[ Columbia Broadway Masterworks / CD ]
Release Date: Saturday 17 May 2003
Anyone Can Whistle is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Described by theater historian Ken Mandelbaum as "a satire on conformity and the insanity of the so-called sane," the show tells a story of an economically depressed town whose corrupt mayor decides to create a fake miracle in order to attract tourists. This draws the attention of Fay Apple, an emotionally inhibited nurse, a crowd of inmates from a local asylum called The Cookie Jar, and a doctor with secrets of his own.
Following a tryout period in Philadelphia, Anyone opened at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway on April 4, 1964. The show received widely varied reviews (including negative notices from the New York Times and the New York Herald Tribune), and closed after a run of 12 previews and 9 performances. The show's original run marked the stage musical debut of Angela Lansbury.
1 Prelude - Herbert Greene
2 Me and My Town - Tucker Smith
3 Miracle Song - Peg Murray
4 There Won't Be Trumpets - Lee Remick
5 Simple - Lester Wilson
6 Come Play Wiz Me - Lee Remick
7 Anyone Can Whistle - Lee Remick
8 A Parade in Town - Anyone Can Whistle Ensemble
9 Everybody Says Don't - Harry Guardino
10 I've Got You to Lean On - James Frawley
11 See What It Gets You - Lee Remick
12 The Cookie Chase - Lee Remick
13 With So Little to Be Sure Of - Lee Remick
14 I'm Like The Bluebird - Stephen Sondheim
15 The Lame, The Halt And The Blind - Stephen Sondheim
16 Come Play Wiz Me - Stephen Sondheim
17 Anyone Can Whistle - Stephen Sondheim
18 With So Little to Be Sure Of - Stephen Sondheim
Plus Five Unreleased Demo Tracks