LUCKY TO BE ME (A Life In Music) – Alfred Drake (STAGE DOOR RECORDS – STAGE 9062)
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
So excited to get this double CD for review. I am of the generation that grew up with the original cast recordings of great shows such as Oklahoma!; Kiss Me, Kate; Kismet and the male lead was a man with the most wonderful voice – Alfred Drake. The big loss was the fact that he never got to re-create any of these roles for the film versions – that usually went to Howard Keel. I saw Alfred Drake a couple of times on television programmes but wished I had been able to see him perform live on stage. He was comparable to Mary Martin or Ethel Merman – the most famous male star of Broadway in the 1940s and 50s.
This new CD by Stage Door Records is, as you would imagine, full of wonderful tracks – many of which I have never heard before. There are tracks from his cast recordings but they are way outnumbered by treasures from shows which he never appeared in such as West Side Story, On the Town and No, No Nanette. There are also loads of demos and live performances as well as quite a few rarities.
All-in-all there are 51 tracks but here are just a few: ‘Wunderbar’; ‘The Olive Tree; ‘Beyond the Sunrise’; ‘Tea for Two’; ‘Soliloquy’; ‘Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’; ‘The Heather on the Hill’; ‘Crudel! Perche Finora’; ‘I Have a Song to Sing’; ‘Love Me Tonight’; ‘Greensleeves’ and many, many more. There is something here for everyone: musical theatre, operetta, opera, ballads, etc.
Gifted with such a wonderful voice and personality, Alfred Drake is someone who should be remembered by every single person who has the slightest interest in musical theatre. Whether singing with a full orchestra or just a piano accompaniment, his voice shines through. His legend will live on forever and now, thanks to Stage Door Records, he will hopefully be reaching a new generation who, like me, will wish they had actually been sitting in the theatre watching him perform.
Nick Wakeham
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