Gale Gordon.
Good morning, all! I'm listening to a peculiar Bouffe-Parisiens recording of Offenbach's La Belle Helene from the 1970s with Nicky Nancel as Helen (of Troy). For a 1970s theatrical production, the band sounds like it's a piano, trumpet, cello, flute, and percussion, ratheer like a millenium Broadway pit. I like the performance, although it sounds small chorally (9 in the chorus, although in Offenbach's opera-bouffes the principals usually sing with the chorus in the big moments) but I wish the orchestra were bigger. Offenbach usually had about 30 players, as did Sullivan, Victor Herbert, and nearly every other non-German operetta writer.
Today, more Brain surgery; I need to go to the NYPL, but the rare books division is closed on Mondays.
