Customer Reviews

Brigadoon (1957 Studio Cast)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This recording of Lerner and Loewe's BRIGADOON was recorded in 1957 and features Jack Cassidy and then-wife Shirley Jones, fresh from her motion picture sucesses in OKLAHOMA and CAROUSEL. You couldn't ask for a better cast--all turn in very praiseworthy performances. It's too bad that MGM didn't make their film version of BRIGADOON a couple years later than it did; not that we don't enjoy Cyd Charisse's performance in the film, but imagine Shirley Jones singing and dancing alongside Gene Kelly...oh to think about what could have been!

Produced by the late great Goddard Lieberson, this recording sounded great on LP and it sounds great on CD as well--no gripes whatsoever about the recording or its CD transfer. This is now the album of choice for newcomers to the score. The original 1947 album is still very nice, but the occasionally-less-than-desirable sound quality and truncated musical numbers (necessitated by 1947 recording technology and the limited playing time of the 78-RPM records on which it was recorded) make it more of a historical document than anything else. The 1954 MGM soundtrack features stereophonic sound, which really opens the music up, and includes all the dance music heard in the film as well as the deleted numbers, but the soundtrack and film are really more about the dance music than the songs themselves--still great though. Purists will definately go after McGlinn's 1991 "complete" studio album on Angel/EMI. With all the choices, though, this 1957 album is definately a great place to start--well recorded, cast, and performed. I recommend this recording of BRIGADOON over all the others. RUN to buy a copy now that it's back in print!

EDIT 1/20/08: Picked up an old copy recently of the 1960s television cast with Robert Goulet and Sally Ann Howes and it definately gives this album a run for its money. Definately pick that album up on LP if you ever come across it!

HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

When BRIGADOON premiered in 1947, the recording industry was still using 78 RPM records and the cast album was truncated to fit the format. After a long run, multiple tours, revivals and a movie version, Columbia Records decided to make a modern "high fidelity" recording that would be more complete than the original.

When this album was recorded in July 1957 the stars Jack Cassidy and Shirley Jones were married and seem to bring a delightful flirtatious quality to their duets. Susan Johnson was a veteran of the Broadway revival and the record was conducted by Lehman Engle. Despite being a studio cast recording not directly connected with any stage production, there is more theatricality to this disc than to RCA Victor's original Broadway cast recording.

The new orchestrations are respectful of teh origianlas but add a layer of mystery to the prelude rather than the orchestral blare trying to emulate bagpipes that opens the show in the theatre.

Since this record was made by Columbia's pop division (rather than the Columbia Masterworks division which released rthe label's Broadway cast albums) it was taped in mono only even though stereo recording had become common at the time. In teh 1960s the record was re-released in electrontic (or fake) stereo but now DRG restores it to the catalogue in beautiful pure mono.

Columbia's 1957 studio cast album of BRIGADOON remains to this day one of the best (if not THE best) recordings of the dreamy Lerner-Loewe score.

This was originally one in a series of Broadway studio cast albums, produced by Goddard Lieberson, many of which have been released on CD (including GIRL CRAZY (Mary Martin, Louise Carlyle); OH KAY! (Barbara Ruick, Jack Cassidy); and BABES IN ARMS (Mary Martin, Jack Cassidy).

Shirley Jones is a revelation as Fiona with Jack Cassidy as Tommy. The performances are enlivened no end by their real-life chemistry as husband and wife, and they used that kinship to great effect in their recordings together. Jones' rendition of "Waitin' for My Dearie" includes the right combination of melancholy and hope. Jack Cassidy has a ball with "There But for You Go I".

Susan Johnson replaced Pamela Britton on Broadway during the run of the original production, and she beautifully recreates the role of soubrette Meg Brockie. A spirited reading of "The Love of My Life" is a highlight of the entire recording.

There are many delightful BRIGADOON's around (I own a copy of the Armstrong television cast recording on LP, which features the once-in-a-lifetime casting of Sally Ann Howes and Robert Goulet in the roles of Fiona and Tommy), nevertheless, the Shirley Jones/Jack Cassidy BRIGADOON will always be my favourite rendition of the score.

I played the role of Meg Brockie in college so am very familiar with this show. This is much much much better than the movie version cd.

There's little to add to the already fine comments made about this recording. It's been one of my favorites for years, and I shamelessly tried to model my singing after Frank Porretta's when I played Charlie Dalrymple back in 1958 at Kearney State College. Loads of appreciation to DRG for this CD release and a masterful remastering job. Shirley Jones is a perfect Fiona and Jack Cassidy is in excellent voice as Tommy. However, it is in the two supporting roles that this recording rises above all others: Frank Porretta's "Come to Me, Bend to Me" and "I'll Go Home to Bonnie Jean" have never been bettered, and Susan Johnson is far and away the best Meg Brockie ever recorded. In fact, her versions of "The Love of My Life" and "My Mother's Wedding Day" alone are enough reason to purchase this recording.

This said, I also want to recommend highly the 1992 Broadway Angel studio recording. It has the advantage of excellent stereo sound and a very fine Tommy Albright in Brent Barrett. Clocking in at 79 minutes & 10 seconds, it contains considerably more dialogue than the DRG recording, and all the incidental & dance music, including a truly moving "Funeral Dance" for bagpipes and drums. The Angel album is so good that it belongs in every musical theater fan's collection, along with DRG's reissue of Columbia's Goddard Lieberson-produced, Lehman Engel-conducted studio recording.

Highly recommended

PS. Miss Johnson also appeared in 1958's OH, CAPTAIN! - available as a DRG CD - as well as DONNYBROOK (1961) & WHOOP-UP (1958), both missing from the DECCA Broadway catalogue. A shanda! Frank Porretta can be heard on the DRG release of THE GREAT WALTZ (1965), and hopefully DECCA Broadway will see fit to issue a CD version of THE SONG OF NORWAY soundtrack (1970) starring Mr. Porretta and Florence Henderson.

Keep sending those e-mails!

For many years this recording of BRIGADOON (1957) was the definitive version out there, but in 1991 Angel/emi released what has now become the complete version to have. After 1956 columbia records started recording everything in STEREO ( this doesn't mean that everything was released after that however at that time). It's amazing to me that this wonderful recording was not done in stereo but in MONO. A few years later this recording would be electronically re-channled for stereo but still sounded mono. This new DRG remaster is wonderful in terms of it's sound and I'm so thrilled it's finally available at long last. Thank you DRG and Dan O'leary for your dedication and hard work in bringing these recordings back into print again. Michael Sherman

I'm obviously in the minority here - all the other reviewers love this version, but it leaves me cold. Lerner & Loewe's music can be a bit stiff (compared to some of the jazzier Broadway composers) and the arrangements on this recording captures that stiffness all too well. Where's the pep, and the energy? What's wrong with a bit of swinging? This is Broadway, after all, not Grand Opera!

And most of all, where is the emotion? I'm sorry, but when this 1957 cast sings of being in love, to my ears it sounds like the only thing they're in love with is the sound of their own voice! When I listen to a Broadway cast album, I don't want to just hear pretty voices -- I want to hear acting.

I much prefer the original 1947 Broadway cast album. It's got fewer tracks, but it's lively and fun. Or the 1988 London revival -- heck, in listening to 30 second segments of the songs from that version on Amazon.com (out of print, but used copies are available), I hear more emotion than in the entire intact songs on this 1957 Broadway revival.

These are beautiful voices and gorgeous music-I highly recommend this album. Particularly like all of Shirley Jones and really like Jack Cassidy singing "There but for you go I"

At 17 having just seen OKLAHOMA!, I was in love with Shirley Jones. I purchased this recording because of her and became familiar with the Brigadoon score for the first time. It will always be my favorite. I hadn't listened to it for years, but with the new CD release, just listened again. I had forgotten, or not realized what amazing performances were there. Jones and Cassidy have never been in better voice, both artistically and dramatically, and the rest of the cast just excellent. Go for it!