Millennium Chamber Orchestra – Herbert: Naughty Marietta (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

For the first time on album, the Smithsonian Institution’s 1981 first complete recording of Victor Herbert’s classic musical, Naughty Marietta, is available through Harbinger Records. This is the most complete recorded performance of the original score of a Victor Herbert operetta. It provides the listener with an opportunity to hear this brilliant score as if complete for the first time. The recording began as a concert at the Smithsonian Institution in 1981. The reception was so great, the company went right into the studio and recorded the entire work under the direction of the Division of Performing Arts’ Director, James R. Morris. A young Judy Blazer played Marietta, an early step toward her becoming a Broadway star.

Naughty Marietta is Herbert’s best and most popular score and became a key bridge between the English, French and Viennese operettas popular in the late 19th-century and the thoroughly American style of entertainment that dominated our musical stages after 1920. Herbert’s collaborator on the project was Rida Johnson Young, who supplied the libretto and the lyrics. She was the first significant lyricist of the 20th-century American musical theater. Her best work transforms the florid language of European operettas into colloquial speech. She wrote plays, acted, and wrote the standard, Mother Machree for the show Barry of Ballymore. She wrote the lyrics for over 500 songs including works by Jerome Kern, Sigmund Romberg and Rudolf Friml, all giants in the world of musical theater. Naughty Marietta has become a staple of light opera companies throughout the world. After the Broadway engagement the show toured the United States to rave reviews and sold-out houses. Nearly two decades later the show returned to Broadway to great acclaim.

Tracklist:
01. Millennium Chamber Orchestra – Naughty Marietta: Overture (05:44)
02. Catholic University of America A Cappella Choir – Naughty Marietta, Act I: Five O’Clock and a Fine Clear Morning (07:47)
03. Helen Bickers – Naughty Marietta, Act I: Mysterious Melody (00:53)
04. Leslie Harrington – Naughty Marietta, Act I: Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (02:30)
05. Catholic University of America A Cappella Choir – Naughty Marietta, Act I: Oh! Maiden Fair (01:38)
06. Judith Blazer – Naughty Marietta, Act I: Ah! The Sweet Mystery of Life (00:40)
07. Judith Blazer – Naughty Marietta, Act I: There Are Two Little Maidens (03:20)
08. Judith Blazer – Naughty Marietta, Act I: So Here’s My Hand (03:14)
09. Steve Liebman – Naughty Marietta, Act I: I Must Have Been Changed (03:19)
10. Elvira Green – Naughty Marietta, Act I: Tell Me, Kindly (03:22)
11. Judith Blazer – Naughty Marietta, Act I: Ah! My Heart is Back (02:44)
12. Elvira Green – Naughty Marietta, Act I: ‘Tis She! The Casket Girl! (04:21)
13. Judith Blazer – Naughty Marietta, Act II: Prelude – Turn-a Like Dat-a (02:01)
14. Wayne Turnage – Naughty Marietta, Act II: She is a Witch (04:30)
15. Catholic University of America A Cappella Choir – Naughty Marietta, Act II: We’re the Love (06:38)
16. Dana Dreuger – Naughty Marietta, Act II: By and By (03:05)
17. Millennium Chamber Orchestra – Naughty Marietta, Act II: Prelude (00:41)
18. Judith Blazer – Naughty Marietta, Act II: Allow Me to Escort You Home (05:50)
19. Leslie Harrington – Naughty Marietta, Act II: I’ve a Very Strange Feeling (03:51)
20. Steve Liebman – Naughty Marietta, Act II: It’s Pretty Soft (04:17)
21. Leslie Harrington – Naughty Marietta, Act II: Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life (03:59)