DVD/CD Update
I'll begin with DVDs, and note that a couple of the least expected titles on my 2003 wish list have actually appeared, while more expected ones have not. I'm happy to note that of my top 2003 choices --Call Me Madam and Where's Charley?-- the film version of the former is now on DVD, marking its first release in any video format. In my 2003 piece, I wondered if we'd ever get a DVD of the 1954 film version of New Faces of 1952, and that New Faces film has also come out. I wrote that "at least one title on the 'camp' list, The Bad Seed, will surely find its way to DVD," and it has. I mentioned that Star "has been mentioned for DVD release," and it did indeed appear. Also on the list and released in the last year were Half a Sixpence, Pennies from Heaven, and The Little Prince, while I discovered Song of Norway on a European/PAL DVD, albeit in a transfer of inferior quality.
One long-awaited title on last year's list, Damn Yankees, finally comes out on DVD next month. But there are still many titles from the list that are yet to be scheduled. Mentioned then were The Bandwagon, Bells Are Ringing, It's Always Fair Weather, Kismet, Finian's Rainbow, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, The Boy Friend, Flower Drum Song, Li'l Abner, Mame, A Little Night Music, Top Banana, My Sister Eileen two versions, The Opposite Sex, The Pirates of Penzance, and the telefilm of Bye Bye Birdie. In the camp category, the list included Lost Horizon the musical, At Long Last Love, Who Killed Teddy Bear?, Torch Song, Berserk, Female on the Beach, and Sammy Stops the World. And of course, there's still Where's Charley?
The first five titles on that list The Bandwagon, Bells Are Ringing, It's Always Fair Weather, Kismet, Finian's Rainbow are rumored for release on DVD within the next year or two. Quite a few of the others would appear to be long shots. Still, the appearance of titles like Call Me Madam and New Faces indicates that there's always a chance. I would especially like to have Clear Day which surely will happen, Flower Drum Song, Mame a title that overlaps into the camp category, Night Music, and Lost Horizon.
Turning to CDs, it becomes apparent that, compared to the previous three years, show reissues have definitely slowed. I divided my 2003 list by label, beginning with RCA. From that catalogue, Hazel Flagg and Make a Wish have now found their way onto CD via the U.K. label Sepia. And it appears that Sepia will also be reissuing RCA's cast album of Seventeen. Sticking to stage-cast recordings rather than studio sets, Victor titles that remain unavailable include Say, Darling, New Faces of 1956, Two's Company, Maggie Flynn, Jimmy, Inner City, Let It Ride!, The Saint of Bleecker Street, Maria Golovin, and the Lincoln Center King and I and Merry Widow. From off-Broadway, there are How to Steal an Election, The Last Sweet Days of Isaac, and By Jupiter. And why not mention that ne plus ultra of RCA rarities, the short-lived arena show Clownaround?
Some of these titles will no doubt appear abroad when the fifty-year copywright expires. Of that list, Bette Davis in Two's Company must be heard; Say, Darling is Jule Styne; Maggie Flynn has its charms; and Rodgers and Hart's By Jupiter deserves to be available.
With the exception of the Carol Channing-Eddie Bracken Archy and Mehitabel, which doesn't really qualify as a stage-cast recording, none of the Columbia titles unavailable on CD last year has since appeared. While it must be admitted that none of these titles is crucial, they do include such items as Simply Heavenly, The Zulu and the Zayda, My Fair Lady '76, Candide '74, Lincoln Center South Pacific and Threepenny Opera, Jones Beach Song of Norway, the World's Fair To Broadway With Love, and, from off-Broadway, The Mad Show, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and Half-Past Wednesday. And although I'm avoiding studio sets in this piece, I would put in a word yet again for Columbia's lovely Brigadoon, with Shirley Jones, Jack Cassidy, and Susan Johnson.
In terms of CD reissues, the most active company of late has been Decca Broadway. The label has been taking care of its shorter titles those once issued on ten-inch LPs by giving us Mexican Hayride, and, in the next two months, Texas, Li'l Darlin' and Look, Ma, I'm Dancin'!. In the past year, Decca Broadway has also given us Seventh Heaven and Lorelei, along with one that some never expected to see, the trash classic Ankles Aweigh. And Decca has promised for CD in 2005 the Broadway cast recordings of Baker Street and Gian Carlo Menotti's classic opera The Consul.
Remaining for reissue from the Decca catalogue which controls such labels as Kapp, Mercury, London, and MGM are Sing Out, Sweet Land, Arabian Nights, The Billy Barnes Revue, The Boy Friend '70, Donnybrook!, Wait a Minim, Doonesbury, and the off-Broadway All in Love, Riverwind, The Cradle Will Rock, Man With a Load of Mischief, Cindy, Greenwich Village USA, Fly Blackbird, and Ballad for Bimshire. The charming Donnybrook! seems to me the most valuable of that list, although Riverwind and Mischief are among off-Broadway's best recorded scores.
LP titles from random labels probably stand even less of a chance of reissue than the above. These still include A Time for Singing, Illya Darling, A Family Affair, Anya, House of Flowers off-Broadway, Cry for Us All, Cyrano, Show Girl, New Faces of 1968, Stop the World Sammy Davis, and One Mo' Time. The most enjoyable items here are A Family Affair John Kander's first Broadway score, A Time for Singing, and Anya.
In sum, quite a bit remains to be reissued on CD, and that's without even mentioning the dozens of intriguing studio-cast and television-cast sets in each label's catalogue. Of course, it must be acknowledged that hard-core collectors refuse to let anything stand in the way of having everything on CD, and may thus turn to homemade versions of the above titles, transferring good-condition LPs to CD and cunningly outfitting them with scannings of the original LP covers. At their best, these can look and sound almost as good as the real thing, and will certainly do until the real thing comes along. But most of them are unable to offer much if any improvement on the sound of the old LPs.
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