My Fair Lady (Broadway cast recording)

1956 cast recording by the original Broadway cast

My Fair Lady

Cast recording by

the original Broadway cast

Released| April 2, 1956 (1956-4-2)
Recorded| March 24, 1956 (1956-3-24)
Studio| Columbia 30th Street, New York City
Genre| Show tunes
Length| 53:44
Label| Columbia Records
Julie Andrews chronology
| The Boy Friend
(1954)  | My Fair Lady
(1956)  | Cinderella
(1957)

|
|

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
Allmusic| [1]

The Broadway cast recording of the musical My Fair Lady was first released April 2, 1956 by Columbia Records,[2] with songs by Lerner and Loewe, conducted by Franz Allers, starring Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews. Columbia president Goddard Lieberson provided the $375,000 needed to stage the show in return for the rights to the cast recording.[2]

A commercial success, the album became the first LP record to sell 1 million copies.[3] The album topped US Billboard 200 charts for fifteen weeks at different times in 1956 (eight consecutive weeks), 1957, 1958, and 1959.[1]

After the musical transferred to London in April 1958, the album spent 19 consecutive weeks atop the UK charts, the biggest-selling album of the year.[4] The musical's renewed success sent Andrews, Harrison, and the London cast to the recording studio in 1959 to capture the score in stereo: the London cast recording shares all the same principals as the Broadway cast.

Columbia first released the Broadway album on compact disc in 1988, followed by numerous subsequent reissues.[5][deprecated source] As of 2023[update], the original cast recording remains among the longest-charting albums in the U.S., with 480 weeks on the Billboard 200.[6]

## Track listing

[edit]

Side oneNo.| Title| Performed by| Length

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|
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1.| "Overture" / "Why Can't the English?"| Rex Harrison, Robert Coote and Julie Andrews| 3:09
2.| "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?"| Julie Andrews and Ensemble| 3:55
3.| "With a Little Bit of Luck"| Stanley Holloway, Gordon Dilworth, Rod McLennan and Chorus| 3:55
4.| "I'm an Ordinary Man"| Rex Harrison| 4:38
5.| "Just You Wait"| Julie Andrews| 2:41
6.| "The Rain in Spain"| Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews, Robert Coote and Ensemble| 2:39
7.| "I Could Have Danced All Night"| Julie Andrews, Philippa Bevans and Ensemble| 3:28

Side twoNo.| Title| Performed by| Length

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|
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1.| "Ascot Gavotte"| Chorus| 3:13
2.| "On the Street Where You Live"| John Michael King| 2:56
3.| "You Did It"| Rex Harrison, Robert Coote, Philippa Bevans and Ensemble| 4:25
4.| "Show Me"| Julie Andrews and John Michael King| 2:10
5.| "Get Me to the Church on Time"| Stanley Holloway, Gordon Dilworth, Rod McLennan and Chorus| 2:42
6.| "A Hymn to Him"| Rex Harrison| 3:28
7.| "Without You"| Julie Andrews| 2:01
8.| "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face"| Rex Harrison| 5:14

## Chart positions

[edit]

Chart  | Year  | Peak
position

|
|

Billboard 200[7] | 1956  | 1
UK Albums Chart[4] | 1958  | 1

* returned to number 1 on Billboard 200 at different times during 1957, 1958 and 1959.

## Certifications

[edit]

Region  | Certification | Certified units/sales

|
|

United States (RIAA)[8] | 3× Platinum  | 3,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Ruhlmann, William. "Album overview and Review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2012-09-08.
2. ^ a b "Background information". Masterworks Broadway. 2002-05-28. Archived from the original on 2012-11-14. Retrieved 2012-09-08.
3. ^ "LP's 54% of Pop Sales - Lieberson". Variety. March 12, 1958. p. 1. Retrieved October 1, 2021 - via Archive.org.
4. ^ a b "The Official Charts Company - Original Soundtrack - My Fair Lady". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 June 2011.
5. ^ "CD issue". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 2012-09-08.
6. ^ Young, Simon (2023-03-03). "Here are the 20 longest-charting albums in the history of the Billboard 200". louder. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
7. ^ "My Fair Lady - Charts and Awards". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
8. ^ "American album certifications – Soundtrack – My Fair Lady (Original Cast)". Recording Industry Association of America.

* v
* t
* e

My Fair Lady by Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner (Lerner and Loewe)

Characters|

* Eliza Doolittle

Source|

* Pygmalion (1913 play) by George Bernard Shaw
* Pygmalion (1938 film) by George Bernard Shaw adapted by W. P. Lipscomb and Cecil Lewis

Films|

* My Fair Lady (1964 film)
* The Opening of Misty Beethoven (1976)
* Galatea [ru] (1977)
* Man Pasand (1980)

Albums|

* My Fair Lady (1956 Broadway cast recording)
* My Fair Lady (1956 Shelly Manne album)
* My Fair Lady (1958 Oscar Peterson Trio album)
* My Fair Lady (1959 London cast recording)
* Nat King Cole Sings My Fair Lady (1963 album)
* My Fair Lady (1964 film soundtrack)
* My Fair Lady Loves Jazz (1964 Billy Taylor album)
* The Great Songs from "My Fair Lady" and Other Broadway Hits (1964 Andy Williams album)

Musical numbers|

* "Wouldn't It Be Loverly? "
* "With a Little Bit of Luck"
* "The Rain in Spain"
* "I Could Have Danced All Night"
* "On the Street Where You Live"
* "Get Me to the Church on Time"
* "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face"

Television|

* "My Fair Laddy"
* "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea"
* Selfie

Related|

* The Street Where I Live

* v
* t
* e

Julie Andrews

* Discography
* Filmography
* Accolades

Studio albums|

* Songs of Sense & Nonsense – Tell It Again (1957)
* The Lass with the Delicate Air (1957)
* Julie Andrews Sings (1958)
* Broadway's Fair Julie (1961)
* Don't Go in the Lion's Cage Tonight and Other Heartrending Ballads and Raucous Ditties (1962)
* A Christmas Treasure (1967)
* Love Me Tender (1982)
* Love, Julie (1987)
* Broadway: The Music of Richard Rodgers (1994)
* Broadway: Here I'll Stay — The Words of Alan Jay Lerner (1996)

Cast recordings
and soundtracks|

* My Fair Lady (Broadway cast recording) (1956)
* Cinderella (1957)
* Rose-Marie (1958)
* My Fair Lady (London cast recording) (1959)
* Camelot (1960)
* Mary Poppins (1964)
* The Sound of Music (1965)
* The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004)

Television specials
and videos|

* Cinderella (1957)
* Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall (1962)
* Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center (1971)
* The Julie Andrews Hour (1972)
* Julie on Sesame Street (1973)
* Julie & Carol: Together Again (1989)
* Julie (1992)
* Julie's Greenroom (2017)

* v
* t
* e

Billboard Year-End number one albums

1956–1975|

* 1956: Calypso – Harry Belafonte
* 1957: Music from My Fair Lady – Original Cast
* 1958: Music from My Fair Lady – Original Cast
* 1959: The Music from Peter Gunn – Henry Mancini
* 1960: Music from The Sound of Music – Original Cast
* 1961: Camelot – Original Cast
* 1962: West Side Story – Soundtrack
* 1963: West Side Story – Soundtrack
* 1964: Music from Hello, Dolly! – Original Cast
* 1965: Mary Poppins: Original Cast Soundtrack – Soundtrack
* 1966: Whipped Cream & Other Delights – Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass
* 1967: More of the Monkees – The Monkees
* 1968: Are You Experienced – The Jimi Hendrix Experience
* 1969: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida – Iron Butterfly
* 1970: Bridge over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel
* 1971: Jesus Christ Superstar – Soundtrack
* 1972: Harvest – Neil Young
* 1973: The World Is a Ghetto – War
* 1974: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road – Elton John
* 1975: Greatest Hits – Elton John

1976–2000|

* 1976: Frampton Comes Alive! – Peter Frampton
* 1977: Rumours – Fleetwood Mac
* 1978: Saturday Night Fever – Soundtrack
* 1979: 52nd Street – Billy Joel / Cruisin' – Village People
* 1980: The Wall – Pink Floyd
* 1981: Hi Infidelity – REO Speedwagon
* 1982: Raise! – Earth, Wind & Fire / Asia – Asia
* 1983: Thriller – Michael Jackson
* 1984: Thriller – Michael Jackson
* 1985: Born in the U.S.A. – Bruce Springsteen
* 1986: Whitney Houston – Whitney Houston
* 1987: Slippery When Wet – Bon Jovi
* 1988: Faith – George Michael
* 1989: Don't Be Cruel – Bobby Brown
* 1990: Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 – Janet Jackson
* 1991: Mariah Carey – Mariah Carey
* 1992: Ropin' the Wind – Garth Brooks
* 1993: The Bodyguard – Soundtrack
* 1994: The Sign – Ace of Base / Dangerous – Michael Jackson
* 1995: Cracked Rear View – Hootie & the Blowfish
* 1996: Jagged Little Pill – Alanis Morissette
* 1997: Spice – Spice Girls
* 1998: Titanic: Music from the Motion Picture – James Horner
* 1999: Millennium – Backstreet Boys
* 2000: No Strings Attached – NSYNC

2001–present|

* 2001: 1 – The Beatles
* 2002: The Eminem Show – Eminem
* 2003: Get Rich or Die Tryin' – 50 Cent
* 2004: Confessions – Usher
* 2005: The Massacre – 50 Cent
* 2006: Some Hearts – Carrie Underwood
* 2007: Daughtry – Daughtry
* 2008: As I Am – Alicia Keys
* 2009: Fearless – Taylor Swift
* 2010: I Dreamed a Dream – Susan Boyle
* 2011: 21 – Adele / My World 2.0 – Justin Bieber
* 2012: 21 – Adele
* 2013: The 20/20 Experience – Justin Timberlake
* 2014: Frozen – Soundtrack
* 2015: 1989 – Taylor Swift
* 2016: 25 – Adele / What Dreams Are Made Of – R. City
* 2017: Damn – Kendrick Lamar /  Illuminate – Shawn Mendes
* 2018: Reputation – Taylor Swift
* 2019: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? – Billie Eilish
* 2020: Hollywood's Bleeding – Post Malone / 7 – Lil Nas X
* 2021: Dangerous: The Double Album – Morgan Wallen
* 2022: Un Verano Sin Ti – Bad Bunny
* 2023: One Thing at a Time – Morgan Wallen
* 2024: The Tortured Poets Department – Taylor Swift /  Gettin' Old – Luke Combs

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

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