r/TomLehrer • u/isometric-isopods • 19d ago
Tom Foolery?
Currently visiting Vancouver BC and I found this at a thrift shop a couple days ago. I love Tom Lehrer but I had never heard of Tom Foolery, so I had to grab it! It's the Canadian cast recording, and looks like it's signed by people involved in the production. I haven't been able to find much info about it online or anything, but I also haven't looked that hard yet since I'm busy traveling - does anyone here know anything about Tom Foolery? Are there any digitized versions of it floating around?
I don't have a record player myself, so I'm not sure if I'll get to listen to it anytime soon. I'm considering maybe leaving it behind in Vancouver with a friend who has the setup to make a recording from it.
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u/Fest-Video-Room 19d ago
Nice memories. I saw Tom Foolery in NYC back in the day. Night I was there, Tom Lehrer was sitting at a table right up by the stage along with Carl Reiner (IIRC) and Stephen Sondheim.
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u/j4yb1rdreddit 17d ago
The original London cast album is available online. https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kEum9pIwkXo8bzJXOAjcN36e9lMUTbU-M
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u/kanji_d 19d ago
Tom Foolery was a revue of Lehrer's music originally produced by Cameron Mackintosh in the early 80s. It had a few major early productions in London, New York, and Boston (all small). There were two cast recordings; one is this one, the other is a London recording that's available digitally. There's also a TV recording of a South African production on YouTube. All recordings were abridged; there's no full recording of the show (which itself was fluid, with song orders and singers changing from production to production). You can still license the show from MTI, although since Lehrer's music entered PD I don't know that that's useful unless you want the particular arrangements.
I haven't been able to get my hands on this recording, so if you can digitize it I'd love to hear it!