Boy Bill (from Soliloquy)
Richard Rodgers
Edmund Hockridge 03:07 SpotifyAmazon
27
My Little Girl (from Soliloquy)
Richard Rodgers
Edmund Hockridge 03:02 SpotifyAmazon
Bang You're Dead, film score
28
Bang You're Dead
Eric Spear
Edmund Hockridge 02:46 SpotifyAmazon
blue highlight denotes track pick
Wedding in Paris / Can-Can (Original London Casts)

Original London Cast Discography Browser