AMG Review of Evening with Frank Loesser

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

An Evening with Frank Loesser contains performances associated with three Frank Loesser shows -- Guys and Dolls, The Most Happy Fella, and How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. Loesser has a good, sometimes gruff voice and puts the material across well while accompanying himself on piano. These are early versions -- lyrics changed and songs were replaced before these scores got to Broadway -- so this is, in a sense, an album for Broadway scholars, although mere fans will have a good time, too. The material from The Most Happy Fella, dating from three years before the actual production, features Maxene Andrews of the Andrews Sisters and is previously unreleased.