julian_craster

Expresso Bongo (1959)

On BBC4 tonight (Friday 4th Jan 2008)

Length : 1hr 50 mins (so it might include the elusive number NAUSEA, from
the stage show.....)

Hugo

Just seen Expresso Bongo on BBC4. Very disappointing, no Nausea number and shown in the wrong ratio.
The first 30 mins were full screen 3x4 which meant much of the action was off-screen and at times there were no actors visible at all. Then after about 30 mins it suddenly slipped into a kind of wide-screen but nothing like the original 1:2.35. Bad show BBC.

Matthew Hopkins

Yes, very strange. I thought I was imagining it when the TV stayed at full frame then later allowed (via Freeview anyway) a change of ratio, even though it was obviously not screened in the original ratio. Are the DVD versions shown in OAR?

cletus awreetus

Yep, the ratio changed after 30 mins on Sky.

dylan

The DVD is the same plus poor sound quality. Wasn't there also a song by Harvey? This version, however, did show more female flesh that the one I saw in the cinema back in 1960.

D.

julian_craster

MUST CLOSE SATURDAY RECORDS have announced three new CD releases of Original West End Cast Recordings, now available...... These include EXPRESSO BONGO with Paul Scofield (in the Laurence Harvey role) and Millicent Martin (in the Sylvia Syms role) . Admirers of Expresso Bongo (the 1959 film) can now see just how much of the musical content of the stage show was cut for the film !

Other new releases feature Norman Wisdom (in Where's Charley?) and Dora Bryan and Daniel Massey ( in Living For Pleasure) ...


MP3 sample tracks from these new releases are available [for free listening]
at :
Must Close Saturday Records


CD Number: MCSR 3043
Original London Cast Recordings: EXPRESSO BONGO complete (Paul Scofield,
Millicent Martin, Hy Hazell, with a bonus song not on the original cast
album), plus IRMA LA DOUCE (highlights) (Elizabeth Seal, Keith Michell)

One of the 'real-life' musicals that arrived in London at the end of the
1950s, EXPRESSO BONGO cast a wry look at the lower rungs of the pop-industry
in its seedy Soho setting. Distinguished by its star performance by Paul
Scofield, supported by Millicent Martin and Hy Hazell, the show's success
further established David Heneker and Monty Norman as leading writers for
British musicals. Although heavily sardonic (as in the pastiche of a
terrible pop song, 'The Shrine On The Second Floor') the score also explored
the complexities of love in such stand-out numbers as 'Seriously' and the
lovely 'Time'.

Elizabeth Seal will forever be associated with her outstanding starring role
in the French/British musical IRMA LA DOUCE, and is heard here in the best
of the songs from the original British cast recording.

Tracks:

EXPRESSO BONGO
1. Overture
2. Don't You Sell Me Down The River
3. Expresso Party
4. Nausea
5. Spoil The Child
6. Seriously
7. I Never Had It So Good
8. There's Nothing Wrong With British Youth Today
9. The Shrine On The Second Floor
10. He's Got Something For The Public
11. I Am
12. Nothing Is For Nothing
13. We Bought It
14. Time
15. The Gravy Train
16. Finale
17. The 'Dip' is Dipping.
NOTE: This was perfomed in the 1958 London production by Charles Gray,
playing 'Captain' Cyril Mavors owner of the chic Diplomatique Club, but was
not recorded for the original
LP due to lack of space. [Bonus Track, recorded 2004]


IRMA LA DOUCE
18. Valse Milieu
19. Tres Tres Snob
20. The Bridge of Caulaincourt
21. Our Language Of Love
22. She's Got The Lot
23. Dis-Donc, Dis-Donc
24. The Wreck Of A Mec
25. That's A Crime
26. Le Grisbi Is Le Root Of Le Evil In Man
27. From A Prison Cell
28. Irma-La-Douce

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CD Number: MCSR 3044
Original London Cast Recordings:: WHERE'S CHARLEY? (complete) Norman Wisdom,
Pip Hinton, Marion Grimaldi, plus CRYSANTHEMUM (Pat Kirkwood, Hubert Gregg)

Norman Wisdom scored one of his greatest successes as Charley's Aunt
('where the nuts come from') in Frank Loesser's WHERE'S CHARLEY , the
brilliant musical adaptation of Brandon Thomas' old farce. This is a classic
score with such evergreens as 'Lovelier Than Ever' and 'Once In Love With
Amy'. Although originally a Broadway show, the London cast of 1958 was the
first to record all the songs. Ably supported by Pip Hinton, Marion Grimaldi
and a superb orchestra, Wisdom proves himself to be a true star of his time
in this enduring period delight.

Pat Kirkwood and Hubert Gregg are the stars of the ragtime musical
CHRYSANTHEMUM with its tuneful and lively songs firmly rooted in pastiche.
Only one song has had to be missed from the original LP because of time
restrictions.

Tracks:
WHERE'S CHARLEY?
1. Overture
2. Where's Charley?
3. Better Get Out Of Here
4. The New Ashmolean Marching Society and Student Conservatory Band
5. My Darling, My Darling
6. Serenade With Asides
7. Make A Miracle
8. Lovelier Than Ever
9. The Woman In HisRoom
10. Pernambuco
11. Once In Love With Amy
12. The Gossips
13. At The Red Rose Cotillion
14. Finale

CHRYSANTHEMUM
15. Overture / Alexander
16. Watch Your Step
17. Mary Ann
18. Sorry You've Been Troubled
19. Is This Love?
20. Love Is A Game
21. Act One Finale
22. Saturday Night
23. Thanks To The Weather
24. No More Love Songs
25. How Can I Find My Love?
26. Shanghai Lil
27. The Fire Brigade
28. Finale

---------------------------------------------------------------------------


CD Number: MCSR 3045
RICHARD ADDINSELL scores
LIVING FOR PLEASURE (the West End revue, starring Dora Bryan, Daniel
Massey, Janie Marden) (complete recording)
Plus
ALICE IN WONDERLAND / ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (complete studio
recording with Juliet Mills as Alice, David Nixon, Charlie Drake)

This disc devoted to the music of Richard Addinsell begins with the original
London cast recording of the hugely successful 1958 intimate revue LIVING
FOR PLEASURE. Arthur Macrae's witty and sometimes wicked lyrics provide
Addinsell with a perfect platform for his skills as a theatre composer,
including the classic 'tart with a heart of gold' number for its star Dora
Bryan, heard here in a variety of songs and sketches, and expertly crafted
songs for the show's chanteuse, golden-voiced Janie Marden. The cast also
includes Rank starlet Susan Beaumont.

The rare British studio recording of excerpts from Addinsell's score to
accompany Lewis Carroll's timeless classic ALICE stories perfectly
complements our already available Broadway cast recording of 1947 (MCSR
3012) . This enchanting version features Juliet Mills as Alice, David Nixon
and Charlie Drake. There are several songs not heard on the Broadway
recording. Altogether a wonderful find!

Tracks:

LIVING FOR PLEASURE
1. Living For Pleasure
2. Book Ends
3. Alone With A Love Song
4. The Lady
5. Mr Wrong
6. No Ball
7. Dustbin Follies
8. Sloane Street Ladies
9. The Two Miss Browns
10. Shepherding Sheep
11. Lost Without Your Love
12. Friends
13. Love You Good, Love You Right
14. No Better Than I Should Be
15. Finale

ALICE IN WONDERLAND
16. A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky
17. How Doth The Little Crocodile?
18. You Are Old, Father William
19. Speak Roughly To Your Little Boy
20. Will You Walk A Little Faster?
21. Beautiful Soup
22. They Told Me You Had Been To Her / Finale

ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
23. Introductory Music
24. The Walrus And The Carpenter
25. The Lion And The Unicorn
26. I'll Tell Thee Everything I Know
27. To The Looking Glass World / Finale

Website: http://www.must-close-saturday-records.co.uk

suzepulcheria

Thank you very much for these audio clips. Great fun!

"I've come a long way you know!" "Equally long way to go back..."