Welcome to a new Musical Theatre Monday! This month, I’m offering to subscribers — who comment below with interest — access to an audio recording of Musicals Tonight!’s 2009 production of Cole Porter’s You Never Know (covered here back in 2014). You can check out more on the show and the score in the above linked post, but I also recommend seeking out Cliff Eisen’s piece on the original production in 2016’s A Cole Porter Companion, found here.

Notable about this 2009 production is that, unlike the two cast recordings, there are no interpolations from other Porter works; it’s all material that was originally included in You Never Know as it was first seen in 1938, along with numbers that were specifically written (and then cut) for the production — by Porter. That is, the original mounting of the show included additions by other composers, but Musicals Tonight! focused its reworked book exclusively around the songs by its primary tunesmith. His deleted material, most of which has been recorded (and commercially released) elsewhere, is a mixed bag, and of Porter’s Broadway efforts that haven’t been recorded, I’m afraid there are no lost gems… However, being that this is the only place you’ll hear stuff like “I Am Gaston” and “Good Evening, Princess” (sampled below) — along with a few others — this is an item that Porter enthusiasts won’t want to miss!

And, though it isn’t Porter, here’s another heretofore unavailable number from You Never Know: Dana Suesse’s “No (You Can’t Have My Heart),” taken from a live audio of a 1938 edition of the Broadway-By-The-Year series. Originally a duet for Libby Holman and Clifton Webb, this bluesy, electric tune — quintessential Holman — is performed by Barbara Walsh.

Come back next month for a new Musical Theatre Monday! And stay tuned tomorrow for more Friends!