Beyond the Fringe of, in 1960, by an Oxford graduate, Robert Ponsonby, artistic director for the Edinburgh International Festival. John Bassett, a graduate of Wadham College, Oxford, who was Ponsonby's assistant, recommended Dudley Moore, his jazz bandmate and a rising cabaret talent. Moore in turn recommended Alan Bennett, who had had a hit at Edinburgh a few years before. Bassett also chose Jonathan Miller, who had been a Footlights star in 1957. Miller recommended Cook. Bennett and Miller were already pursuing careers in academia and medicine respectively, but Cook had an agent, having written a West End revue for Kenneth Williams. Cook's agent
Original Cast (record label) with Darlene Conley, Denise Lor, and Portia Nelson (who were not in the touring production) and composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz and his wife, Carol. This, incidentally, also represented the last time that the Yekos would release a vinyl recording in a 7-inch format. Soon afterwards, the Yekos produced what they described as the world's first off-off-Broadway cast album: a recording of "The Second Shepherd's Play" by Steve Kitsakos (1977). They went on to release numerous other recordings that, because they involved members of the original productions, can strictly be considered as original cast albums. Examples included the two-hander revue "2", the