As Cole Porter was emerging from a severe depression in 1951, he threw himself into this story set in the Montmartre of the 1890s, turning it into a tribute to a world immortalized in the artwork of Toulouse-Lautrec. To be sure, this isn't top-shelf Porter. Too many of the songs sound like self-parodies, especially "C'est Magnifique" and "Every Man Is a Stupid Man" ("Every man is an awful fool / Every man is a nincompoop."). You also get the feeling that Lilo, who plays the lead, doesn't have much affinity for what she sings, which of course makes sense since the German-born French actress didn't speak English when she was hired and had to learn her songs phonetically. Despite all that, songs like "It's All Right with Me," "I Love Paris in the Spring," and the Gwen Verdon/Peter Cookson duet "If You Loved Me Truly" make you realize that even second-rate Porter is still vastly entertaining. --Elisabeth Vincentelli Amazon.com
 |  | CAN-CAN A MASTERPIECE COMPARED TO TODAY'S BROADWAY |  |
"Can-Can", as most reviewers indicate, is second-rate Cole Porter in comparison to "Anything Goes" and "Kiss Me Kate"; but any score that includes standards such as "I Love Paris" and the stunningly beautiful ballad "It's All Right With Me" can't be dismissed lightly. This Capitol Original Broadway Cast album showcases the show's strengths (Porter's score & Abe Burrows bawdy book) and weaknesses (lackluster performances from most of the stars and indifferent orchestrations) but still is better than the 1960 film version, which cut most of the score and story, but benefits from the lush Nelson Riddle scoring and features miscast Frank Sinatra's poignant definitive vocal of "It's All Right With Me, one of the greatest vocal performances of the 20th. Century. The soundtrack can be enjoyed on its own level (if EMI ever decides to reissue it on CD) away from the mediocre film and both versions belong in any musical theatre collection. A new production of "Can-Can is opening at the Pasadena Playhouse in Southern California at the time of this review with a revised book and a superb cast which could be Broadway bound and may introduce "Can-Can" to a new generation of theatergoers. This is a good thing for, as it has been established that Cole Porter's score for "Can-Can" is second rate Porter, compared to most of what has passed for musical theatre on Broadway since the 1980's, "Can-Can is a masterpiece. It is genuine musical theatre, not a thrill ride masquerading as musical theatre. And when the audience applauds, they will be applauding the artistic aspects of the show, not the technology as is common with today's Broadway musicals.
July 9, 2007 | | Like the songs, liked the singers | |
Read the reviews (including the Amazon staff reviewer who didn't even get the song titles or lyrics right), and had to say something. This show, "Out of This World," and the revival cast recording of "Anything Goes" with Eileen Rogers and Hal Linden are my 3 favorite Cole Porter scores. When I was into Bway, I listened to them constantly. And loved it! This show produced several standards, and all the songs (except "Never Be An Artist" and "Maidens Typical of France") (did I get the titles right? it's been a long time) I think are wonderful. A pleasure. The lyrics aren't witty. And only mildly clever. But they are still better than anything anyone else except Larry Hart ever wrote. One reviewer said that paradoxically, in this Porter score, the music is better than the words. I don't agree, but I see his point. One thing I noticed however, starting with "World," Porter's sexy cleverness, while never always so subtle, borders on the blatant.
March 8, 2007| | | Porter Never Fails To Entertain!! | |
It would be easy to say, as many critics did, that Porter was not up to his usual standards. I have to disagree. "Can Can" is a wonderful score that never has been given it's due. Many popular songs came from this, but the best ones are overlooked.
The performers are all top notch. Lilo takes her material and belts it to perfection. Being a Gwen Verdon fan, I found her numbers thorougly enjoyable.
The sound quality is great considering the age of the material. Angel supplied wonderful liner notes, and the synopsis is very helpful. I can recommend this to Porter fans, and those who enjoy great music. Also for Porter fans, "Mexican Hayride" is now available from Decca Broadway.
September 17, 2004Capitol Records gave the score of CAN-CAN a lively cast album in 1953. Of necessity some music had to be cut: The Garden of Eden Ballet, The Apache Dance, The Overture. Lilo has a brassy Broadway belt voice and makes the most of her songs. Peter Cookson sounds dull, though in a way that does fit in with his stuffy character. The remaster is well done and as with others in this series the liner notes are fascinating and well written. The movie sountrack version of "It's All right With Me" by Sinatra is much better but that CD is now out-of-print. Given the number of hits this score yielded plus other shows set in Paris (SILK STOCKINGS, PARIS, FIFTY MILLION FRENCHMEN) it's clear that the city served as Porter's greatest inspiration.
May 24, 2004 | | A not really spectacular entry in the Cole Porter canon | |
When "Can-Can" opened on Broadway in 1953, critics roared with approval for Michael Kidd's choreography and his fetching lead dancer, Gwen Verdon, who became a star overnight. They dismissed Cole Porter's score, for this show about the bohemian Montmarte culture of 1890s Paris, as "not up to his usual standard." Even though the score ended up producing five hits-"I Love Paris," "It's All Right With Me," "C'est Magnifique," "I Am In Love," and "Allez-Vous En, Go Away"-time and this original cast recording seem to agree with the critics of 1953. This is a rather hum-drum Porter score, most of which is not particularly memorable. Even the naughtiness of his lyrics seems to be there as a cheap shock rather than the usual sly wink. The hit songs aren't bad, but that's about it-even the best of these songs, "It's All Right With Me," is given a too-fast and not really well-sung rendition by Peter Cookson, a dramatic actor in, as far as I know, his only musical.
Thus, there isn't much to recommend this recording, except maybe its star. Not Verdon, who only appears in one song in which her trademark throaty quiver is virtually unrecognizeable (If only her spectacular dances had been preserved on film!), but Lilo, the French chanteuse for whom this show was supposed to provide a smashing American debut. Lilo actually does a pretty enjoyable job of belting out the standards and other songs she is given, but even she may not be enough to make the score seem any better than it is.
"Can-Can" was filmed with the story and score heavily changed in 1960. In addition to the glamorous evocation of Pais itself, what was left of the score, even when sung by plain American folk like Frank Sinatra and Shirley MacLaine, did manage to provide much more enjoyment than is available from this recording. July 5, 2003
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