Largely owing to its Borodin parentage but also attributable to the grand and fantastic vision of its two creators, Kismet belongs to an elite group of musicals–including Carousel and West Side Story–for which the music achieves a higher-order sophistication than the traditional Broadway show. Rather than merely fueling the host of obligatory songs and dance numbers and covering occasional scene changes, in these shows the music is key to creating a unique sound world and atmosphere that defines the production, the place, the time, and even the characters, as often happens in opera. The music also demands real singers, which is where many productions fall flat–in more ways than one.
For Kismet, Robert Wright and George Forrest’s articulate and inspired adaptation of Borodin’s music, this successful creative team mustered ingenuity and skill and an obvious love for the material that they failed to equal in their many previous or subsequent shows. It’s a great and grandly impressive musical, lusty and luscious, extravagant in both music and production, with some undeniably fabulous tunes, including “And This Is My Beloved” and “Stranger in Paradise”, bolstered by clever, memorable lyrics. And what better cast could be assembled than Alfred Drake, the embodiment–vocally and spiritually–of Hajj, and the irresistibly alluring Joan Diener as Lalume? Okay, Marsinah could be played by any number of young, sunny-voiced, show-biz ingénues, but Doretta Morrow captured and claimed the role and memorably imprinted it with a persuasive passion that’s both endearing and dramatically effective.
Like all of the best Broadway show recordings, this one captures something of the mysterious magical essence of the show’s fantasy world and maintains it throughout. And if you have the original LP or CD reissue, you’ll be immediately impressed with the greatly improved sound. The remastering brings us into the more immediate presence of these fine singer/actors and really lets us feel the impact of the orchestra and its full-figured score. You’ll also enjoy the thoughtful and informative liner notes by Didier Deutsch. The competition for this recording is an excellent 1989 studio production on Jay Records (see reviews) with a very fine London cast that includes Valerie Masterson, Donald Maxwell, and Judy Kaye, and contains substantially more music–purportedly the “complete” score. As a bonus, the Columbia reissue contains interviews with Drake, Morrow, and Forrest. Kismet enthusiasts will want both. [4/21/2002]
