It’s strange how things arrive for me to review sometimes. After receiving two new Broadway Cast recordings from the very American Broadway Records, next up in the pile are two recordings of a very British nature, by one of the strongest British labels, Stage Door Records. The first of these continues with their tradition of releasing ‘lost’ British theatre scores of the past 50 years, on CD many of them for the first time. This time up, its the classic The Importance of Being Earnest, or The Importance, as the musical is actually called. Would it match their previous sterling efforts, and continue this year's excellent run of cast albums?

Sean O'Mahony's musical adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest was first staged at London's Ambassadors Theatre in May 1984. Produced in association with Ray Cooney's The Theatre Of Comedy Company, The Importance starred David Firth, Patrick Ryecart and Judy Campbell and ran for a limited season. To date, The Importance holds the distinction of being the only musical adaptation of The Importance Of Being Earnest to run in the West End. A revised production subsequently opened at Peterborough's Key Theatre in July 1986, now titled Borne In A Handbag the new cast featured Nigel Williams as Jack Worthing, Cal McCrystal as Algernon Moncrieff, Amanda Bairstow as Cecily Cardew, Charmian Gradwell as Gwendolen Fairfax and Ann Hamilton as Lady Bracknell.

Following the Key Theatre production, O'Mahony's delightful score was recorded as a studio cast album with members of the original Peterborough cast and other West End vocalists. Produced over a period of 20 years the album features such leading West End performers as Nigel Williams, Jill Martin, Susan Jane Tanner, Julie Paton and Amanda Barstow.

I have to admit, that despite being a collector, and enjoying the period of '80s madness when it came to musical theatre, I hadn’t come across this show, or its composer before. However, even upon first listen, I found it a joy. It’s catchy, memorable, and of course, sounds fantastic. Shows like this were numerous in the '80s and early '90s, and many of them disappeared into the ether, and the shadow of the blockbusters of the day. Given how enjoyable the score is, I can’t understand why this one didn’t gain more popularity though, at least amongst fringe or amateur companies.

Stage Door have done a wonderful job on the CD release - I can assume from the quality they had the original masters, as it sounds as though it was recorded yesterday. The orchestration is full, and spot on - full marks here to Keith Roberts, another name I’d not come across before. And here comes my slight niggle with the release - there are only sparse details in the (albeit beautiful) booklet. I would have liked some backstory on the show, a synopsis and an orchestra line up. We do however, get full details of the original cast (The Importance) and the follow-up Peterborough cast (Borne In A Handbag).

It’s great that there is some spoken libretto on the recording too (something else that was popular in the day), so we get some idea of context for the numbers. I loved the fun number ‘Bunburying’ (you’ll have to listen to it to find out what this is!), and 'Sincerely Yours'. The ‘title’ song ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ is one that stuck with me from the first listen, and is a great number, as is ‘You Engagement’ performed by Lady Bracknell. But in all honesty, there isn’t a bad number on here.

9

Ian Gude