Original Cast Recordings

Original Cast Recordings. From the very beginnings of recorded sound in the late 19th century, prominent American theatrical figures have stood before microphones and left their voices and interpretations for posterity. However sketchily and faintly, such notables as Edwin Booth, Joseph Jefferson, and such early musical stars as Jessie Bartlett Davis and Eugene Cowles have offered examples of the readings that made them famous. As records grew more commonplace and sophisticated, increasing numbers of artists, especially from our musical stages, made recordings. Usually these were merely the best‐received songs from a show and were customarily recorded with a studio orchestra. Both Victor and Columbia for many years issued “Gems,” medleys of songs from a show on a single side of a large record. The term “original cast recording,” on the other hand, came to mean a virtually complete recording of a musical with its original cast and theatre orchestra. In this respect England was far ahead of America, presenting remarkable examples as far back as the turn of the century. One ironic result is that many of the great American musicals of the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s are available only with their original London casts. The vogue for recording American casts of American shows unquestionably began when Jack Kapp recorded the opening‐night cast of Oklahoma! for Decca in 1943. For about the next quarter of a century, every major American musical received a practically complete original cast recording. After Kapp's death, Goddard Lieberson at Columbia Records was in the vanguard of responsible record makers, issuing not only the material from new shows but also often going back in time to re‐create earlier unrecorded works. The original cast recording of My Fair Lady is said to have sold more than six million copies, a record in its field. With the decline of the American musical in the 1970s and 1980s, and changes in record company policies, such recordings became fewer. However, in recent years a few specialty houses are reconstructing even Broadway failures and issuing them in limited pressings for what may be perceived as a “cult” market. The introduction of compact disks in the 1980s meant that recordings were no longer limited by the playing time of a record. Over the years many famous and notso‐familiar Broadway musicals have been remastered and put on CD, sometimes with material that was originally recorded but not used when the LP was first released.