In 2003, the British Sepia Records label, taking advantage of the 50-year copyright limit on recordings in Europe, assembled I Feel a Song Comin' On, a compilation of recordings made by
Lisa Kirk between 1949 and 1952. While that collection was welcome (the tracks, initially released on singles, had been out of print for decades), it presented a different
Lisa Kirk from the one most listeners knew, not the Broadway star of Kiss Me Kate or the renowned nightclub performer, but rather a pop singer in the manner of
Patti Page or
Teresa Brewer. Six years later, Sepia very nearly completes its examination of long-lost
Kirk recordings (there are still at least a couple of stray ones out there) with its reissue of her only solo album,
Lisa Kirk Sings at the Plaza, recorded in 1958 and originally released in 1959, featuring no less than 12 bonus tracks appended to the ten tracks on the original LP. The Plaza album actually was recorded in a studio with canned laughter and applause, but no matter. This is a funny, sophisticated nightclub act on disc, with
Kirk expanding on the sexy, materialistic image of the character she created in Kiss Me, Kate with the help of her husband, Robert Wells, and his partner, David Saxon, who have written some songs and added "special material" to others. Backed by a male quartet dubbed the 4 Saints, she naturally leans heavily on
Cole Porter, including one of her Kiss Me, Kate numbers, "Why Can't You Behave." Her Broadway persona is also on display on much of the bonus material, which finishes off the tracks she recorded in the early '50s, notably some songs for studio cast versions of shows like the Gershwins' Girl Crazy and Rodgers & Hart's Babes in Arms. Also included, a re-recording of her Kiss Me, Kate showstopper "Always True to You in My Fashion," and there are even a few tracks transcribed from her TV appearances. Indeed, all that keeps this from being a first-rate
Kirk best-of is the omission of a few of her Broadway songs, notably "The Gentleman Is a Dope" from 1947's Allegro and "Tap Your Troubles Away" from 1974's Mack & Mabel, plus her ghost-singing efforts for the 1962 film Gypsy. ~ William Ruhlmann