It's been said that Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical interpretation of Lynn Riggs's Green Grow the Lilacs was the beginning of the modern American musical. Likewise, the show also gave birth to the "Original Cast" recording, when, for the first time ever, Decca producer Jack Kapp took the entire cast, chorus, and orchestra into a studio to record this LP, which entered the NARAS Hall of Fame in 1996. Alas, in 1998, what's here sounds like something recorded in 1943 for 78-rpm vinyl albums. Most of the stars here are now forgotten (although Celeste Holm would later replace Angela Lansbury in Mame), and this definitely lacks the oomph! expected by anyone who grew up with the 1955 movie soundtrack recording (and what Baby Boomer didn't?). --Bill Holdship