It’s not often I get an ‘older’ vocalist re-release to review from the team at Stage Door, so I was very pleased to receive a limited edition of Dorothy Loudon at the Blue Angel and Other Rarities. Dorothy Loudon first came to my attention when she was performing in the Broadway Leading Ladies series of concerts, singing the 11 O’Clock Number ’50 Percent’ from the excellent musical Ballroom. And whilst that number doesn’t feature here (these are her earlier releases) there is much here to enjoy.

Tony Award winning actress Dorothy Loudon is often cited as one of the foremost-accomplished performers in Broadway history. In a career that spanned over six decades, Loudon achieved success in cabaret, on television and film, and of course on Broadway where she scored her greatest triumph with an iconic Tony Award winning performance as Miss Hannigan in Annie.

This CD release, Dorothy Loudon at the Blue Angel and Other Rarities, celebrates Loudon's early career and opens with her live stereo album recorded at New York's Blue Angel supper club in 1959. Accompanied by the Norman Paris trio, the recording ably demonstrates Loudon's immense talent and showmanship as both comedienne and vocalist. Making this collection even more definitive is the addition of Loudon's complete rare singles, recorded between 1951-1955, which the most ardent collectors would have trouble finding today. All the tracks featured on Dorothy Loudon at the Blue Angel and Other Rarities make their debut on CD.

Dorothy Loudon at the Blue Angel and Other Rarities has been produced in collaboration with American theatrical producer and press agent Alan Eichler. The CD launches Stage Door's Collector's Series, a line of limited edition CD products presented in the retro style of a miniature long-playing record. All Collector's Series titles are limited to 500 units, and I understand stocks are already very low.

This is clearly a release of two halves. The first is very much a live recording - there’s no attempt to hide it - and this works extremely well. There is a lot of humour interwoven with the songs, and it’s clear that a good time was had by all. The quality is excellent - certainly for a live recording from 55 years ago! My favourite song in this section was the little-heard Porter number ‘Most Gentlemen Don’t Like Love’ - listening to this, it is hard to understand why Loudon wasn’t better know, and isn’t celebrated to this day. This whole portion of the recording works well, and she works great with the band - led by her later-in-life husband, Norman Paris.

The second half is a collection of her singles recorded in the early singles. These have a very similar sound to the live tracks, although they were recorded earlier in her career, in her mid twenties, and have a much bigger band backing the majority of them. I found these perhaps less entertaining than the live recording. I’m not sure why - perhaps it was because they are all mainly uptempo numbers, and I feel Loudon is at her best on the slower, ballads and torch songs, but something didn’t quite work for me.

However, this is a great album from Stage Door, featuring the great vocals of a much underrated singer.

8

Ian Gude