The Very Pretty and Extremely Talented Betty Buckley is Awesome! Betty Buckley and Sheena Easton both own this song! The Scottish Sheena Easton was the first person to record this Beautiful Song!
Betty was quite young when she appeared in this in London. Yet that voice just rings and soars through the air. She has great resonance and phrasing ,even at this young age. I was lucky enough to see her in "Edwin Drood" on Broadway in the mid 80's. When she belted out her solos that voice just cut through the air like a knife and gave me chills. The best stage voice I ever heard. Brava Betty and grazie mille. Meravigliosa.
My Dear Betty Buckley You have the most amazing voice, and presence. I saw you live, in Cats, on Broadway, and ever since I ... I ... I can listen to you ... fOREVER!
Wow. The twang. The Intonations. It's all here except for the high notes. Jill O'Hara's interpretation of this role sounds to have made a big impression on Buckley. But It sounds like Betty is struggling to get her breath. Jill does Fran in one breath. Jill easily, breezily, carries the day. SHE should have had the Broadway spotlight. Hers was a noted talent, beyond range of most ingenues du jour. More and more Betty Buckley (who I defend to the depth on the Memory contest) is starting to emerge like a Maria Muldar or Minnie Ripperton one-hit wonder. Maybe with her Memory voice, she should record "And I'm telling you, Light up my life."
The uneasy blend of actress and singer. That's a big problem of vocals in musical productions. Project ! Ratherr than interpret with feeling.........compare to Karen Carpenter and hear what I mean.
Love Dusty Springfield’s version of anything. And I knew Betty was good, but she kind of blew me away with this. I never thought that interesting gym teacher In Carrie would reveal herself to be such a powerful talent on so many other fronts. Brava!
Betty Buckley was handed the most wonderful song in Lloyd-Weber's arsenal. Canon. Collection. She inherited it from the much-lauded Elaine Page, who originated the character Grizabela in the London production of "Cats," the first of Lloyd-Weber's 'Longest Running Musical in the World' compositions. Someone set up this Cats Competition and Elaine Page and Betty Buckley topped that list of contestants. Alas, as with so many artistic achievements everywhere, when considering a work of Art, there really is NO competition. When factored in, Originality kills any notion of Blue Ribbons. There will never be a declared winner in the Memory Sweepstakes.
Personally Prefer the lovely version by Kathy Kirby pitch is perfect with Kathys some much smoothness and vocal perfect very underated . this is piercing at times even though it was for a musical version. Dusty Springfields version is worthy too.
The London Cast really surpassed the Original, When it comes the Orchestration. Special shout out to the drummer. He is sensational. I still listen to the Original more with out question because it has that golden Bacharach sound, but it’s still refreshing to listen to London Cast recording.
@@Rcity2332 Does anybody in London pay Broadway prices to go hear an Orchastration? I'm in New York. With the price of chicken soup, I can't see me going into Student Debt just for an Orchastration. Laugh, it's supposed to to be sarcastic. It's hard to do < roll the eyes, hand on hip > thing on paper. I heard and saw this show in Preview for advertised low-price tickets. Plus, I got a student discount. Makes me weep that I also saw two other Broadway shows that weekend. For a song. On a student's budget? This was my very first-ever Broadway show. I was all shook up when I spotted David Merrick in bowler hat pacing the Shubert vestibule, the sole investor, as usual, of a show, "his" show. If Merrick was in house, pacing, could Burt and Hal have been far away? I was sitting "nosebleed" so I couldn't see back-of-house where you ordinarily might spot a Stephen Sondheim type (they didn't typically sit in the Orchestra, as the flashlight, the tape recorder, the constant whispering, the pencil, upset the paying customers, who were the raison de artre for the whole she-bang anyhow. Plus, why fill a seat that could otherwise garner a scalper lots of much-desired moolah? Art Isn't Easy. Art Ain't Cheap, either. So Burt was in the room, possibly the Pit, driving those arpeggios and pit-singers to cue. Burt was known to be bossy a lot of times, in his career. I remember Jerry Orbach, he the very soul of every High School performance in America of Fantastix (ask your gay uncle). I remember bubbly Marian Mercer demonstrating her Tony-winning performance as a bubbly-drunk floozy. Incredible beyond belief, I have not much recall of a girl singer. Duh? Jill O'Hara you dolt. Double Duh?v So I overlooked a singer. I was a dancer-type myself. Being a teenage tapper, the biggest delight of Promises, Promises for me, was seeing that tall girl with those long legs in that short dress. RED short dress, the hottest color on that stage. She's the reason London will never be any better that #2. It has been declared by those experts in the know, that Turkey Lurkey Time is the most difficult to dance Dance Number in Broadway history. And can you guess why the RED dress was up front and center for the Turkey Lurkey I witnessed that day? Of course I'm hyperbolic. Can you just imagine for a moment, a gawky, klutzy, boy, from Nowhere, USA, sitting, seeing, the BEST Broadway gypsy in Broadway History, right there in front of your eyes, giving the hardest to dance musical number in Broadway History, it's spunk? Hard not to sit up and take notice of Donna McKechnie getting the center spot doing those incredibly high kicks in those incredibly high heels. With that show stopper, she sorta, officially unofficially, announced her candidacy for the BEST Broadway Dancer in Broadway History. in a red skirt. Who knew? Who would have guessed that in a few years this chorus dancer would walk on the Tony Awards stage to accept her Best-Actress Award for her poignant portrayal of Donna McKechnie, chorus girl, in A Chorus Line? For show dancers, the moving fluff of musicals, who don't get no respect, Johnny (Get-behind-the-singers-Jack), getting this Award was like Rosa Parks being singled out for Bravery. *And that concludes the story of Donna & Jack. *How the hell do I get out of here, gracefully? How do I get off this stage, out of this building? Where is my Exit? * I discovered late, in life, on my puter, I liked typing words as much as I had once-upon-a-time liked tapping shoes. Putting it together..... * Old soft-shoe white Bojangles now, the same age as old people, backstage, with some time to conjure the most-enjoyable parts of my Big Number, performed without a net, all alone, by myself, naturally, on that stage of life, my life. * You know people, we dancer boys from the dance, put up with all the shit you threw at us, all day, every day, all year, every year. For us, there was a lot of agony, sometimes maybe an ecstacy or two. What's it to you IF we reached for some pom poms and glitter to get through it, to occasionally stand up straight (very shitty pun) and hold our heads up high, and do some damn high kicks? IN HEELS? Why The Fuck did it matter to you? We were just some tap dancing boys along with some gospel-singing girls, trying OUR best, to survive YOUR hate. Well MAGAS of America, guess what? I'm still here. Look who's here. LOOK WHO'S HERE. <Bows. Spits. Walks off stage, head held high, into the wings> * Whenever you saw us up there, the other side of you, doing our incredible high kicks, we were having the time of our lives. We were having Joy. Alive! On stage! In person! Right in front of your eyes. Everything was beautiful. WE WERE HAPPY. At The Ballet. Gotcha!
OMG.. shamefully, I didn't know there was a London cast recording. Wow.. and I saw Tony Roberts in the B'way show (Oct 1970). This is grand... (now I gotta scour eBay to find this album. ) Thanks!
