Kurt Weill fled Germany to escape the Nazis and was embraced by the American music community for a while, but around 1940 his career started to falter. At that time a collaboration came about that included Weill, author Moss Hart, and lyricist Ira Gershwin that gave birth to Lady in the Dark, a play with musical dream sequences. Gertrude Lawrence starred as the adored, wealthy, yet neurotic Liza Elliott, and other cast members included Victor Mature, MacDonald Carey, and Danny Kaye. Though there were recordings along the way, they were all cut and re-orchestrated. We’ve had to wait more than 50 years for an accurate version, but Jay has given us that with interest. It’s based on the Royal National Theater revival of 1997, but the reduced orchestration used for that production has been restored to Weill’s original for this recording. The cast is excellent; if Maria Friedman misses a little of the gutsy quality that Lawrence and Risë Stevens brought to the role of Liza, she captures more of her character’s vulnerability and uncertainty, still making “The Saga of Jenny” into a show-stopper. It’s hard to believe that Gershwin’s clever lyrics for this song had to be rewritten for radio broadcasts in order to please the censors of the day. The Dolby surround sound is quite natural. All the voices have a rich, rounded quality that makes any thought of the microphone disappear; and the orchestra, which plays with virtuoso flair, is well-balanced with the singers. The program booklet is above average, too, containing excellent information on the show’s history, as well as the various recordings that have been made since it debuted in 1941.
