St. Louis Woman [1998 Original New York Cast] in Bloomington, MN

St. Louis Woman
is a perfect example of the kind of "lost"
musical
championed by New York's
City Center Encores!
series, which presents concert versions of vintage shows featuring full scores, abbreviated books, and minimal staging. Primarily due to an inferior libretto by
Arna Bontemps
(based on her horse-racing novel,
God Sends Sunday
) and
Countee Cullen
(who died just before the start of rehearsals),
was a flop, running only 113 performances, despite an excellent score by composer
Harold Arlen
and lyricist
Johnny Mercer
. But it made a star out of
Pearl Bailey
(even though she did not have the starring role), and a
pop
hit emerged from it,
"Come Rain or Come Shine."
Nevertheless, it might have been forgotten completely had not
Mercer
, the co-founder of
Capitol Records
, arranged for the label to record a collection of its songs as its first cast album. Along with
"Come Rain or Come Shine,"
"Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home,"
"Legalize My Name,"
and
"It's a Woman's Prerogative"
(the last two sung by
Bailey
) entered the canon of
Arlen
-
classics.
tried to expand the show into an
opera
,
Free and Easy
, which had a disastrous tour of Europe at the end of the 1950s. After that, nobody tried to revive a show that had failed twice, and only the short 1946 cast album preserved the score. The 1998
Encores!
production, starring
Vanessa L. Williams
Charles S. Dutton
, finally restored the score and its long-lost orchestrations, and
Mercury Records
Williams
' label, did well to record it. Unlike
does have the starring role (originally intended for, but never played by,
Lena Horne
) and thus the opportunity to sing
"Come Rain or Come Shine"
"Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home."
But
Helen Goldsby
, in the second female lead, also makes an impression singing
"I Had Myself a True Love,"
"I Wonder What Became of Me,"
and the vengeful
"Sleep Peaceful, Mr. Used-to-Be,"
Yvette Cason
, in the third female lead originally occupied by
, makes a feast out of the earthy numbers
"Legalize My Name"
"It's a Woman's Prerogative."
The whole score is well-sung, and
the Coffee Club Orchestra
, playing the original orchestrations, is excellent. More than 50 years later, there is finally a definitive version of one of
's greatest
works, all the more valuable to have on record because it remains unlikely that anyone will revive it as a stage show. ~ William Ruhlmann