Would You Like To Dust On A Star?

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Welcome to a new Musical Theatre Monday! This month, I’m paying annual homage to Cole Porter, with whom I launched this blog 12 years ago. As usual, I’ve got something for subscribers who comment below to alert me of their private, non-commercial interest — access to a tracked audio of a 1987 concert from the Bandwagon Company in New York City, where a collection of stars gathered to sing all the songs written or earmarked for the unproduced musical Star Dust (which Porter was working on circa 1931 — read more about it here).

Now, there’s nothing in here you haven’t heard before — most of the numbers ended up somewhere else (like in Gay Divorce, Nymph Errant, or Anything Goes) or had been associated with other previous works (like Fifty Million Frenchmen), while the three songs actually written exclusively for Star Dust that never got applied elsewhere have all, by now, been recorded: “Auf Wiederseh’n,” “Mysteriously,” and “Pick Me Up And Lay Me Down.” However, it’s interesting to hear all of these considered songs together in an associated context, for you can start to get an understanding of what a full Star Dust might have sounded like in 1931.

And some of these performances are truly great — Patrice Munsel is divine with “The Physician” (later used in Nymph Errant), Rex Reed is perfectly cast to explain and then deliver “Mr. And Mrs. Fitch” (from Gay Divorce), and Dolores Gray is always a delight, especially when she reminisces about Seven Lively Arts (and briefly interrupts the hour-long concert with two numbers from that 1944 score). Of course, it’s Cole Porter — so all of the songs are fine; “I Get A Kick Out Of You” and “The Physician” would have been classics in any show in which they debuted, and everything that made it into Gay Divorce is just as charming as it was there. But here’s an excerpt of this fun, unique audio — the mighty Munsel with the aforementioned Star Dust-specific “Mysteriously.” Enjoy — and all hail Cole Porter!

 

 

Come back next month for another musical rarity! And stay tuned for more Parks And Rec!

22 thoughts on “Would You Like To Dust On A Star?”

  1. Hi, Jackson! Thanks for another interesting post about Cole Porter. I’d love to have a copy of the recording of “Star Dust”.

    Reply

  3. Hi Jackson,

    I would really appreciate it if you would send me a copy of the 1987 concert to which you referred today.
    Many thanks,
    John Giles

    Reply

  5. Hi Jackson,
    Thanks so much for your superb and fascinating articles on musicals. I would love to have access to the recording of Star Dust. I have loved and studied musicals for decades now, and tried writing a few, but I always learn and hear new things through your blog, and I appreciate it greatly.
    Kind regards,
    David Fenton
    Oxfordshire, England

    Reply

  10. Cole Porter is the best. I read everything I can about him and his songs. You could call me a Cole Porter nut. I’d love to see anything about him. Thank you, Jackson..

    Reply

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