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Frank Loesser

Guys & Dolls (1950 Original Broadway Cast)

Guys & Dolls (1950 Original Broadway Cast) Tracks
1. Runyonland Music/Fugue for Tinhorns/Follow the Fold - Isabel Bigley
2. Oldest Established - Stubby Kaye
3. I'll Know - Robert Alda
4. Bushel and a Peck - Vivian Blaine
5. Adelaide's Lament - Vivian Blaine
6. Guys and Dolls - Sammy Kaye
7. If I Were a Bell - Isabel Bigley
8. My Time of the Day - Robert Alda
9. I've Never Been in Love Before - Robert Alda
10. Take Back Your Mink - Vivian Blaine
11. More I Cannot Wish You - Pat Rooney, Sr.
12. Luck Be a Lady - Robert Alda
13. Sue Me - Vivian Blaine
14. (Sit Down) You're Rocking the Boat
15. Marry the Man Today - Isabel Bigley
16. Reprise: Guys and Dolls - Isabel Bigley
17. I'll Know [*] - Marlon Brando
18. If I Were a Bell [*] - Marlon Brando
19. Woman in Love [*] - Marlon Brando
20. Luck Be a Lady
Frank Loesser - Guys & Dolls (1950 Original Broadway Cast)
Guys & Dolls (1950 Original Broadway Cast) Review
The original 1950 production of this classic played the mythical Damon Runyon world of New York City gamblers a lot straighter than the 1992 Broadway revival did. In fact, 1950 reviewers called this the "South Pacific of crapshooters." Alas, Guys and Dolls plays a lot better as a cartoon-like "fable" in the 1990s--which is why the revival is probably the definitive recording while this one is more a historical artifact. Still, it's a gas to hear Robert Alda (Alan's dad!) and Sam Levene originate the roles of Sky Masterson and Nathan Detroit, while both Vivian Blaine and Stubby Kaye (who actually gets most of the showstoppers) would repeat their roles in the otherwise dreadful 1955 Brando/Sinatra film version. And the Frank Loesser music is always great. --Bill Holdship


Users's Reviews
Feel free to add your comments about Guys & Dolls (1950 Original Broadway Cast)
Original cast great- movie soundtrack add-ons are awful
5
You've got to give five stars to this CD of the original cast recording. It's one of the most musical of the classic broadway musicals, and one of the few that's truly American in its character. Loesser is at his best here. The sound quality is from the fifties but the performance quality more than compmensates. But I'd give anything to be able to erase the movie sound track cuts which the CD producers included to fill out the disc. Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons are miscast as musical artists and their reditions are simply awful. Keep your remote handy and change to the next CD when the last chords of the original cast fade out.
Posted by Anonymous, on 2005-09-04
Wasted my money
1
DON'T BUY THIS VERSION OF GUYS AND DOLLS. I regret buying this one hundred percent. The actors' singing voices are JUST unpleasant and does not make you want to sing a long, while the orchestra is faintly heard in the background. So there's an uneven balance between the amazing instrumentals musicals usually have and the singing.

The singing made me cringe.
There is also NO ENERGY in this recording.

The only part I sort of enjoyed were the four Bonus Tracks in the end, which are sung by Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons, who are NOT the singers for the majority of this CD.

Posted by Anonymous, on 2004-03-29
Classic Decca original cast album sounding better than ever!
5
Winner of the 1951 Tony Award for Best Musical, GUYS AND DOLLS is considered by many to be a near perfect musical comedy. The book is genuinely funny and yet we really do care about the characters.

Decca's original cast album was taped just a few weeks after the show had opened to rave reviews. The voices are full of character: Robert Alda and Isabel Bigley make an ideal Sky and Sarah. Vivian Blaine forever owns the role of Adelaide (and she got to preserve her performance in the 1955 film.) Sam Levene is NOT a singer (the cast even asked him NOT to sing in the chorus numbers) and his appearances on the recording are limited. Still, GUYS AND DOLLS would not work with opera singers. The flat Decca sound does not exactly make the vocals sound warmer, but in remastering the original tapes, we can at least hear everything clearly and especially some of the orchestral textures lost in the previous releases. And no one can beat Stubby Kaye's "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat" Like Blaine, he got to repeat his role in the film but neither of them appear on the soundtrack album.

No complete soudntrack album was made of the 1955 film because of Frank Sinatra's contract with Capitol Records. Decca put out a 4-song EP with Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons singing their numbers from the film and that mini-album is included here as bonus tracks.

The 1992 Broadway revival was a spirited production with a great cast (Peter Gallagher, Nathan Lane and Faith Prince) and a recording that captures all the fun. It's more complete, and has better sound. What it lacks are Stubby Kare and Vivian Blaine.

Posted by Anonymous, on 2004-05-24

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