Back in the early '70s, and put together a stage version of their 1957 movie musical . It toured for six months before opening on Broadway in November of 1973, where it closed after 103 performances. This cast album is all that remains, and it doesn't come off nearly as well as the movie or its soundtrack, but it does feature the legendary as , as well as , , and . Casting was a problem from the start: was excellent and made a pleasant, rather -like (a special irony, since grew out of , which was a vehicle), but picking the title role was a major problem, and replaced the producers' first choice after the early performances. She wasn't the weak link vocally, but at 28 she was decidedly long-of-tooth to play the role of a 16-year-old, even with lots of stage makeup. However, the real problem lay in the score, particularly 's decision to drop and the lack of any really strong new songs (several were dropped in previews) to replace it. The showcase is nice enough, but it barely measured up to the best parts of the film score. The cast album is good to have around, but it inevitably stands in the shadow of the soundtrack and the movie. The CD has good sound and excellent historical notes. ~ Bruce Eder