Ben Bagley

b. 18 Oct 1933, Burlington, Vermont, USA, d. 21 March 1998, NY, USA. An archive and theater producer and movie director, Bagley is certainly chiefly appreciated by lovers from the musical theater for his Revisited albums. These contain ignored gems, songs constructed with the leading stage and film composers from the century which were either trim in the productions that they were designed, or swamped by even more apparently appealing compositions. Ben Bagley originated from a musical history: his maternal grandfather was the conductor from the Vermont Symphony Orchestra until it became a sufferer of the first 30s Despair, and his mom have been a concert pianist before she wedded Bagley’s dad. Both of his parents had been keen on Broadway musicals, and Bagley was presented to show music via the sheet music they might bring back off their travels to NY. He transferred to NY himself at age 16, and proved helpful for web publishers McGraw Hill as an workplace youngster. Five years afterwards, supported by Marian and Judson Todd, millionaire owners of steamship back yards, Bagley created his first present, The Shoestring Revue (1955). This is followed a season later with the Littlest Revue (1956), and Shoestring ’57. The last mentioned opened using the overture to My Good Lady – that’s, until Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe discovered from it. All three of the off-Broadway productions had been well received with the critics (although these were not really long-runners), and highlighted sketches and music by several young, talented authors, including Sheldon Harnick, Vernon Duke, Lee Adams, John Latouche, Tom Jones, Harvey Schmidt, Charles Strouse, Ogden Nash, and Arthur Siegel. Their materials was performed by up-and-coming performers such as for example Beatrice Arthur, Dody Goodman, Chita Rivera, Nancy Walker, Joel Gray, Strouse, Tammy Grimes, and Charlotte Rae. Arthur Siegel was a significant element in the next thing in Bagley’s profession – the information. Apparently, when Bagley was hospitalized with tuberculosis, Siegel delivered tapes of himself performing rare show tunes. They gave the individual the theory for some albums, the to begin which, Rodgers And Hart Revisited, premiered in 1960. Dorothy Loudon, Danny Meehan, Rae and Cy Youthful sang the tunes, which were wonderfully organized by Norman Paris. All of the selections were new and interesting, but outstanding had been Loudon’s ‘At The Roxy Music Hall’, from I Wedded An Angel (1938), and Charlotte Rae’s ‘Everybody Loves You’ (1937, trim from I’d Rather End up being Before its starting). The next album famous little-known quantities by Cole Porter, which resulted in Bagley’s last, and longest-running, display, The Drop And Fall Of THE WHOLE PLANET As Seen Through The Eye Of Cole Porter (1965). It starred Kaye Ballard, Harold Lang, William Hickey, and Carmen Alvarez, and became the forerunner of the genre that could eventually consist of composer anthology displays such as HAND AND HAND By Sondheim, Smokey Joe’s Café (Leiber And Stoller), AS WELL AS THE World Runs ‘Circular (John Kander and Fred Ebb), and Advanced Females (Duke Ellington). For the Revisited albums, there have been some 50 in every, generally on Bagley’s very own Painted Smiles label, and focused on Arthur Schwartz, Noël Coward, Alan Jay Lerner, De Sylva, Dark brown And Henderson, Frank Loesser, Vernon Duke, Kurt Weill, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II, et al. Some composers had been revisited many times, and Bagley was a specialist in persuading performers from the calibre of Bobby Brief, Blossom Dearie, Barbara Make, Margaret Whiting, Johnny Desmond, Grimes, Elaine Stritch, David Allyn, and Ballard to execute for almost no cash. Katharine Hepburn added her inimitable making of Porter’s ‘Say thanks to You A LOT, Mrs. Lowsborough-Goodby’ free of charge, and she was only 1 of several more unlikely individuals in Bagley’s business. Among others nearly renowned for his or her vocalizing had been Rhonda Fleming, Laurence Harvey, Anthony Perkins, Joanne Woodward, and Gloria Swanson. Over the last many years of his existence, Bagley spent a lot of his period supervising the transfer of his albums, filled with his very own highly distinct liner records and a images of his beloved kitty Emily, to Compact disc. His most effective stage task, The Drop And Fall Of THE WHOLE PLANET As Seen Through The Eye Of Cole Porter, was revived over the London Fringe in August 1998, a couple of months after his loss of life.