Tracks: 1. Overture 2. Five Daughters 3. I'm me 4. Have You Heard The News? 5. Polka/The Assemby Dance/A Perfect Evening 6. As Long As There's A Mother 7. Love Will Find Out The Way 8. A Gentleman Never Falls Wildly In Love 9. Fragrant Flower 10. I Feel Sorry For The Girl 11. I Suddenly Find It Agreeable 12. This Really Isn't Me 13. Wasn't It a Simply Lovely Wedding? 14. A House In Town 15. The Heart Has Won The Game 16. Dance 17. Let's Fetch The Carriage 18. Finale
Posted 2007-08-05 20:52:48: Amazon.com Editoral Review: You'd think Jane Austen's novels would have made prime material for Broadway more often, but no. First Impressions, the 1959 musical based on Pride and Prejudice, is one of the few to have explored the British novelist's world. The show has not made much of an impact on the Broadway landscape, but it has quite a few things going for it. The cast is dominated by Hermione Gingold as Mrs. Bennet, the mother of five daughters. The headstrong daughter is played by Polly Bergen, whose husky voice takes a bit of getting used to in this context, since some of the score (by unknowns Robert Goldman, Glenn Paxton, and George Weiss) leans toward operetta, especially on such tracks as the duet "Fragrant Flower." Other numbers are easy for a nonsinger like leading man Farley Granger, who's better known for his swashbuckling roles in Hollywood. Some of the unintentionally funniest moments include "I Suddenly Find It Agreeable," in which Granger sounds uncannily like Peter Sellers in one of his goofy '60s duets with Sophia Loren. Add to the mix the fact that few in the cast bother with an English accent and a book and direction by the unlikely Abe Burrows (a long way from Guys and Dolls), and you have one weird, if appealing, musical. --Elisabeth Vincentelli
