Brigadoon

This Cd offers a short selection, due to the time limits of the original 78s. The cast s good but not sensational. The score, however, is one of Lerner and Loewe's best and every song is a gem.

A 1954 Columbia album with Shirley Jones, Jack Cassidy and teh wonderful Susan Johnson sounds much more theatrical and is more complete. Unfortunately, that album has not been issued on Cd as yet.

Of the versions currently avaialble on CD the more complete John McGlinn recording on Angel is probably your best bet.

This was RCA's first original Broadway cast album. Six months later they recorded ALLEGRO and HIGH BUTTON SHOES. They also recorded BONANZA BOUND during its pre-Broadway try-out but when that show folded on the road the records were never released.
The label was obviously struggling to master the techniques of translating shows from stage to records and they did not really succeed until the late 1950s.

Marion Bell plays Fiona, with a cast led by David Brooks, Pamela Britton and Lee Sullivan. The score is best-known for "Almost Like Being in Love", which became a huge hit for several artists including Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra; but also includes the lilting "Heather on the Hill".

Marion Bell spins gold with Fiona's charming number "Waitin' For My Dearie", whilst Lee Sullivan sings the beautiful "Come to Me, Bend to Me". Pamela Britton makes good with "My Mother's Weddin' Day".

Sound quality is quite awful (most cast albums that pre-date 1956 don't register particularly well on CD), but with a score as rapturous as BRIGADOON, it shouldn't really matter.

The 1947 recording is very much of its era. Broadway musical recordings were then a very small niche market, and record companies were not interested in knocking themselves out to produce an album that would appeal only to the few; moreover, technology limitations forced significant cuts in the material that it might be released as a single album. The result is a murky-sounding recording of a truncated score. But still--

The music shines through the quality issues just as it shines through the syrupy show itself, a charming collection of Scottish-tinged ballads and bouncy ensemble pieces. And the vocals are quite as charming as the Lerner-Loewe music and lyrics, with Marion Bell's "Waitin' for My Dearie," Lee Sullivan's "Come to Me, Bend to Me," and Pamela Britton's "My Mother's Wedding Day" particularly well done. And although the score is truncated, it includes such classics and near classics as "Go Home With Bonnie Jean," "Heather on the Hill," "There But For You Go I," and the famous "Almost Like Being In Love."

This is a "must own" recording for Learner and Lowe fans who long to hear the original performers of the original production. Still, the content and quality issues will limit the recording's appeal to hardcore fans and theatre buffs. Recommended nonetheless.

--GFT (Amazon reviewer)--