(Vocal Jazz) Vivian Blaine - Sings Songs from The Ziegfeld Follies & The Great White Way - 2008, MP3, 320 kbps

Vivian Blaine was already an accomplished band vocalist when Fox signed her and in 1944 she co-starred with Don Ameche and Carmen Miranda in the Technicolor musical “Greenwich Village”. An adaptation of Cole Porter’s “Something For the Boys” was followed by the Rodgers and Hammerstein hit “State Fair”, in which she introduced the songs “That’s For Me” and “Isn’t It Kinda Fun?”
When follow-up pictures proved disappointing Blaine left Hollywood. It was back to nightclubs and variety shows for the next three years until she literally bumped into composer Frank Loesser on Broadway who offered her the role of a lifetime in his forthcoming Guys and Dolls. Everything she’d worked so hard for came to fruition on opening night when as Miss Adelaide she tore the roof off the 46th Street Theatre with one dazzling showstopper after another -“Take Back Your Mink,” “A Bushel and a Peck,” the comic duet “Sue Me” and the unforgettable “Adelaide’s Lament” (“a person could develop a cold”). Her twangy-voiced persona took New York by storm for more than 1,000 performances, winning the Donaldson Award (forerunner of the Tony) for best newcomer of the year. She repeated her success when the show opened a triumphant run at the London Coliseum in 1953, during which time she headlined a Command Performance for Queen Elizabeth. She was the only star from the original cast to join the film version, alongside Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra and Jean Simmons. After further success on Broadway (Say, Darling) Blaine made her final Broadway appearance in 1984 in the revival of “Zorba” and became an AIDS activist in Hollywood as the very first celebrity willing to lend their name to this new cause that was still very controversial
In the mid 1950s Blaine recorded two companion albums -“Songs From the Ziegfeld Follies” and “Songs From the Great White Way”. The 24 show tunes ranged from classic novelties like “You’d Be Surprised,” and “Hello, Frisco!” to such torchy numbers as “My Man,” and “But Not For Me”, providing her with ample opportunity to display her versatility. These 24 tracks are now available on this CD with 3 additional bonus tracks for new generations to discover and enjoy. And for years to come, whenever “Guys and Dolls” is performed on any stage big or small, audiences will be reminded of that original everlovin’ Miss Adelaide - Vivian Blaine.