Kismet, a stage and film success of the mid-'50s, became a hot property again when
Alfred Drake, who had starred in the Broadway and West End productions, undertook a U.S. tour in 1962. The original Broadway cast album was on Columbia Records, with the original soundtrack album on MGM. Soon, other labels wanted a recording in their catalogs, and
Mantovani obliged Decca Records (London Records in the U.S.) with this version. (Capitol Records followed with one featuring
Gordon MacRae and
Dorothy Kirsten later in 1964; in 1965, RCA Victor recorded
Drake when he brought his touring revival to Broadway.) Normally, an album such as this, on which individual singers are cast in specific roles, is categorized as a studio-cast recording; but any album on which
Mantovani appears is a
Mantovani album as far as the record industry is concerned, and accordingly the conductor receives top billing. In fact, the major presence on the disc is
Robert Merrill, who plays the starring role of Hajj the street poet and, with his dramatic baritone, makes much of songs like "Rhymes Have I," "Fate," and "Gesticulate." But
Adele Leigh, portraying Hajj's daughter Marsinah, also makes a good showing with "Baubles, Bangles and Beads," and, accompanied by
Kenneth McKellar's Caliph, "Stranger in Paradise."
McKellar is effective in "Night of My Nights," and
Ian Wallace, as the Wazir, has lots of fun with "Was I Wazir?"
George Forrest and Robert Wright's score, based on the works of
Alexander Borodin, is well suited to
Mantovani's heavily orchestrated approach, and the result is a superior rendition of a much-recorded Broadway favorite.