This four-song EP gets docked a notch for a dubious title. It contains not "Broadway Classics," but songs from four Broadway musicals: "Lost in Loveliness" from The Girl in Pink Tights (1953), "And This Is My Beloved" from Kismet (1953), "Lazy Afternoon" from The Golden Apple (1954), and "Alone Too Long" from By the Beautiful Sea (1954). Of the four shows, only Kismet turned into a hit, and of the four songs, although "Lost in Loveliness" attracted chart recordings by
Billy Eckstine and
Dolores Gray and "Alone Too Long" had a chart version by Nat King Cole, only "Lazy Afternoon" has gone on to become something of a semi-standard. This is not, in other words, a collection of "classics." But there are some sturdy songs from such noted writers as
Dorothy Fields,
Arthur Schwartz, and
Sigmund Romberg, and
Eddie Fisher handles them well for the most part in his familiar bel canto style, though he slightly over-sings "Lazy Afternoon." ~ William Ruhlmann