Beyond The Fringe (1961 Original London Cast) [Cast Recording]

Editorial Reviews
Album Details
The Show that Ignited the Satire Boom of the 60'S. CD'S One and Two Contain, for the First Time Complete 1961 Show Recorded at the Fortune Theatre in London. Cd3 Contains the Cream of their Broadway Performances from 1962 and 1964.

Beyond The Fringe (1961 Original London Cast), Music, Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller, Peter Cook, Alan Bennett, Cast Recordings, Classical, Comedy, Original Cast Recordings, Show Tunes, Showtunes / B'way, Soundtrack
Beyond The Fringe (1961 Original London Cast)
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • What could have been
  • Some of the funniest stuff ever committed to vinyl
  • Worthy Ancestors
  • The launch of true satire by men who got it right 1st time
  • Your Comedy Education:
 Beyond The Fringe (1961 Original London Cast)
Dudley Moore , Jonathan Miller , Peter Cook , and Alan Bennett
Manufacturer: EMI Int'l
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

GeneralGeneral | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Classical | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
Similar Items:
  1. Beyond the Fringe
  2. Complete Flanders & Swann
  3. Beyond the Fringe
  4. Beyond the Fringe (1962 Original Broadway Cast)
  5. The World of Pete and Dud

ASIN: B000006SW2
Release Date: 1996-12-06

Tracks:

  1. Steppes In The Right Direction - The Cast
  2. Royal Box - Dudley Moore
  3. Man Bites God - The Cast
  4. Let's Face It - Alan Bennett
  5. Bollard - The Cast
  6. The Heat-Death Of The Universe - Jonathan Miller
  7. Deutscher Chansons - Dudley Moore (Introduced by Jonathan Miller)
  8. The Sadder And Wiser Beaver - Alan Bennett
  9. Words...And Things - Alan Bennett
  10. Tvpm - Peter Cook
  11. And The Same To You - Dudley Moore
  12. Aftermyth Of War - The Cast

Tracks:

  1. Civil War - The Cast
  2. Real Class - The Cast
  3. Little Miss Britten - Dudley Moore (Introduced by Jonathan Miller)
  4. The Suspense Is Killing Me - The Cast
  5. Porn Shop - Jonathan Miller
  6. The Death Of Lord Nelson - Jonathan Miller
  7. Frank Speaking - Alan Bennett
  8. Bloody Rhondda Mine - Dudley Moore
  9. Black Equals White - Jonathan Miller
  10. Sitting On The Bench - Peter Cook
  11. Bread Alone - The Cast
  12. Take A Pew - Allan Bennett
  13. So That's The Way You Like It - The Cast
  14. The End Of The World - The Cast

Tracks:

  1. Bollard - The Cast
  2. Take A Pew - Alan Bennett
  3. Aftermyth Of War - The Cast
  4. Sitting On The Bench - Peter Cook
  5. Portraits From Memory (Bertrand Russell) - Jonathan Miller
  6. The End Of The World - The Cast
  7. Home Thoughts From Abroad - The Cast
  8. The English Way Of Death - Alan Bennett
  9. The Weill Song - Dudley Moore
  10. The Royal Box - Alan Bennett
  11. One Leg Too Few - Dudley Moore
  12. Two English Songs: Little Miss Britten/Old Meg She Was A Gypsy - Dudley Moore
  13. Lord Cobbold/The Duke (Studio Five Interviews) - Jonathan Miller
  14. Real Class - The Cast
  15. A Piece Of My Mind (The Heat-Death Of The Universe) - Paxton Whitehead As Jonathan Miller
  16. The Great Train Robbery - Alan Bennett

Album Details

The Show that Ignited the Satire Boom of the 60'S. CD'S One and Two Contain, for the First Time Complete 1961 Show Recorded at the Fortune Theatre in London. Cd3 Contains the Cream of their Broadway Performances from 1962 and 1964.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars What could have been.......2007-01-04

Such a shame this comedy troupe broke up. Humour with surgical precision. Roots of Python found here. You'll listen over and over again.

5 out of 5 stars Some of the funniest stuff ever committed to vinyl.......2002-06-17

The team of Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore was originally conceived as a potentially successful show for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1960 - hence the name. None of them had ever worked together before, or not at any rate in this configuration, and each of them went into the project with some doubts. They ended up producing one of the most savagely funny comedy shows ever, a piece of work that was to play a large part in the transformation of the British cultural landscape during the 1960s.

It's all very well (and true) to say that this stuff is still funny after forty years. It's more useful to put yourself back into the mindset of a 1961 audience, utterly unprepared for such a comic assault on the sacred cows of post-war British culture: dodgily reverential productions of Shakespeare; dreary and self-aggrandising prime-ministerial broadcasts by then PM Harold Macmillan; a devastating swipe at the cheery platitudes of governmental advice on what to do during a nuclear attack (basically, hide inside a brown paper bag); a brutal demolition of piously cliched movies about the sacrifices of world war 2 - these lads dished it out in spades. The laughter you hear on the soundtrack is not the cosy laughter of an audience hearing what it likes to hear, it's the guilty and almost hysterical laughter of an audience having its worst fears and suspicions confirmed and provoked.

Fair enough, Dudley Moore (RIP) went on to make some dodgy movies. Jonathan Miller did some fine work in the theatre and in opera, but nothing quite as cutting-edge as here. Alan Bennett became an English (not British) institution. Peter Cook ended up with a reputation as the Guy Who Never Fulfilled His Promise - but none of these assessments are accurate. Between the talents of the four of them, they produced a comedy that has seldom been lived up to. They truly were the Bill Hickses of 60s England. As Michael Frayn points out in his excellent introductory essay, it's because they made the audience laugh at their own prejudices. Few have done so much, and they never slacked. (One of the sketches from the 1964 Broadway production, included here, confirms this, in a sardonic assessment of American culture and how-the-show-is-likely-to-go-down-there, still true today.)

This is great comedy. We shouldn't imitate its content - we should strive to reach for the level of insight and the accuracy of target that they met. Mind you, it's still damn funny. My personal faves are the civil defence sketch and Bennett's stunningly vacuous sermon "Take A Pew", chunks of which I know off by heart. Good comedy is never cosy, and while this may seem like we've heard it before, bear in mind that nobody had ever quite done anything like this at the time - or, anyway, not so successfully. Genius.

5 out of 5 stars Worthy Ancestors.......2001-07-03

After Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers came the Beyond the Fringe crowd. This is one of the foundation stones of transatlantic comedy. Cook and Moore preceded Pythons Cleese and Chapman at Cambridge. (They in turn preceded Frye and Laurie.) Ripeness is all, and they had it...

5 out of 5 stars The launch of true satire by men who got it right 1st time.......2001-04-26

The legendary performance by 4 true geniuses. Oh, if we could only have this on vid....

I have spent a great deal of time playing this to people who finally get it. The launching pad for Monty Python, Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, et al, is right here. These 3 CDs contain the cream of the 60's satire crop by 4 very affable chaps not afraid to take convention and a sledgehammer and juxtapose the two. The material is first-rate and the performances practically flawless. One or two bits do require more visual, but the gist is just as good--gets the mind working.

Even the material that is dated (Harold Macmillan et al) holds up well because, in all honesty, have politicians really changed all that much in 40 years? I think not--it's just more public now.

Get this set by any means. You will truly treasure this gem for years to come.

5 out of 5 stars Your Comedy Education:.......2000-10-10

Terrific. I've just spent the entire weekend listening to certain tracks over and over. The writing is fantastic and the talents of these 4 are really amazing. The characterizations are crystal clear and masterfully layered ("Words...and Things," "TVPM," "Take a Pew" among others) so that for any performer, writer or director, "Beyond the Fringe" is an education. Two of the three CDs were recorded in London and it is interesting to compare them with the third CD, recorded in the U.S. Although I questioned my hormone balances when I paid for the thing, I'm very happy to have it as a part of my collection. For any piano players, Dudley Moore does a wonderful job with humor and music. While some of the sketches aren't nearly as topical as they were in 1961, the time gap serves to clarify the choices of the actors. Even with that, the sketches have aged well.
Beyond the Fringe (1962 Original Broadway Cast)
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Utterly hilarious!
  • STILL FUNNY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS . . .
  • Praise for "Beyond the Fringe"
 Beyond the Fringe (1962 Original Broadway Cast)
Dudley Moore , Peter Cook , and Jonathan Miller
Manufacturer: Drg
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

GeneralGeneral | Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
Similar Items:
  1. Beyond the Fringe
  2. Beyond The Fringe (1961 Original London Cast)
  3. Three Wishes for Jamie (1952 Original Broadway Cast)
  4. Inside U.S.A./The Band Wagon
  5. The Great Waltz (1965 Los Angeles Civic Light Opera Cast)

ASIN: B000EUMK9K
Release Date: 2006-05-23

Tracks:

  1. Bollard - The Company
  2. The Sadder And Wiser Beaver - Peter Cook & Alan Bennett
  3. Deutscher Chansons - Dudley Moore at the piano
  4. Take A Pew - Alan Bennett
  5. Aftermyth Of War - The Company
  6. Sitting On The Bench - Peter Cook
  7. And The Same To You / Colonel Bogey - Dudley Moore at the paino
  8. Potrait From Memory - Jonathan Miller
  9. So That's The Way You Like It - The Company
  10. The End Of The World - The Company

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Utterly hilarious!.......2007-01-14

Despite being more than 40 years old now - this CD of Beyond the Fringe is wonderful. In its time it was a theatrical hit in London, a satical review of four - Dudley Moore, Peter cook, Jonathon Miller and Alanb Bennet. Blandly humourous - their takes on Shakespeare (So that's the way you like it) - the use of language and dramatic style underlying the absurdity of the script. But the most especial item on this is Dudley Moore's rendering of Colonel Bogey in several different styles - only someone with deep knowledge of music and how it works could inject it into an enormous number of recognisable tunes from the likes of Mozart and Beethoven so effortlessly and hilariously. The long drawn out ending is a tour de force


There is a wonderful spoof called the 'aftermyth of war" which takes off the documentaries of World War Two Heroism with the outrageous suggestion "unavoidably came peace"

Very enjoyable, you will have to listen closely to pick up some of what is said, but it is worth the effort.

5 out of 5 stars STILL FUNNY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS . . ........2006-08-07

What has eight legs, is 47-years-old and will make you laugh until you wet your pants? Hint: It has something to do with fringe . . . DRG has reissued the Broadway recording of the 1962 comic revue Beyond the Fringe,starring four fab British lads who weren't the Beatles . . . yet who won almost as much international fame.
Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Dudley Moore, as they were billed back then, all went on to great success is other show business endeavors. Bennett is currently represented on Broadway with The History Boys and Miller become one of the great directors of opera in the last century. Dudley Moore and Peter Cook both died tragically young, but both with a number of noteworthy movies, recordings and television credits.
But it is in these 10 brief sketches nearly a half-century old that their genius in writing and performing is evident. From "Bollard." in which four less than masculine commercial actors butch it up for the microphone to "So That's the Way You Like It," which savagely parodies bad British acting, neither the material nor the performances have dated badly. The satire, parody, wit and humor of these four young men at the start of their careers and the peak of their creative power is astounding all these many years later. Kudos to DRG for having the brains to reissue a very funny revue that continues to influence British and American comics--and continues to make people howl.

5 out of 5 stars Praise for "Beyond the Fringe".......2006-07-26

This is British humor at its wryest best. These are comedy geniuses whose work, while somewhat dated, is still as fresh as today's edition of The Daily Show.
Beyond the Fringe
Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • The show without which Python could never have been
  • Caveat emptor
  • Not what I remember
 Beyond the Fringe
Beyond the Fringe
Manufacturer: EMI Gold Imports
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

GeneralGeneral | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
Similar Items:
  1. Beyond the Fringe
  2. Beyond The Fringe (1961 Original London Cast)
  3. Vol. 2: Classic Goons Sketches
  4. Classic Comedy Sketches
  5. Ad Nauseam

ASIN: B00005NMVN
Release Date: 2001-08-27

Tracks:

  1. Steppes In The Right Direction
  2. Man Bites God
  3. The Sadder And Wiser Beaver
  4. Aftermyth Of War / The Way To The Stars / Lili Mar
  5. The Suspense Is Killing Me
  6. Porn Shop
  7. The Death Of Lord Nelson
  8. Sitting On The Bench
  9. Bread Alone
  10. The End Of The World
  11. Home Thoughts From Abroad
  12. The English Way Of Death
  13. One Leg Too Few
  14. Lord Cobbold / The Duke (Studio Five Interviews)
  15. The Great Train Robbery

Album Description

UK comedy compilation featuring classic material recorded live at the Fortune Theatre in London & on Broadway in New York. 15 sketches including, 'Man Bites Dog', 'Porn Shop' & 'One Leg Too Few'. 2001.

Album Details

Comedy/musical Troupe featuring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, as Well as Alan Bennet and Jonathan Miller. Recorded During Shows in Both London and New York and Produced by George Martin.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars The show without which Python could never have been.......2003-12-13

It has taken me a long time to get around to BtF. I guess it was the suits that put me off. Maybe I heard one of their Shakespeare parodies at an impressionable age, and decided this intellectual humour would never be for me. And Alan Bennett simply struck me as too whiny ever to be a comic hero.

What made me take a second look at BtF, and give it a fair hearing, was Eric Idle saying in the audio CD version of 'The Pythons by the Pythons' that he worshipped BtF, bought the record, and memorised all the sketches. Which is precisely what I did with the Python routines back in the 1970s.

Some of these BtF sketches are classics that continued to be resurrected -- and improved upon -- in the 'Secret Policeman's Ball' era of the 1970s. Back in 1961, Peter Cook's EL Wisty tone was still evolving as he told the story of why he never became a judge. Dudley Moore's one-legged Tarzan, although clearly having a ball here, needed to be appreciated visually to get the full impact -- which is what you get on the recently issued Amnesty International DVDs.

Indeed Dudley is the greatest revelation here. His piano-playing and lieder mickey-takes are virtuoso performances. Forget his mucking about in 'Arthur' and his always playing second fiddle to Peter Cook's lead. Here Dudley really is the business.

There are other BtF sketches not included in this package -- such as Cook's brilliant impersonation of Macmillan, and Miller's imitation of Russell getting the better of Moore over a bag of apples -- which illustrate Python's debt to BtF. (I dount whether we would ever have had the professional logician's analysis of the witch's trial on the OST of 'Holy Grail', if BtF hadn't first done Russell versus Moore.)

The BtF show played for years in the West End, and went on to New York's Broadway. Apparently a new cast took over in 1962, but it's impossible to imagine anyone else coming close to the performance standard of these sketches.

As has been remarked elsewhere, the sound quality of these recordings is not brilliant. Actually the engineer seemed to take more care to pick up Dudley's piano than to getting the dialogue accurately recorded.

But this CD is a classic document, and really ought to be in the CD library of anyone interested in the line of Oxbridge humour that started with this, and went on to Monty Python, the Goodies (unfortunately), Fry and Laurie, and Blackadder.

The humour is fairly literary -- with some allusions to classical mythology. I'm not sure that today's typical comedy audience would appreciate all the references.

3 out of 5 stars Caveat emptor.......2002-06-20

I should say that I don't own this album, but based on the listing above -- if it's accurate -- it omits several of the best BTF sketches, such as So That's The Way You Like it (the satire of Olivier-style talkingShakespeareveryveryfast), Dudley Moore's parodies of Britten and Weill, and Peter Cook's Harold Macmillan imitation. These are all included on the other BTF CD available, which is more expensive but has three times more material.

As to the previous criticism, the very point of BTF is its Britishness; if you don't "get it" I recommend Minnie Pearl or Prairie Home Companion ;) ...

3 out of 5 stars Not what I remember.......2002-04-23

When I first saw/heard Beyond the Fringe, they were targeting an American audience. This import may be howlingly funny to the British, but I didn't get many of the jokes. As an American, I'll keep looking for the version that was done by Capitol Records in the U.S.
Beyond the Fringe [Original London and Broadway Cast]
Average customer rating: Not rated
    		Beyond the Fringe [Original London and Broadway Cast]
    Alan Bennett , Peter Cook , Jonathan Miller , and Dudley Moore
    Manufacturer: Angel Records
    ProductGroup: Music
    Binding: Audio CD

    GeneralGeneral | Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music
    GeneralGeneral | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
    GeneralGeneral | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
    ASIN: B000008DF6
    Release Date: 1993-05-11

    Tracks:

    1. Bollard - Company B
    2. Sadder and Wiser Beaver - Alan Bennett, Peter Cook
    3. Deutscher Chansons - Dudley Moore
    4. Take a Pew - Alan Bennett
    5. Aftermyth of War - Company B
    6. Sitting on the Bench - Peter Cook
    7. And the Same to You - Dudley Moore
    8. Portrait from Memory - Jonathan Miller, Jonathan Miller
    9. So That's the Way You Like It - Company B
    10. End of the World - Company B
    That Satin Doll/The Theme from Beyond the Fringe and All That Jazz
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      		That Satin Doll/The Theme from Beyond the Fringe and All That Jazz
      Carol Stevens & Phil Moore's Music , and Dudley Moore
      Manufacturer: Collectables
      ProductGroup: Music
      Binding: Audio CD

      Cool JazzCool Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
      GeneralGeneral | Jazz | Styles | Music
      GeneralGeneral | Jazz | Indie Music | Stores | Music
      ASIN: B00004WJZN
      Release Date: 2000-09-12

      Tracks:

      1. In A Mellotone - Carol Stevens With Phil Moore's Music
      2. Satin Doll - Carol Stevens With Phil Moore's Music
      3. Saved It All For You - Carol Stevens With Phil Moore's Music
      4. Everywhere - Carol Stevens With Phil Moore's Music
      5. Mood For You - Carol Stevens With Phil Moore's Music
      6. Lurelei (F.H.C.) - Carol Stevens With Phil Moore's Music
      7. Romance In The Dark - Carol Stevens With Phil Moore's Music
      8. Lying In The Hay - Carol Stevens With Phil Moore's Music
      9. I'm Playing With Fire - Carol Stevens With Phil Moore's Music
      10. Tender As A Rose - Carol Stevens With Phil Moore's Music
      11. Keep On Doin' What You're Doin' - Carol Stevens With Phil Moore's Music
      12. At Last - Carol Stevens With Phil Moore's Music
      13. I Love Paris - Dudley Moore
      14. Theme From 'Beyond The Fringe' - Dudley Moore
      15. What's New - Dudley Moore
      16. I Get A Kick Out Of You - Dudley Moore
      17. Just In Time - Dudley Moore
      18. Chicago - Dudley Moore
      19. I Didn't Know What Time It Was - Dudley Moore
      20. Just One Of Those Things - Dudley Moore

      Album Description

      Full title - That Satin Doll (Carol Stevens) & The Theme From 'Beyond The Fringe' & All That Jazz (Dudley Moore). Before gaining fame as an actor, Dudley Moore was a renowned sketch comedian and pianist. Here, he and his trio swing through some pop standards as well as the theme from 'Beyond the Fringe'. Carol Stevens was a society vocalist who developed into a sensitively profound Jazz stylist.
      Dudley Moore Plays the Grieg Piano Concerto
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        		Dudley Moore Plays the Grieg Piano Concerto

        Manufacturer: EMI
        ProductGroup: Music
        Binding: Audio CD
        ASIN: B000636N6G

        Product Description

        Also includes Parodies from "Beyond the Fringe" (Fantaisie-impromptu in C sharp minor on Olde English Music Hall songs; Madrigal; La nuit s'épanouit [in the style of Fauré]; Little Miss Britten; Die Flabbergast [in the style of Schubert]; Gangster Joe [in the style of Kurt Weill; from the opera 'Walnut']; And the same to you [ in the style of Beethoven])
        From Parts Unknown
        Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
        • Way out there and way on the mark.
        		 From Parts Unknown
        Bohemian Fringe
        Manufacturer: Beyond -- D.E.I. --
        ProductGroup: Music
        Binding: Audio CD
        ASIN: B0000019U7
        Release Date: 1992-12-22

        Tracks:

        1. Well of Life
        2. One Who Trusts
        3. Walk Around the Wall
        4. Betrayed
        5. Lathe of Heaven
        6. Loss for Words
        7. Time and Again
        8. Get Out of Town
        9. All That We Need
        10. Let It Fall
        11. Dream on a Winter's Night

        Customer Reviews:

        5 out of 5 stars Way out there and way on the mark........1999-06-19

        The music is the usual eclectic mix for alternative rock, but the words fit so well it is moving. The challenge to be relevant, current, and real hasn't overshadowed the ability to stay focussed and worthy. What a TORNADIC blessing. Thanks guys!

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