A Thurber Carnival (Original Broadway Cast Recording)

When TV personality Keith Olbermann made weekly on-air readings of James Thurber's most salient, often-barbed excerpts, the pieces became a beloved fixture of his cable news hour. That revival also likely influenced this first-ever digital reissue of Thurber’s career swan song/Tony-winning 1960 Broadway revue, adapted from his best-selling 1945 anthology. Thurber’s Ohio-bred, Manhattan-honed wit was rooted in a profound distrust of human nature. It's deftly embodied here by a cast that features veterans Tom Ewell, Peggy Cass, Paul Ford, Alice Ghostley, and John McGiver. Set to the spare, upbeat groove of Don Elliott’s jazz quartet, the show’s bookend "Word Dance" pieces would later inspire one of the decade’s comedy and pop culture touchstones: the one-liner party blackouts of Laugh-In. Conversely, Ewell’s spirited reading of the richly detailed memoir (and show centerpiece) "The Night the Bed Fell" ably argues for his comparisons to Twain. Yet the wry fable "The Unicorn in the Garden," the writer’s heartfelt "Memorial to a Dog," and the wistful "Last Flower" also display the stubbornly tender heart of the Buckeye State’s favorite cynic.