The Merry Widow & The Desert Song [Cast Recording]

Kitty Carlisle | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 1, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording
• Label: Box Office
• ASIN: B000001ZRJ
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #527,743 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Overture [From The Merry Widow]

2. In Marsovia [From The Merry Widow]

3. Maxim's [From The Merry Widow]

4. Act 1 Finale [From The Merry Widow]

5. Down In Dear Marsovia [From The Merry Widow]

6. Vilia [From The Merry Widow]

7. Women [From The Merry Widow]

8. Love In My Heart [From The Merry Widow]

9. Act 2 Finale [From The Merry Widow]

10. The Girls At Maxim's [From The Merry Widow]

11. I Love You So (The Merry Widow Waltz) [From The Merry Widow]

12. Finale [From The Merry Widow]

13. Opening Chorus and Riff Song [From the DeSert Song]

14. French Military Marching Song [From the DeSert Song]

15. Romance [From the DeSert Song]

16. Then You Will Know [From the DeSert Song]

17. The Desert Song [From the DeSert Song]

18. Finale of Act 1 [From the DeSert Song]

19. One Flower In Your Garden [From the DeSert Song]

20. One Alone [From the DeSert Song]

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars DO NOT BUY THIS CD!!!, March 27, 2002

By 

Mark Andrew Lawrence "Theatre Reviewer" (Toronto) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Merry Widow & The Desert Song (Audio CD)

The performances are great and both THE MERRY WIDOW and THE DESERT SONG are given very theatrical recordings here.

The problem is sound quality. These are bootleg Cds dubbed from poor quality 78 RPMS with no attempt to clean up the sound. It is muddy, scratchy, noisy and distant. Also several of the sides were transferred running off-speed!!

Happily Decca Broadway has sued to have these bogus discs taken off the market and have announced plans to issue these same titles under their own label. Decca owns the original masters so the sound will be much better. Do yourself a favour and wait a few months for the Decca releases, and avoid at all costs this an any other releases from Encore/Box-Office!!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Robin Hood Revisited, April 4, 2001

By 

Fitzhugh R MacCrae (Lyndeborough, NH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Merry Widow & The Desert Song (Audio CD)

Many years ago, when i was a child, I used to listen to The Desert Song on the original 78 rpm records. Since one song took in an entire record side, I got to be choosy as to what i wanted to hear, and in what order. Somehow, no matter what the record selection might be on the turntable stack, it always included the musical tale of the Red Shadow (aka Paul, the French commander's son), in his quest for justice, love, and adventure in North Africa.

The Desert Song is one of those old-time musicals that they just don't seem to make any more...perhaps we have become too cynical, too worldly, to believe that once upon a time, people would go out by themselves, shuck off their privilaged existance, get together with a band of loyal henchmen (the Riffs in this case), and right wrongs, chastise villians, win the girl, and reveal their secret identity at the very end....and do all this set to some well-written music, including one of the great polyamorous love ballads of all time - "If One Flower Grows Alone In Your Garden".

Put some fun, adventure, and old-fashioned idealism back into your life and let yourself be recruited by the Red Shadow and his band, happily roistering in the secret cave hide-out, as they plan their next sorty against the evil-doers of a simpler - and possibly better - world.

The Merry Widow ain't half bad, either!

5.0 out of 5 stars Kitty Carlisle Hart - 2 performances on one Cd, September 3, 2011

By 

Robin Russell (Abington, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Merry Widow & The Desert Song (Audio CD)

What an amazing career this performer has has!
She was cut down in her prime [over 90] and was
still doing performances, although none singing.
She has had a long singing career and her voice
remained strong and clear as it was when she first
made these two recordings.
It is a treat indeed to hear Kitty Carlisle Hart again
in these two fine plays.
Robin Russell