Cheap Gershwin: Of Thee I Sing/Let 'em Eat Cake (Music) (George Gershwin, Robert Fisher, Jack Gilford, Larry Kert, Maureen McGovern) Price

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Customer Reviews of Gershwin: Of Thee I Sing/Let 'em Eat Cake

A great pair of discs, despite the casting
One reason we seldom hear "Of Thee I Sing" is that its creators were afraid to go flat out and write the full-scale operetta it should have been in the first place, structuring it as a conventional book musical instead, full of wooden scenes and hoary jokes when the songs weren't playing, and the show caved in under the creaky stage business just twenty years later. Doubly sad as it has glorious music full of inimitable Gershwin touches. That initial success doomed the sequel too: "Let 'Em Eat Cake" was a musical with an attitude, and the shattering events of its day left a sourness on everything; even the composer's magical embellishments are largely missing (though that's probably because we're hearing a reconstruction, the original orchestrations having long been lost). Nonetheless it's a riveting score, and the scene of President Tweedledee's overthrow is genuinely funny.

Experts like Ethan Mordden have made much of this album's casting. To be sure, the 1952 revival was no great shakes with Jack Carson, who could barely sing, and thus with the quite wavery Larry Kert; nonetheless he grows on you, and anyway, we shouldn't expect a president to sing. Whether you can accept Maureen McGovern is another matter. She, of course, was a "rock" star (or rather an MOR star), and "slumming" is the inevitable word here. More important, she's singing out of her range, and very mannered and a little screechy; at least this isn't Judy Kaye, and she isn't on so much to be distracting. (Neither is Jack Gilford, who virtually lost his voice by this time and was almost unrecordable.) But Michael Tilson Thomas's vigorous conducting and a spirited supporting crew save the day, and the undoubtable excellence of these scores makes this a must-have for Gershwin and musical fans alike.

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FEELING PATRIOTIC?
OF THEE I SING was the first musical comedy to win the Pulitzer Prize. It is easy to see why it won when you listen to this incredibly fine concert version from 1987, fifty years after the show was originally produced on Broadway. It is also interesting that in the Gershwins' satire there are targets which still crop up today: the Supreme Court meddling where it does not belong; voters depending on a spinmeister to choose them a candidate; ("He's the one the people choose/loves the Irish and the Jews"); The President's sex life getting more publicity than what he actually does for his country, etc. In case this all sounds heavy going, there is song after song by the incomparable George and Ira Gershwin including "Love Is Sweeping The Country," "Who Cares?" and the jubilant title love song.

There is plenty of comedy too in Vice President Throttlebottom played by wonderful Jack Gilford and President Wintergreen's intended, Diana Devereaux, played and sung terrifically by Paige O'Hara. The President chooses to marry all-American Mary Turner instead of the sexy, French Devereaux because of the way Mary makes corn muffins which causes a rift in American/Franco relations. Wintergreen and his Mary are sung beautifully by Larry Kert and Maureen McGovern.

The second CD holds OF THEE I SING's sequel LET 'EM EAT CAKE which is more bitter, more cynical and contains fewer Gershwin hit songs; only "Mine" has become a standard. But every moment on both CD's is not only listenable, but a musical gem. In these performances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music the orchestra (led by Michael Tilson Thomas) and the chorus do great work.

Feeling patriotic lately? You could do alot worse than buying these delightful CD's. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

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More Gilbert and Sullivan than Rodgers and Hammerstein
Music as glorious as this makes you wonder why such an undertaking hadn't been done before. It took 50 years . These musicals should have been recorded during the seventies (Watergate), but, as the CD booklet says, the material was discovered in a New Jersey warehouse about five years before this recording. Of Thee I Sing and especially Let Em Eat Cake contains music that really confirms that George Gershwin was perhaps the best political songwriter in the 20th century.

Songs have infectious tunes and mildly witty lyrics. "Blue, Blue, Blue," "Comes the Revolution," and "Down With Everything That is Up" are the strong melodies with the latter being very much akin to Gilbert and Sullivan. Not everything is about politics. "Who Cares," "Jilted" and "Mine" are powerful love songs. Particularly funny is the Senate roll call in "Of Thee I Sing" with the ha ha ha and hoe hoe hoe. "Of Thee I Sing (baby)" is the most well known used in a commercial recently to promote tourism to Washington, DC.

If you're a collector of Gershwin, this (as well as Strike Up the Band) is a must have because George and Ira follow through on their hopes to become American Gilbert and Sullivans. Even though George Kaufmann's Let Em Eat Cake book was a bit scarey for 1930's audiences, I believe that it is almost Marx Bros. comedy. With the music first rate and with the shows providing a cross curricular opportunity to mix government and theater, more high schools should perform these works.