Lorelei

Carol Channing became a Broadway star at 28 in the 1949 musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, singing “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” among other songs written by composer Jule Styne and lyricist Leo Robin. In 1973, Channing, by then an even bigger Broadway star thanks to Hello, Dolly!, embarked on a national tour of a revised version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes retitled Lorelei after her title character. In this production, the 52-year-old Channing at first looked back on her racy past as a Roaring Twenties flapper (in a new song called “Looking Back,” written by Styne with lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green subbing for the deceased Robin), then stepped back into the old story of shipboard romance and gold-digging. A cast album was recorded in February 1973, just prior to the start of the tour. By the time the show reached Broadway, on January 27, 1974, changes had been made in the score, so some new tracks were recorded to create an original Broadway cast album that was actually a revised version of the touring-cast album. This 2003 CD reissue adds back the dropped material from the touring-cast album presenting, as a sticker proclaims, “All Of The Music From LORELEI on ONE CD For The First Time!” Actually, there were numbers heard on-stage — “Coquette” and “Button Up With Esmond” — that were never recorded at all, so that isn’t quite true. But all the tracks recorded in 1973 and 1974 are included. That means there are two overtures (one features melodies from the touring version that were dropped), and that both “I’m a’Tingle, I’m a’Glow” sung by Brandon Maggart, heard only on the road, and “It’s Delightful Down in Chile” sung by Channing and Jack Fletcher, added by the time of the Broadway opening, are featured. The hoopla and confusion aside, however, Lorelei remains essentially a re-recording of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with a few new Comden and Green songs that don’t change things much. Channing is still a charmer, no matter her age, and the supporting cast is good. But the best of this was heard before on the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes cast album 25 years earlier. – William Ruhlmann