One of those Columbia cast albums that make the show seem like a winner - But...it s not. The score by Berlin is pleasant enough, but lacks a really dynamic song or two. Robert Ryan was a fine actor but a poor singer and his It Gets Lonely in teh White House is quite painful.The original LP was packaged in a gatefold jacket with 4 pages of notes and pictures inside. The cover was a foil-like material that glittered.This CD edition was withdrawn a few years after it was released and is quite scarce. Maybe Sony will make it availble again as a download. It s not an essential cast album, and the show will never be revived, but it has enough of Berlin s old-fashioned melodies (and Nanette Fabray) to make it worthwhile.
Good, but didn t quite gel - Being in the 70s myself, I resent the reviewers who downplay this show because Irving Berlin was in his 70s when he wrote it. I have never seen the show, and can review only from the original cast recording, which I have enjoyed since its lp days.In my opinion, this show was as well cast as just about anything that has played on Broadway. Robert Ryan makes a believable president, especially since this one is so human. This is probably the best casting Nanette Fabray enjoyed in her entire career. And Anita Gillette is just right as the daughter, not enjoying her glass house life, but maturing to young womanhood.The songs all seem to fit the story and move the plot along. And this may be the problem. Most successful musicals have at least one number that also fits outside the context. With the possible exception of Pigtails and Freckles, none of these songs stands alone beyond Mr. President. If there had been even one number that rated hit status, it would likely have called public attention to the show, which then could have run more than 265 performances.The big finish closing number, It s a Grand Country, is, to be sure a flag waver, but, Can you think of a better flag to wave? Perhaps we should revive it now, in a time when America s respect from the rest of the world is at an all-time low.
Mr President - My parents saw this show in the 1960s and bought the soundtrack/album. The entire family loved listening to the album and all 7 kids could sing right along with each song! My 4 sisters are planning a girls weekend soon and I ve been tasked to bring along the album (if I can find it!) so that we can have a reminiscent sing along!
He saved the best for last - The patriotism was ridiculous and stupid. But the songs! This show was a landslide. Every song was a winner. Even the last one, if you re rock ignorant or don t give a damn. It has a great tune. And is well done. Pity. I think it s the best show Berlin ever wrote, at least it s the best one I ever heard. The singer/actors were adequate, they put the songs across.
Entertaining, but very dated. - Mr President was a wonderful show, I saw it when young, and it was performed with great skill and art. It seemed so right, in the Kennedy era to have this kind of thing around. However, the times have changed, and even then, in the early 60s,Irving Berlin (so fabulous!) was running low on his patriotic fuel.putting Robert Ryan in this, who had just done Lonlihearts and Billy Buidd, hardly hopeful visions of Americana or the military.An odd choice, but perhaps Joshua Logan saw the possibility for placing an obstacle in the path of the audeince, and then , let it go. What the hell. It s worth a listen for the incredible absurdities of these songs in a White House, a place of tension and supposedly high discourse, but Berlin knew the crippling naivete of Americans, so solidly embedded in everyone, for a while, and then reality seeped in and we had Nixon, the Bush family and others, and now this musical seems more of a curious document on the cultural decline of this country. We grew up eventually, and in the shadow of awful leaders.Can you imagine a musical like this today? About Bush? It would have to be like The Producers, with Springtime for Bush and Texas or something.Poor Mr President, a thing gone with the wind.