Customer Reviews

Brigadoon (1947 Original Broadway Cast)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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"?

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!

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.

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.

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.

BRIGADOON failed in its 1947 Broadway debut. The 1954 screen version died a slow death at the box office. Significant revivals in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s lost money. And it is easy to see why: even by 1940s standards, the show is incredibly simpering in its tale of two hunters who happen across a village that appears only day every century. Even so, producers have been drawn to it again and again and again--and again it is easy to see why: the story may be distastefully sweet, but the music is wonderful.

The 1947 recording is very much of its era. Broadway musical recordings were then a very small niche market, and record companies were not interested in knocking themselves out to produce an album that would appeal only to the few; moreover, technology limitations forced significant cuts in the material that it might be released as a single album. The result is a murky-sounding recording of a truncated score. But still--

The music shines through the quality issues just as it shines through the syrupy show itself, a charming collection of Scottish-tinged ballads and bouncy ensemble pieces. And the vocals are quite as charming as the Lerner-Loewe music and lyrics, with Marion Bell's "Waitin' for My Dearie," Lee Sullivan's "Come to Me, Bend to Me," and Pamela Britton's "My Mother's Wedding Day" particularly well done. And although the score is truncated, it includes such classics and near classics as "Go Home With Bonnie Jean," "Heather on the Hill," "There But For You Go I," and the famous "Almost Like Being In Love."

This is a "must own" recording for Learner and Lowe fans who long to hear the original performers of the original production. Still, the content and quality issues will limit the recording's appeal to hardcore fans and theatre buffs. Recommended nonetheless.

--GFT (Amazon reviewer)--

This classic Lerner and Loewe score is finally available on CD. With great songs like ALMOST LIKE BEING IN LOVE and THE HEATHER ON THE HILL, Broadway fans can't miss this BRIGADOON original cast album.

This is the best version of Brigadoon. The story and music are so romantic and charming, and the original cast always delivers the most heartfelt performance. The voices of David Brooks and Lee Sullivan are sincerely warm, and the ladies hold their own when it comes to the vocals. A lot of other reviewers complain about the poor sound, but quite frankly, it didn't bother me at all. I didn't even think about the sound quality....I was so delighted by the enchanting music. Skip the movie version....many of the best songs are omitted (including my favorite, "Come to Me, Bend to Me".)

Granted, most of all of the reviews written here pertaining to this original BDWY cast recording just isn't fair. Remember, in 1947, all we had was 78rpm phonographs (the LP wasn't invented until the next year by Columbia, and RCA didn't go to LP until 1950), and who ever heard of "High Fidelity" sound back then? Granted, there was "Orthophonic Recordings" (electrical recordings), but this process was still limited to the quality of the electronics in the control room (one microphone usage, and of limited quality being a condensor mic) and of the pressings of using the shellac material-not vinyl as we know of today. The "LP" release of this recording (the LOC-1001) was made transferring the audio from the 78RPM metal masters-why of the 5 cuts per each side on the LP(or a 5 record set for the 78rpm release). Also, back then, the recording sessions were not recorded on tape, but was actually cut directly on the wax masters, then processed to metal masters for stamper manufacturing. Recording technology was still using the direct cut method from the early days of accoustical phonograph recording. We have to give the bygone eras a chance of being proven innocent with the technology that they had back then. We must realize that what we have now wasn't back then and cannot make sound judgements on what is with us now and expect that to be the same of yesteryear. This recording is quite a tribute of such a production and written piece and it deems the rightful place in the history books as such.

This is a great soundtrack it is fun and enjoyable to listen to. The best songs on this cd are all of them