FIRST IMPRESSIONS (SPEC 1044)
ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST: POLLY BERGEN, FARLEY GRANGER, HERMIONE GINGOLD
The much-anticipated opening of First Impressions, the musical based on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, opened on Broadway in 1959 and, unfortunately failing to score with the critics, closed after 84 performances.
It is well documented that the out-of-town try-outs were set with difficulties, added to which, Polly Bergen, who played Austen’s heroine, Elizabeth, came into the show only three weeks before its first performance. That the show failed is something of a tragedy, for it has the loveliest score, the songs beautifully melodic, with warm and witty lyrics. Perhaps Polly Bergen was not everyone’s idea of Elizabeth Bennett, but she gives it her all, as does Farley Granger as Mr Darcy, and the marvellous Hermione Gingold as Mrs Bennett.
Now available from Flare, digitally remastered, for any lover of Broadway musicals, this is a show album not to be missed.
1. OVERTURE Orchestra
2. FIVE DAUGHTERS Hermione Gingold
3. I’M ME Polly Bergen, Phyllis Newman, Lois Bewley, Lynn Ross, Lauri Peters
4. HAVE YOU HEARD THE NEWS? Hermione Gingold, Ensemble
5. POLKA; THE ASSEMBLY DANCE Orchestra
6. A PERFECT EVENING Farley Granger, Polly Bergen
7. AS LONG AS THERE’S A MOTHER Hermione Gingold, Phyllis Newman, Lois Bewley, Lynn Ross, Lauri Peters
8. LOVE WILL FIND OUT THE WAY Polly Bergen
9. A GENTLEMAN NEVER FALLS WILDLY IN LOVE Farley Granger
10. FRAGRANT FLOWER Christopher Hewett, Polly Bergen
11. I FEEL SORRY FOR THE GIRL Phyllis Newman, Donald Madden
12. I SUDDENLY FIND IT AGREEABLE Polly Bergen, Farley Granger
13. THIS REALLY ISN’T ME Polly Bergen
14. WASN’T IT A SIMPLY LOVELY WEDDING? Polly Bergen, Hermione Gingold, Ellen Hanley, Christopher Hewett, Ensemble
15. A HOUSE IN TOWN Hermione Gingold
16. THE HEART HAS WON THE GAME Farley Granger
17. DANCE Orchestra
18. LET’S FETCH THE CARRIAGE Hermione Gingold, Polly Bergen
19. FINALE Entire Company
