Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers - The King and I: A Decca Broadway Original Cast Album (Original 1951 Broadway Cast)
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Artist: Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard RodgersEdition: Music CD
Format: Cast Recording, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2000-05-16
Music Label: Decca Broadway
Soundtracks:
- Overture
- I Whistle A Happy Tune
- My Lord and Master
- Hello, Young Lovers
- March of the Siamese Children
- A Puzzlement
- Getting To Know You
- We Kiss In A Shadow
- Shall I Tell You What I Think of You?
- Something Wonderful
- I Have Dreamed
- Shall We Dance?
Free Music Notes for The King and I: A Decca Broadway Original Cast Album (Original 1951 Broadway Cast)
Free Music Review: Something Entirely Wonderful!
Hit: 5 Stars
This was the first R+H recording i bought and i was enchanted by it from the very beginning. True, it has its limitations and it is certainly not my favorite R+H score,(one reviewer commented that this was the last of the great R+H musicals. Excuse me? Have you ever heard of The Sound of Music?) but it is undoubtedly a very necessary addition to any Broadway collection. The performances of the stars are incredable and the great collaborators are in their element, though for me this is more of a Rodgers triumph than a Hammerstein one. The soaring, romantic, exotic, colorful (etc, etc) music instantly captures each listener and is brilliantly arranged by their wonderful orchestrater Robert Russell Bennet. While the sound may not always be as good as it could be, one must take into account that the recording industry was still very much in its infant stages in 1951. Admitedly, the stars performances may not be as pleasing vocally as the could be, but they do extremely well in spite of this and are backed up by a stellar supporting cast. Doretta Morrow and Larry Dougles bring their own magic to what i consider to be one of R+H's greatest love songs, I Have Dreamed. Dorothy Sarnoff is magnificent in the soaring showstopper, Something Wonderful. Yul Brynner provides a fine rendition of A Puzzlement and joins Lawrence in that Wonderful closing number Shall We Dance, which it is impossible not to dance to. Lawrence's voice is weak but she still provides very pleasing renditions of Hello, Young Lovers and Getting To Know You. My one regret, (I can ignore the truncated numbers when the parts that ARE provided are so satisfying) is that there isn't even an incomplete rendition of the Uncle Thomas Ballet which is one of my favorite parts of the stage show. Still, that can be found on other recordings but the charm, the beauty and the freshness that can only ever be found on Original Cast Recordings, can't.
The King and I: A Decca Broadway Original Cast Album (Original 1951 Broadway Cast) Poster
Yul Brynner made a career out of playing the King of Siam. He owns it so much that it's disconcerting to see Rex Harrison play it in the film version of Anna & the King of Siam, the play Rodgers and Hammerstein adapted. Ironically, the still-unknown Brynner wasn't the star of the 1951 production; he's billed below British grande dame Gertrude Lawrence (played by Julie Andrews in the biopic Star!), who died during the play's run, and curio value is the only real reason for this recording in 1998. Sound quality is below standard, much like MCA other early Decca original cast albums, and Brynner was still too young to bring the majestic authority to the role he did in both the film and later stage versions. --Bill HoldshipBroadway & Vocalists Music CDs
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