Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein got off to a rocky start in their initial discussions about the song lyrics for the music Bernstein was going to write for West Side Story. Sondheim, at the...
Based on Anita Loos' hilarious novel about two American flappers in Paris during the Roaring Twenties and their search for a proper-and properly financed-mate, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes made a star of Carol Channing who, as the perversely innocent Lorelei Lee, stopped the show with her anthem to material concerns in "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend." The musical, which opened on December 8, 1949, had a run of 740 performances.
From Gentlemen Prefer Blondes; (J. Styne/L. Robin); Produced by Goddard Lieberson; orchestra conducted by Milton Rosenstock; Rec. December 20, 1949. Columbia ML 4290; Originally Released 1950