Frederick Loewe Alan Jay Lerner - Brigadoon 1947 Original Broadway Cast (10 tracks) +Album Reviews

SKIP THIS ORIGINAL CAST ALBUM

MOVIE MAVEN | New York, NY USA | 11/03/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The sound is quite terrible on this original cast album. The score is dreadfully truncated and none of the performances reaches above workmanlike. However (and it is a big "however") the score by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe is one of the glories of the American musical theatre.My advice to anyone who wants to investigate this musical is to buy the EMI recording featuring Brent Barrett and Rebecca Luker.
John McGlinn conducts. The sound is perfect, some of the more important dialogue is performed, the performances are top notch, esp. Barrett as "Tommy" and a tenor named John Mark Ainsley who sings "Go Home With Bonnie Jean" and "Come To Me, Bend To Me" better than I've ever heard them sung. And, best of all, the entire score, complete with exciting ballet music (originally choreographed by Agnes DeMille)is here on this one CD. Skip the original cast album."

Great musical still heard at its best here.

01/31/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"One of Broadway's most beautiful scores, Brigadoon is still heard at its best on the 1947 Original Cast Recording. And while some shows recorded at this time are poorly treated, this isn't one of them. As well, the digital remastering has brought the beauties of David Brooks and Marion Bell to the fore, and the Lerner and Loewe score though badly truncated remains a testament to that collaboration's romantic genius. Forget the subsequent recordings. Though they are more complete, the spirit of this show is best preserved on the Original. How many songs have been written that start to near the evocation of "The Heather On The Hill" or the immortal "Almost Like Being In Love"?"

The best vocal performances of the show

Pope | Wisconsin, United States | 02/16/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Although I am only familiar with BRIGADOON from its MGM film version and its several cast recordings (have never seen the stage show), it is one of my favorite musicals. The Lerner and Loewe score is one of the most enchanting and beautiful ever written for the stage. The monaural sound on this original cast album is not great, but is also not as bad as some would like us to believe. Several of the numbers had to be truncated to fit the limited playing time of a 78-RPM side, and much of the dance music was a casualty of this. BRIGADOON was originally recorded in March 1947 on 5 78-RPM records (10 sides) but has been nicely remastered for this CD release. This was one of the first original cast albums by RCA--sound quality on early RCA cast albums can't compare with the superior recording technology used by Columbia at the time, which itself had only been doing cast recordings since the previous year or two.

Most of the cast has long been forgotten (as has happened with too many musicals of this time period) but the best performances are still had on the original cast album. "Waitin' for my Dearie" and "Almost like Being in Love" have never been sung better. When Brigadoon went to Hollywood and MGM in 1954, a good chunk of the score was scrapped in favor of more dance music to highlight Gene Kelly's and Cyd Charisse's dancing talent (the soundtrack album does feature the outtakes, though). There are obviously holes in the score as heard here, but all the important songs are there. I usually believe that a show sounds its best when sung by its original stars. No exception here. This is the one to start with.

FLASH: Out of print for years, the glorious 1950s Columbia studio cast album starring Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy, arguably the best recorded and best sung BRIGADOON recording, is finally slated for CD release on March 22. Stay tuned! Have the LP, but I'll be first in line to get a copy of the CD!

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Poor sound but some charming performances

A. Andersen | Bellows Falls, VT USA | 07/27/1998

(3 out of 5 stars)

"One of RCA Victor's first Original Cast Recordings, this (like R&H's ALLEGRO) suffers from very poor sound. Compressing the score onto ten 78 rpm sides meant cuts, especially the dance music, which is the heart of the score. This is a truncated and poorly recorded performance with some downright bad singing and some charming work as well. Unless you're a Broadway Cast buff, stick to the McGlinn studio recording."

The first Original cast album from RCA Victor

Mark Andrew Lawrence | Toronto | 02/19/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"One of the other reviewers has stated that BRIGADOON was a failure. It most certainly was not! It ran well over a year, turned a healthy profit and toured for several seasons. The movie version, though not a success with critics, was an audience favourite and was profitable for M-g-M. There were successful revivals at City Centre throughout the 1950s and 1960s. The 1980 Broadway revival was not well recieved but many regional and community theatres continue to revive the show and the New York City Opera had a good production in the 1980s. It's fine if you don't like the show, but don't try to rewrite history to prove your point!

This Cd offers a short selection, due to the time limits of the original 78s. The cast s good but not sensational. The score, however, is one of Lerner and Loewe's best and every song is a gem.

A 1954 Columbia album with Shirley Jones, Jack Cassidy and the wonderful Susan Johnson sounds much more theatrical and is more complete. It is now out on CD from DRG and I suggest getting in instead of this edition.

This was RCA's first original Broadway cast album. Six months later they recorded ALLEGRO and HIGH BUTTON SHOES. They also recorded BONANZA BOUND during its pre-Broadway try-out but when that show folded on the road the records were never released.

The label was obviously struggling to master the techniques of translating shows from stage to records and they did not really succeed until the late 1950s."

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