The classic 1930 musical comedy in its world premiere recording, featuring a 28-piece orchestra and a cast of Broadway and jazz greats. An amazing roster of talent including Carolee Carmello (Kiss Me Kate, Parade), Gavin Creel (Thoroughly Modern Millie), Mario Cantone (Assassins and TV's Sex & The City), Mark Linn-Baker (A Year With Frog and Toad and TV's Perfect Strangers) and Jennifer Laura Thompson (Urinetown, Footloose) # is joined by bestselling jazz artists Ann Hampton Callaway, John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey, all in loving tribute to one of the few female composers from the first half of the 20th Century: the legendary Kay Swift. With a new biography of the composer, entitled Fine and Dandy: The Life and Work of Kay Swift, due out June 1 from Yale University Press, this new recording is sure to attract the attention of Broadway and jazz music-lovers everywhere. Overture (Orchestra), Rich or Poor (Gavin Creel & Jennifer Laura Thompson), Fine and Dandy (Carolee Carmello & Mario Cantone), Machine Shop Opening (Mark Linn-Baker & Ensemble), Starting at the Bottom (Gavin Creel), Can This Be Love? (Carolee Carmello), I'll Hit a New High (Andrea Burns & Male Ensemble), Picnic Song (Ensemble), Let's Go Eat Worms in the Garden (Gavin Creel, Carolee Carmello & Ensemble), Can't We Be Friends? (John Pizzarelli & Jessica Molaskey), Up Among the Chimney Pots (Natalie Douglas), Whistling in the Dark (Jack Donahue), Etiquette (Mark Linn-Baker & Ensemble), The Jig-Hop (Andrea Burns & Ensemble), Nobody Breaks My Heart (Carolee Carmello), Can This Be Love? (reprise) (Jennifer Laura Thompson & Gavin Creel), Wedding Bells (Ensemble), Waltz (Deborah Tranelli), Finale Ultimo (Mario Cantone, Carolee Carmello & Ensemble), Once You Find Your Guy (Ann Hampton Callaway)
Mary Rodgers is usually heralded as musical theater's sole woman composer, but this new recording of a long-lost gem introduces us to another brilliant member of Broadway's thin female ranks: Kay Swift. Collaborating with her husband, lyricist James Paul Warburg (writing as Paul James), Swift penned a splendid collection of tunes-in turn touching, daffy, percolating and tender-for this 1930 show. Taking place in the unlikely setting of a tool-and-die factory, Fine and Dandy is a bubbly jazz age musical full of melodic invention and lyrical twists. Fans of the Gershwins' 1920s oeuvre will adore this world-premiere recording, and in fact George is namechecked in the wonderful title track, in which Carolee Carmello and Mario Cantone compete in spirited one-upmanship. The CD also includes four songs written by Swift between 1929 and 1950; like Plain and Fancy, they serve to remind us that Swift was one of Broadway's unsung heroes. --Elisabeth Vincentelli
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
Dandy:
No one will easily mistake Kay Swift for Gershwin, but it is great that she is finally getting some recognition beyond "Can't We Be Friends?" (included here on this LP as a sort of bonus) which isn't itself all that familiar except to cabaret aficionados. Writing true show music is a different kettle of fish, an art form with different skills, and listening to this LP one begins to construct a live production of FINE AND DANDY in one's head. The voices of the individual performers are immensely helpful in... more info
WOW Simply the best reconstructed show album to date!!:
Fine and Dandy is simply the best 30s musical to be reconstructed for CD yet, and it was a complete surprise because who knew any of the songs from this show? Well, we know them now and they are teriffic, and performed by an equally teriffic cast, especially Carolee Carmello, Gavin Cleel and Jennifer Laura Thompson. Would it be fair to say that Ms. Carmello is wildly underappreciated? I have adored her ever since seeing her as Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors many years ago in Boston. Here she is wonderful... more info
More than Fine, and More than Dandy!:
I am very selective in writing reviews for Amazon - so if you're reading this, then please know that I must really, really love this c.d. And I hope my "review" helps in your decision whether or not to buy it!
Having said that...this recording is tremendous. Kay Swift's music comes to life through the talented and spectacular voices, most notebly of Gavin Creel and Carolee Carmello. I think I listen to their duet (Track 10), at least once a day. The whole thing is just pure broadway fun, the way it... more info
Not To Be Missed:
Kay Swift, best-known for her close association with George Gershwin, was one of the few female composers to write for Broadway. Fine and Dandy was her first book musical, featuring lyrics by husband Paul James, and became one of the biggest hits of Broadway's 1930-31 season. However, like many musicals of the era, most of the original performance materials were lost over the years. In the mid-`80s, Swift began to reconstruct the score, assisted by orchestrator Russell Warner, who continued the work... more info
Tracks:
Overture (Orchestra)
Machine Shop Opening (Mark Linn-Baker & Ensemble)
Rich or Poor (Gavin Creel & Jennifer Laura Thompson)
Fine and Dandy (Carolee Carmello & Mario Cantone)
Sing High (Male Ensemble)
I'll Hit a New High (Andrea Burns & Male Ensemble)
Starting at the Bottom (Gavin Creel)
Can This Be Love? (Carolee Carmello)
Fordyce (Ensemble)
Let's Go Eat Worms in the Garden (Gavin Creel, Carolee Carmello & Ensemble)
Etiquette (Mark Linn-Baker & Ensemble)
The Jig-Hop (Andrea Burns & Ensemble)
Can This Be Love? (reprise) (Jennifer Laura Thompson & Gavin Creel)
