The 2-CD set is now available! From Billboard: As of 22 May, One Touch of Venus hit no. 14 on the Cast Album chart! On 28 May, Barnes & Noble at 150 E. 86 Street in New York held a performance and signing event featuring Melissa Errico, Brent Barrett, and Ron Raines, hosted by Ted Chapin.
Title: One Touch of Venus
Label: JAY Records
Catalogue number: CDJAY2 1362 (2 CD’s)
Broadway aficionados have been hoping for years for a complete recording of One Touch of Venus, the Kurt Weill-Ogden Nash collaboration that made a big splash at its opening in 1943. Preparations for a complete recording date back to the late 1990’s, and now it is here. Jay Records of London has released the complete score, including ballet music and three cut songs, on iTunes, with the 2-CD set to follow. The remarkable cast includes Melissa Errico (see cover art at right) in the title role, appropriately so, since her splendid portrayal in the Encores! performance of 1996 put Venus back on the radar. Brent Barrett (Rodney Hatch), Ron Raines (Whitelaw Savory), Victoria Clark (Molly Grant), and Judy Kaye (Mrs. Kramer) took the remaining lead roles. Lenya Competition winners Lauren Worsham, Michael (“Tuba”) McKinsey, and Jacob Smith round out the cast. The National Symphony Orchestra is conducted by John Owen Edwards and James Holmes, using Weill’s own orchestrations as heard on Broadway.
Weill’s most successful American musical, with a run of 567 performances in 1943-45, has left few recorded traces until now. Most of the songs from the show have been recorded here and there, generally in different arrangements, but assembling a complete score has been impossible. The original cast recording, featuring Mary Martin and Kenny Baker, contained about a quarter of the music. It was released on CD in 1996, but that has become a collector’s item, actually harder to find and more expensive than the original 78’s issued by Decca in 1944. Now, all of you who have waited patiently for a recording of the entire score (and then some), look no further.
Reviews
Eric Myers in Opera News
Rob Lester on Talkin’ Broadway
David Clarke on Broadway World
Steven Suskin on Playbill.com
Features
Complete recording on iTunes
Information on recording from Jay Records
Learn more about One Touch of Venus
