Tracks: 1. Come To Me 2. Sail Away 3. Where Shall I Find Him? 4. Beatnik Love Affair 5. Later Than Spring 6. The Passenger's Always Right 7. Useless Useful Phrases 8. Go Slow Johnny 9. You're A Long, Long Way From America 10. The Customer's Always Right 11. Something Very Strange 12. Don't Turn Away From Love 13. Bronxville Darby And Joan 14. When You Want Me 15. Later Than Spring (Reprise) 16. Why Do The Wrong People Travel?
Posted 2007-08-05 20:52:48: Amazon.com Editoral Review: Let's face it: Sometimes, even Noel Coward could fail. Take his 1961 musical Sail Away: Coward wrote the book, lyrics, and score--and sometimes you wish he had delegated a bit more. Set on the cruise ship S.S. Coronia, the show certainly has its moments, but overall it fails to make a lasting impression. While there are lovely tunes ("Sail Away," "Later than Spring") and a few peerless comic showcases ("Useless Useful Phrases," "Why Do the Wrong People Travel?"), Coward's trademark wit comes across as toothless now. And yet Sail Away remains cultish because it turned Elaine Stritch into a marquee name. The singer-actor was so good during the out-of-town tryouts that Coward expanded her part, and Stritch ran with it. She sells a ballad like "Something Very Strange" with all her heart, but what she really transcends are bravura pieces such as "Why Do the Wrong People Travel?" (which she reprised in her one-woman show At Liberty). If you want to listen to the birth of a stage star, this CD is it. --Elisabeth Vincentelli
