Kismet - 1953 Broadway Cast

Advantages: First Broadway Rocky since the early 80s
Disadvantages: Only really for collectors, acquired taste

...I was lucky enough to see this production with this cast on Broadway - I say lucky in that many Brits wouldn't have got that chance and because I saw it for free. However, if I had had to pay the $80 or something the tickets were selling for, I'd have been very disappointed indeed. I am also reviewing from a promotional only copy, which I believe is simply a pre-release rather than markedly changed as it contains the same cast. I also got it free! The album contains all the regular stage show songs, including Once In A While, with the occasional introductory speech before a song. This would not be an album I would recommend to those who have never heard either the Picture Show album or the Roxy Cast album as the songs are treated somewhat differently and might put you off the stage version in the UK if you hadn't already heard... Read review

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Advantages: Gives a new insight into a classic
Disadvantages: No major disadvantages

...emulated since. If you think of Woodstock but more choral that gives you an idea of the music style. Now this Deluxe Edition comes with two two CDs the first one is the original Broadway cast recording from 1968. Now this is great because it has has some really good singing on it, and Claude and Berger are played by the two writers Rado and Ragni. Now, on the second disc is the original Off-Broadway cast from 1967. Now some of the singing and the quality of recording isn't quite as good, but there's an amazing energy on that recording. The original off broadway show was put on in a Night Club in New York and the cast actually comprised of "Hippys" rather than Actors. Thats what gives it the lovely unfinished but real feal too it. The second disc also has some bonus tracks. Two alternative ending songs and an overture... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great sound and a few truly wonderful songs
Disadvantages: Several of the tracks are disappointing, and you miss the dancing!

...Based on the famous film where the chorus girl becomes a star (that's really all the plot you need to know to follow the album), and boasting numerous songs by Hollywood songsmith Harry Warren (lyrics mostly by Al Dubin), not to mention a cast of 54 performers and a sizeable orchestra, 42nd Street was the first Broadway smash hit of the 1980s. This is the recording of that production – numerous other recordings of the stage version of 42nd Street exist, but this is the first and the best. Not all of the songs were written for the original film: about half are borrowed from other films of the 1930s and even the big hit, 'Lullaby of Broadway', actually comes from a different source, Gold Diggers of 1935. The disc's biggest assets are the size of cast (huge for Broadway by this point) and orchestra, which give it a fuller sound than... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful