Kismet: A Musical Arabian Night (Original Broadway Cast) [Cast Recording]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Using themes by 19th-century Russian composer Alexander Borodin to musicalize a play set in ancient Baghdad seems the kind of harebrained idea only a crazed producer would have. And we should thank him for it. For Kismet is Broadway at its most demented--just the way we like it. Robert Wright and George Forrest reworked Borodin's music so that it would function as the basis for show songs. And what songs: "Stranger in Paradise" and "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" have become classics, and the rest of the score is delightfully kitsch. Alfred Drake equals his performance in Kiss Me, Kate in a bombastic tour-de-force, and to top it all off, Borodin got a posthumous Tony. Fans (you know who you are) will enjoy the bonus interviews with the leads. --Elisabeth Vincentelli --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Kismet: A Musical Arabian Night (Original Broadway Cast), Music, Robert Wright, George Forrest, Original Cast Recordings, Pop, Showtunes / B'way

Average customer rating:

Kismet - Original Broadway Cast

Gone With the Jihad

Stunning in Clarity, Depth, and Dimension

The ne plus ultra of cast albums

One of the best musically directed orchestrations ever.

Kismet: A Musical Arabian Night (Original Broadway Cast)
George Forrest
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000002520
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

Overture/Sands Of Time/Rhymes Have I
Fate
Bazzar Of The Carravans
Not Since Nineveh
Baubles, Bangels And Beads
Stranger In Paradise
He's In Love!
Gesticulate
Night Of My Nights
Was I Wazir?
Rahadlakum
And This Is My Beloved
The Olive Tree
Zubbediya, Samaris' Dance
Finale-Sands Of Time

Amazon.com

Using themes by 19th-century Russian composer Alexander Borodin to musicalize a play set in ancient Baghdad seems the kind of harebrained idea only a crazed producer would have. And we should thank him for it. For Kismet is Broadway at its most demented--just the way we like it. Robert Wright and George Forrest reworked Borodin's music so that it would function as the basis for show songs. And what songs: "Stranger in Paradise" and "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" have become classics, and the rest of the score is delightfully kitsch. Alfred Drake equals his performance in Kiss Me, Kate in a bombastic tour-de-force, and to top it all off, Borodin got a posthumous Tony. Fans (you know who you are) will enjoy the bonus interviews with the leads. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Customer Reviews:

Kismet - Original Broadway Cast.......2007-01-10

An excellent reproduction of the original recording. Great clarity.

Gone With the Jihad.......2006-11-04

The definitive recording of this musical, with the original Broadway cast, all of whom deliver outstanding performances. The music, adapted from Borodin, is pulsating and beautiful. The lyrics: some of the most intelligent, witty, and imaginative ever written. Alfred Drake in the lead role of Haj, the beggar, is absolutely superb. Buy this one and run - you'll probably never see or hear this musical performed at this high a level of achievement ever again, given the world situation. This is a tale from the Arabian Nights, located in Baghdad. Need I say more? Buy it, close your eyes, listen, and enrich your life.

Stunning in Clarity, Depth, and Dimension.......2006-03-11

To hear this "remastered" masterpiece is truly a joy. While others have mentioned the featured actors, the chorus is nothing less than magnificent, and equal to the lush orchestration. Listen carefully to the harmonies on "Baubles, Bangles, and Beads." They just don't sing them like that anymore! This album is a total joy!

The ne plus ultra of cast albums.......2005-10-30

Let us not beat around the bush: Goddard Lieberson made this show. It opened to nearly unanimous pans from the "critics" -- but happily during a newspaper strike, and beforehand the Columbia star Tony Bennett had a hit with "Stranger in Paradise"; but if "Kismet" had to do with mere luck or its spectacle or its hoary if familiar book it would surely not have survived. Not even the inspired rewrites of Borodin by a couple of former MGM "hacks" named Wright and Forrest, or the suitably triumphal arrangements of Arthur Kay, saved the day. No, it was the sound of Lieberson's production -- a bombastic, barbaric sound, a sound even digital remastering hasn't totally wiped away -- that made it a perfect presentation of a musical already perfectly cast and sung, that made it immortal. This "Kismet" not only inspired innumerable rerecordings (the most recent, sadly, in '91) but also a sequel of sorts, the NBC spectacular "The Adventures of Marco Polo," ably set to Rimsky-Korsakov, which reunited Alfred Drake and Doretta Morrow and got a fine Masterworks studio album of its own (happily reissued several years ago by DRG), and further proved just how superb these two were, as if further proof were needed.

Possibly Vegas and political correctness have killed "Kismet" as a going property, but they can never kill this album, a supreme monument among all recordings.

One of the best musically directed orchestrations ever........2005-01-30

This recording is a masterpiece. You will be brought right back to the glory day era of "special musicals" in time. This is one that should not be missed. The original musical lasted a incredible 588 performance from 1953-1955 at the Ziegfeld theatre in NY. It is right up there with the top musicals of all time. The musical direction & condution is if not the best ever. Louis Adrian won the Tony Award for musical direction/conduction for Kismet in 1954. http://www.ibdb.com/awardperson.asp?id=97747
This is the same man who conducted the "orignal" Peter Pan and a host of others. Adrian during the period was one of if not one the biggest musical talents of the era inside the musical world. Couple that with the incredible melodies and lyrics of Borodin you have one incredible performance.
Once you listen to it you will understand.

Kismet: A Musical Arabian Night (1965 Music Theater Of Lincoln Center Cast)

Average customer rating:

Great Performances
FINE RECORDING IN NEED OF GOOD REMASTERING
Lincoln Center revival cast now in cut-out limbo
Sparkling
Sumptuous stereo sound- almost as good as original cast.

Kismet: A Musical Arabian Night (1965 Music Theater Of Lincoln Center Cast)
Robert Wright , and George Forrest
Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000003FTL
Release Date: 1995-02-14

Tracks:

Overture
Sands Of Time
Rhymes Have I
Fate
Not Since Nineveh
Baubles, Bangles And Beads
Stranger In Paradise
He's In Love
Gesticulate
Bored
Night Of My Nights
Was I Wazir?
Rahadlakum
And This Is My Beloved
The Olive Tree
Zubbediya
Finale

Customer Reviews:

Great Performances.......2005-06-20

I have listened to the four main recordings of this gorgeous music. The original cast recording is a good but old recording. The movie has the wrong cast. The most recent staging has some beautiful voices but is hurt by how Dom DeLuise's voice blends with them, particularly in the "This is My Beloved" quartet. This 1964 Lincoln Center revival has great performances. I am particularly thrilled by Lee Venora's voice and musicianship. Listen to her scale down at the end of "Baubles" - the best performance I have heard of that beautiful song. The quartet is beautiful. It would be great for this recording to be remastered and re-released, since the post 1960 era recordings have often come out really great when the remastering work is done well. Hope that happens.

FINE RECORDING IN NEED OF GOOD REMASTERING .......2004-07-30

I am very pleased with RCA's remastered "Deluxe Additions" of both HELLO, DOLLY and FIDDLER ON THE ROOF and would be happy to recommend several other recordings for the same loving treatment. Among them would be the Lincoln Center Revials of OKLAHOMA, ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, THE KING AND I, CAROUSEL, and this recording of KISMET. Amazon.com reviewers have given all of them 4-1/2 to 5 star ratings, and all but OKLAHOMA feature stars from the original productions, often in better voice, and recorded with much improved stereo sound.

The sound on this recording leaves something to be desired. It is harsh and edgy, but the performances are outstanding. Drake, as usual, is great, Anne Jeffreys is a phenomenal Lalume, Richard Banke's Caliph is even better sung that Richard Kiley's on the original, Lee Venora's Marsinah is quite like Doretta Morrow's but with better recorded sound, and Henry Calvin repeats his role as the Wazir. The orchestra is fine, and the chorus sounds as though they are having a really great time.

So, if RCA doesn't do its duty and give it the "deluxe" treatment, how about Fynsworth Alley (JUNO, WORKING, REDHEAD) or DRG (ADVENTURES OF MARCO POLO, ARCHY & MEHITABEL, KEAN, etc.)? This is just one of many, many shows that need to be lovingly restored and put back into circulation.

Lincoln Center revival cast now in cut-out limbo.......2004-02-28

There are many recordings of KISMET available, but this is one of the best and most theatrical. Alfred Drake is every bit as good on this album as he was on the original Broadway Cast (Sony/Columbia) recorded 12 years earlier. The stereo sound on this album is an added plus, marred only slightly by the harsh sound that most RCA "living Stereo" releases from the period have. The supporting cast is just as fine as the originals. Unfortunately, this CD has now gone out-of-print. With the wonderful original still avaialble it is not worth paying huge amounts just to get this particular version but if one should surface at a local used CD store, don't pass it by.

Sparkling.......2000-01-06

Wonderful that this recording is available on CD at last! Outstanding performances from the principals, in particular Anne Jeffreys, who combines operatic power and control with a comedienne's timing. "Bored", written for this production, is a delight. Alfred Drake is in top form and Henry Calvin, as the evil Wazir, shines blackly.

Sumptuous stereo sound- almost as good as original cast........1998-08-31

It is extremely rare that a revival of a classic show is within five percent of being as exceptional as the original, but this 1965 Lincoln Center revival is just that - superbly vibrant stereo sound enhances the original orchestrations, Alfred Drake recreating his finest role as Hajj, and a cast as musically and dramatically superb as the original. For collectors, it's a toss-up. This version omits the original overture (using a suite of tunes from the Polovetsian Dances instead) and two dance numbers, BAZAAR OF THE CARAVANS and SAMARIS' DANCE. However, it does have a song written for the 1955 film version, BORED, interpolated and sung by Anne Jeffreys (the only tainted bit as her voice really isn't up to those high notes). Lee Venora, Richard Banke and Jeffreys do wonderfully in their recreated roles - good acting, good singing. Drake is again superb, even more finely honed a performance than in the original. Henry Calvin recreates his role as the Wazir. A superb package very finely done.

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