You Never Know [2001 Studio Cast] (CD) by 2001 Studio Cast

0030206210828. New condition. CD. Cole Porter called You Never Know his worst show, and he had reason. Not only was his work on it interrupted by the riding accident that crippled him for life, but he was basically a hired gun on a production also including songs by others that was being transmogrified from a European chamber musical into a lavish Broadway show. When it finally got to Broadway after an extensive series of out-of-town tryouts, it flopped, closing after only 78 performances. Nevertheless, Porter got hits out of the title song and "At Long Last Love." The show has rarely been revived, though this album inaccurately claims to be the "World Premiere Cast Recording." (There is an earlier one from a 1973 production.) Director Paul Lazarus first staged a version of it in 1982, though this studio cast recording is based on his 1991 Pasadena Playhouse production, featuring four of the five principals from that staging. Lazarus' version is not so much a revival as a "revisical." Of the 18 songs heard on Broadway in 1938, only five remain, joined by three songs that were cut on the road and four interpolated from other Porter shows, among them the hit "Let's Misbehave," which sounds entirely out of place. The cast is strong, featuring Broadway veterans Harry Groener and Donna McKechnie, though the standout is the young Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth, who pairs with David Garrison and Groener on the winning "What Shall I Do?," one of the few songs from the original production, and with Garrison on "From Alpha to Omega" (another original), "Ridin' High" (an interpolation), and "Let's Misbehave." No doubt this is a better score than the one Porter called his worst, but it should be considered a reinvented show like Crazy for You rather than a revival of the original work. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi