Flora The Red Menace Soundtrack CD

Flora, the Red Menace, which opened on Broadway on May 11, 1965, and closed after only 87 performances on July 24, is one of those musicals that is more memorable for the people who worked on it than for the show itself. It marked the beginning of the stage partnership of composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb, who would go on to such successful works as Cabaret and Chicago. And it was the Broadway debut of 19-year-old Liza Minnelli. The story, based on Lester Atwell's novel Love Is Just Around the Corner, was set in New York in 1933 and concerned the romance between an aspiring fashion designer and a Communist party member, occasioning the amusing song "Sign Here," in which Harry Toukarian (Bob Dishy) induces Flora (Minnelli) to join the party, which he represents as the embodiment of all things American and patriotic. Maybe even by 1965, theatergoers weren't ready to enjoy a humorous depiction of the Communist agitation of the Depression years, which brought on the Red Scare reaction of the '50s that was still being felt. Or maybe the show just didn't work. Kander's music is generic Broadway show music, while Ebb's lyrics have glimmers of wit, but this is not one of their more memorable scores. The young Minnelli sounds like a mixture of her mother, Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, and her own later self. She shines particularly on "A Quiet Thing." (In a year without much competition, she won the Tony Award for best actress in a musical.) Her star power is indicated by the album's commercial impact; despite the quick shuttering of the production, the LP spent a couple of months in the charts. ~ William Ruhlmann