Kismet on Disc: Part Two

In 1965, Alfred Drake reprised the role he created in Kismet for Richard Rodgers' Music Theatre of Lincoln Center, which performed at the New York State Theatre. RCA made a cast album of the Kismet revival, allowing Drake the opportunity to record the role of Hajj a second time, just as he had been able to make a second recording of Kiss Me, Kate. Reteaming with Drake was the original '53 Wazir, Henry Calvin. As Lalume, there was glamorous Anne Jeffreys Street Scene, Three Wishes for Jamie, TV's "Topper", and to build up the role for her, the song written for the film, "Bored," was added to the stage score.

This second New York cast recording of Kismet is almost exactly the same length as the first, although the new one was, of course, in stereo. There's a different, longer overture, and Drake's "Fate" track includes the reprise lyrics this time around. Included on Columbia's 1953 Broadway recording but omitted here are "Bazaar of the Caravans" and "Samaris' Dance."

Lee Venora, who had co-starred with Drake in Broadway's Kean in 1961, is outstanding as Marsinah. A warm, intense soprano, her voice is bigger and more operatic than Doretta Morrow's on the '53 set, with Venora making quite a big moment out of the final section of "And This Is My Beloved." As the Caliph, there's little-known Richard Banke, who's quite nice and who takes the final high note of "Night of My Nights" in full voice.

As Lalume, Jeffreys is not the belter that Joan Diener in the '53 original and Dolores Gray in the film were, and has to use more head tones. If the sound is somewhat unsupported, Jeffreys does well enough. As for Drake, he's not substantially altered, still superb, and still owning the role. In general, the '65 Lincoln Center revival recording is very good, if not quite as atmospheric as Columbia's original Broadway cast set.

I've never heard a pair of very obscure British studio cast recordings of Kismet from 1960 and 1961. But 1964 produced two other, readily-available studio versions, both featuring opera stars. Capitol's was reissued on Angel, and stars popular American Metropolitan Opera soprano Dorothy Kirsten, opposite Gordon MacRae, star of the film versions of Oklahoma! and Carousel.

This is the least theatrical and least complete of the Kismet recordings under consideration here. It lacks "He's in Love," "Gesticulate," "Was I Wazir?," "Rahadlakum," and "Bazaar of the Caravans." There are new, blander orchestrations by Van Alexander, who also conducts, and Warren Barker.

MacRae sings both Hajj and the Caliph. Kirsten is Marsinah, and the other singers are unknown to me, including Bunny Bishop, who is a belty Lalume in her only remaining number, "Not Since Nineveh." "And This Is My Beloved" is reduced from a quartet to a duet.

Even though he lowers the last note of "Night of My Nights," MacRae is in strong form. Kirsten, who made her farewell to the Met in 1975 after a thirty-year career, was still in secure voice at the time of this recording.

The other 1964 studio Kismet, originally a London Records LP and now a Vocalion CD, boasts Met stars baritone Robert Merrill as Hajj and mezzo Regina Resnik as Lalume, although top billing goes to star conductor Mantovani and his orchestra.

Kismet has been performed by such companies as New York City Opera, and its score is well suited to opera singers. Merrill produces big, sumptuous sounds, although he lacks Drake's flair with the lyrics. As Marsinah, Adele Leigh's vocals are very pretty, if not as vibrant as Morrow's or Venora's, while tenor Kenneth McKellar is also fine as the Caliph.

The least vocally sumptuous of the principals here is Resnik, who makes frequent, noticeable shifts from chest to head voice. Yet Resnik manages to supply the disc's most distinctive performance. Mantovani leads an orchestral ensemble of fifty-five players, and all the principal numbers are included in this lush, generally respectable performance.

The early '90s added two major studio performances to the list of Kismet recordings. The first arrived in 1990 from TER/JAY, a double-CD set that's naturally the most complete of all Kismet recordings. It includes the entr'acte and first-act finale, several dance sequences, underscoring, incidental music, and expanded versions of several numbers.

But an even bigger attraction may be its appendix, which includes the film song "Bored" plus four songs from Timbuktu, the 1978 all-black Broadway revisal of Kismet. As that production went unrecorded, this set is the best place to hear new material that Robert Wright and George Forrest composed for Timbuktu, including Lalume's zesty "In the Beginning, Woman" well sung by Rosemary Ashe, of the London Phantom and Mary Poppins and the Wazir's catchy "Power," performed by Bruce Hubbard, who appeared in Timbuktu.

The TER/JAY double-CD set features opera singers in three of its four leading roles, but with Judy Kaye who has sung opera, and has recently been spoofing it in Souvenir as Lalume. Donald Maxwell sings Hajj correctly and well, but doesn't evince sufficient personality and panache. An attractive singer, Valerie Masterson is a bit genteel for Marsinah, lacking the lushness of Morrow and Venora. And David Rendall doesn't make a big impression as the Caliph.

So one is grateful for the refreshingly down-to-earth and direct Kaye, who offers a full-bodied Lalume, pushing the chest tones enjoyably and negotiating the register shifts with success. She's especially good in "Bored."

This performance, which uses the original Kay orchestrations, is entirely satisfactory, but it never quite catches fire, and is somewhat too grandly operatic. The set is most valuable for its comprehensiveness and that appendix.

More opera singers, and bigger names, are to be found on another crossover Kismet, Sony Broadway's 1991 version, conducted by Paul Gemignani and recorded in conjunction with a studio version of another Albert Marre/Joan Diener/Richard Kiley musical, Man of La Mancha. Sony's Kismet stars world-class bass-baritone Samuel Ramey as Hajj, joined by a major soprano, Ruth Ann Swenson, and tenor, Jerry Hadley. The Lalume is Julia Migenes, who has sung opera but has also sung Broadway original Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof, Vienna West Side Story, Rags CD and pop.

This is a generous single disc, and includes "Bored" for Migenes and "My Magic Lamp" for Swenson. The latter song was written for but cut from the original Kismet then restored in Timbuktu; "My Magic Lamp" also appears on the JAY set among the Timbuktu songs. Sony Broadway's Kismet also includes such incidental items as the first-act finale and the "Stranger in Paradise" reprise.

Ramey has a large, handsome sound, and makes his presence felt. If it's not a particularly interesting performance, and if he doesn't do anything special with the words, the voice is impressive. Swenson is sweet, smooth, and appealing, and she shares a pretty "Stranger in Paradise" with the ardent Hadley.

There's a pronounced difference between Migenes' chest and head tones, but both are apt, and her insinuating vamp is just right for the role. As the Wazir, there's an unfortunately cast Dom DeLuise, who has little voice and is a disaster in the "And This Is My Beloved" quartet. And for something truly bizarre albeit brief, there's Mandy Patinkin, delivering the "Zubbediya" chant traditionally performed by female singers. To justify his presence, Patinkin is billed as a "marriage arranger," a made-up role.

After listening to three Kismets dominated by opera singers, one is forced to conclude that the non-opera-singers on the very first recording --Drake, Morrow, Diener, and Kiley-- really can't be beat.