By: Jim Heap

Jim Heap — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 15:58:45 +0000

I used to have a recording of Come to the Ball sung by Alan
Lerner just with piano. It was in a Sunday afternoon BBC Radio programme presented by Benn Green and I taped it but have since lost the tape. Benny had many theatrical connections and he could possibly have obtained it from Liz Robertson.

By: Alan Gomberg

Alan Gomberg — Fri, 31 Mar 2017 02:39:32 +0000

The statement that “Come to the Ball” has not been heard since 4 February, 1956 is incorrect. Lerner sang it at least once in public (and perhaps more than once). That was on 12 December, 1971, at the 92nd Street Y in New York as part of the venue’s Lyrics and Lyricists series. That evening was recorded and issued on LP and later on CD as An Evening With Alan Jay Lerner (not to be confused with a couple of identically titled concerts that came later, one of which was also issued on LP and CD, and the other of which was shown in the U.S. on PBS). The song can also be heard on the TER/JAY recording of My Fair Lady, where it is sung by Alec McCowen. Admittedly, both of those recordings were with piano accompaniment. If the Sheffield concert used the 1956 orchestration, then it probably was the first time that orchestration had been heard since the performance of My Fair Lady in New Haven.

Comments on: Lost “My Fair Lady” Songs Rediscovered And Performed

By: Jim Heap

By: Alan Gomberg