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Released by Special Arrangement with Turner Classic Movies Music
I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955) was a first-rate "biopic" telling the story of Lillian Roth, the one-time "Broadway's youngest star" whose singing career was crushed under the weight of her alcoholism and failed relationships. By the '50s Roth had rehabilitated her reputation, and I'll Cry Tomorrow (based on her autobiography) received popular and critical acclaim in its powerful telling of her story, thanks to the careful direction of Daniel Mann and Oscar-nominated performance by Susan Hayward.
Scoring I'll Cry Tomorrow was the composer whose use of jazz in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) had transformed film music forever: Alex North. I'll Cry Tomorrow was one of North's earlier assignments but his dramatic style was that of a seasoned master, favoring chamber-like strings and woodwinds for an intimate, melancholy effect. North's colors at first evoke Lillian's lost childhood, then become "boozy" tones for her years of alcoholism. Jazzy brass and heartfelt strings (in the Streetcar style) perform a memorable main theme to sum up the story as a whole.
I'll Cry Tomorrow is not a musical, but does feature three musical numbers performed by Hayward (as Roth) in the film: "Sing You Sinners," "When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along" and "Happiness Is Just a Thing Called Joe." The songs have been remixed in stereo from the original film elements and are presented in sequence with North's score, which is also in stereo.
Additional songs, album versions and instrumental source cues have been placed in a bonus section, to render this the definitive I'll Cry Tomorrow album. Liner notes are by Lukas Kendall.
