Sandy Wilson Divorce me, Darling
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Sandy (Alexander Galbraith) Wilson
Label: TER
Magazine Review Date: 1/1998
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 69
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CDTER1245
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Divorce Me, Darling! |
Sandy (Alexander Galbraith) Wilson, Composer
Andrew Halliday, Singer Chichester Festival Cast Lilianne Montevecchi, Singer Richard Balcombe, Conductor Ruthie Henshall, Singer Sandy (Alexander Galbraith) Wilson, Composer Tim Flavin, Singer |
Author:
What a pleasure to be able to welcome this CD of last summer’s revival of Divorce Me, Darling! without reservations – a recording as sparkling and joyful as this endearing show demands. Sandy Wilson’s 1953 Twenties musical The Boy Friend was a huge hit on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1964 he wrote Divorce Me, Darling! to show his “perfect young ladies” ten years later. But the formula that had entranced audiences in the 1950s wasn’t much to the taste of Swinging London in the 1960s, and the show only ran for 87 nights. It was recorded and the original cast LP (5/65), briefly available on cassette in the 1970s, has long been a sought-after collectors’ item. The LP only gave a selection of the music. Here it all is, sung with just the correct mixture of period feel and sincerity by the all-star cast.
On stage the veterans like Lilianne Montevecchi, Jack Tripp and Joan Savage stole the show, but their comparatively brief appearances on disc, delightful though they are, leave the field clear for the three leading ladies, Ruthie Henshall, Rosemarie Ford and Marti Webb, to show off their voices. Tim Flavin as Bobby proved himself a song-and-dance man in the great tradition, and Simon Butteriss as the Upper-Class Twit (Sir Freddy ffotherington-ffitch) provides the essential sub-plot romance.
Wilson’s score has as many memorable songs in it as The Boy Friend. My own favourites are “Maisie”, the trio for the three French husbands, “Out of step”, Wilson’s tribute to the spirit of Astaire and Rogers, and the Noel Coward-style “Back where we started”. To cap it all Wilson has provided two show-stoppers in the final cabaret scene on board the luxury yacht. First, the Suzy Solidor/Jean Cocteau-influenced “Blondes for danger” in which Montevecchi proves that the art of the music-hall chanteuse is alive and well, and then “Swingtime is here to stay”, a grand finale that calls for a staging by Busby Berkeley. Grand irony – Berkeley had been approached to stage the show on Broadway in 1965, a saga that belongs to the catalogue of showbiz might-have-beens.Divorce Me, Darling! may yet make it to Broadway, but I doubt it will ever be better performed than it is here. PO’C
On stage the veterans like Lilianne Montevecchi, Jack Tripp and Joan Savage stole the show, but their comparatively brief appearances on disc, delightful though they are, leave the field clear for the three leading ladies, Ruthie Henshall, Rosemarie Ford and Marti Webb, to show off their voices. Tim Flavin as Bobby proved himself a song-and-dance man in the great tradition, and Simon Butteriss as the Upper-Class Twit (Sir Freddy ffotherington-ffitch) provides the essential sub-plot romance.
Wilson’s score has as many memorable songs in it as The Boy Friend. My own favourites are “Maisie”, the trio for the three French husbands, “Out of step”, Wilson’s tribute to the spirit of Astaire and Rogers, and the Noel Coward-style “Back where we started”. To cap it all Wilson has provided two show-stoppers in the final cabaret scene on board the luxury yacht. First, the Suzy Solidor/Jean Cocteau-influenced “Blondes for danger” in which Montevecchi proves that the art of the music-hall chanteuse is alive and well, and then “Swingtime is here to stay”, a grand finale that calls for a staging by Busby Berkeley. Grand irony – Berkeley had been approached to stage the show on Broadway in 1965, a saga that belongs to the catalogue of showbiz might-have-beens.
Sandy Wilson Divorce me, Darling
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