Carnival (1961 Original Broadway Cast)
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Music CD Cover
Composer: Bob MerrillPerformer: Bob Merrill
Performer: Henry Lascoe
Performer: James Mitchell
Performer: Jerry Orbach
Performer: Kaye Ballard
Performer: Mel Torm?
Performer: Paul Smith
Performer: Richard Chamberlain
Edition: Music CD
Format: Cast Recording
CD Release Date: 1989-06-08
Music Label: Decca Broadway
Soundtracks:
- Opening - The Orchestra
- Direct from Vienna - Kaye Ballard, Henry Lascoe
- Very Nice Man - Anna Maria Alberghetti
- I've Got to Find a Reason - Jerry Orbach
- Mira - Anna Maria Alberghetti
- Sword and a Rose and a Cape - Tony Gomez, George Marcy, James Mitchell, ,
- Humming - Kaye Ballard, Henry Lascoe
- Yes, My Heart - Anna Maria Alberghetti, Tony Gomez, George Marcy, ,
- Everybody Like You - Jerry Orbach
- Love Makes the World Go 'Round - Anna Maria Alberghetti, Pierre Olaf, Jerry Orbach
- Yum Ticky - Anna Maria Alberghetti, Pierre Olaf, Jerry Orbach
- Rich - Anna Maria Alberghetti, Pierre Olaf, Jerry Orbach
- Beautiful Candy - Anna Maria Alberghetti, Pierre Olaf, Jerry Orbach
- Her Face - Jerry Orbach
- Grand Imperial Cirque de Paris - Pierre Olaf
- I Hate Him - Anna Maria Alberghetti
- Her Face (Reprise) - Anna Maria Alberghetti, Jerry Orbach
- Always, Always You - Kaye Ballard, James Mitchell
- Always, Always You (Reprise) - Kaye Ballard
- She's My Love - Jerry Orbach
- Finale - Jerry Orbach
- Very Nice Man [*] - Bob Merrill
- Mira [*] - Bob Merrill
- Yes, My Heart [*] - Bob Merrill
- Love Makes the World Go 'Round [*] - Bob Merrill
- I Hate Him [*] - Bob Merrill
- Mira - J.J. Johnson
- Magic, Magic - Paul Smith
- Love Makes the World Go 'Round - Richard Chamberlain
- Her Face - Mel Torm?
Free Music Notes for Carnival (1961 Original Broadway Cast)
Free Music Review: "Like a lucky bird landed on my head!"
Hit: 4 Stars
The thing about the 1961 musical CARNIVAL is that it succeeds exactly on its own terms: if you don't care much for the charms of innocence and whimsy then this just is not the musical for you. Based on the Fifties Leslie Caron film LILI (itself an adaptation of the novel THE LOVE OF SEVEN DOLLS), CARNIVAL (which once always had an exclamation point after the title--it seems to have fallen off with the passage of time) is about a completely guileless vulnerable young orphan in Europe who joins up with a second-rate carnival troupe and becomes a success with a group of puppets with whom she converses with utter faith in their reality. (The plot revolves around the orphan having to realize that the bitter, handicapped puppeteer is one and the same with the puppets she adores--which of course doesn't speak much to her intelligence.) The musical was a success largely because of the charming melodies Bob Merrill crafted for it and for its first-rate cast: Anna Maria Alberghetti as the orphan, Jerry Orbach as the puppeteer, James Mitchell as the womanizing magician the orphan first works for and Kaye Ballard as the magician's assistant and lover tormented by his straying heart.
CARNIVAL has become a minor staple of the high school musical repertory, mostly because of its sweetness (and because it has multiple sizable roles), but it really needs professionals to pull it off so it doesn't drown in its own sweetness. (A hard task when you've got lyrics like "The sun today will be scrambled for my souffl?!" or "I keep millions of Spaniards on fire,/ They admire/ My yum-ticky-ticky-tum-tum!") But the charms of this original Broadway cast album are hard to deny. Orbach is in beautiful voice here (unlike as with his offkey performance on the cast album for PROMISES, PROMISES, his other big Broadway hit from the Sixties), and Alberghetti is just about perfect. She exactly hits the right notes of innocence and vulnerability without seeming either stupid or unbelievable. There are some very likable bonus tracks of Bob Merrill singing several of the songs while accompanying himself on the piano; there is also a bizarre (and unwelcome) Wurlitzer instrumental version of "Magic, Magic," the only major song from the score that was (unfortunately) left off the original Broadway cast album.
Carnival (1961 Original Broadway Cast) Poster
The 1953 MGM motion picture Lili already seemed like a musical, even though the film contained only two songs, most notably "Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo." Perfect, then, to translate the film to the Broadway stage, which is exactly what Michael Stewart (Hello, Dolly) and composer-lyricist Bob Merrill (lyricist for Funny Girl and countless pop tunes, including "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window") did in 1961, winning the N.Y. Critics Circle Award for their efforts. Anna Marie Alberghetti made her Broadway debut in the Lili role (which had been Leslie Caron's film debut), with Jerry Orbach taking over for Mel Ferrer as the lame puppeteer, and Kaye Ballard in Zsa Zsa Gabor's role as the magician's mistress. Of course, the musical needed its own "Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo"-- and that came in the form of "Love Makes the World Go Round." Nothing else in this sweet score matches that classic, although Carnival does remain an old-fashioned charmer. The CD release includes previously unreleased tracks, including numbers performed by Merrill himself, as well as covers by Mel Torme and Richard Chamberlain. --Bill HoldshipBroadway & Vocalists Music CDs
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