The second of Broadway Masterwork’s first-time digital releases is the Original Broadway Cast of Two's Company.

Two’s Company is not a score I was at all familiar with. I knew of the show, as it was the one that Bette Davis made her return to Broadway back in 1952 - and then promptly collapsed on stage on opening night! Davis was perhaps in over her head (song, dance and comedy were not her strong points) in this otherwise charming revue, with a score largely by Vernon Duke (music) and Sammy Cahn and Ogden Nash (lyrics). Two’s Company was one of the last of the sophisticated, satirical revues, a kind of show that television killed off, and its reputation has been held hostage to Davis’s troubled involvement. But Sheldon Harnick, Horton Foote and Peter DeVries were among those contributing material to the show, and the choreographer was no less than Jerome Robbins. Hiram Sherman won a Tony for his expert comedy work in this fascinating relic of Broadway’s past.

It does seem quite a strange one for Masterworks to release on reflection. Whilst it’s interesting hearing the score again (and it’s been well transferred to digital) it’s not what most people would put top of their list to hear again I wouldn’t have thought. It doesn’t feature any well known songs (well, not to me at least) and Davis’s performance is hardly worthy of keeping for posterity. One song, for me, is worthy of note - ‘It Just Occurred to Me’ performed by Peter Kelley and Deborah Ramsen, and the performance of Hiram Sherman is also worth a mention - it won him a Tony after all.

But you have to keep coming back to Davis. A singer she isn’t, and you do have to wonder why the show closed on Broadway after 90 performances, citing her absence as it’s reason. Going on this recording, it would have been preferable to see it without her…

One for the collectors and completists only I think, although kudos to Masterworks for keeping these relics alive.

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Ian Gude