SOUTH PACIFIC Original Broadway Cast Recording

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 8/2/12 at 7:07am

So, on the OBC of South Pacific, the Overture is much shorter. Was it just cut down that way for recording or was that how the original overture was?

Anyone here a fan of this recording and prefer it over others?
Updated On: 8/2/12 at 07:07 AM

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 8/2/12 at 7:56am

It's just because in those days, time was very tight on recordings - and also because famously the R&H overtures are all around 6 mins - very long, but appropriate for those times (40s, 50s). If you listen to The King and I and Oklahoma!, their overtures have been truncated also for the original recordings. Magnificent overtures IMO... The OBC of South Pacific is brilliant, but Lincoln Center is also a terrific recording and they recorded the full overture.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/2/12 at 8:00am

VERY edited for the recording. Remember: albums were quite limited in their space capabilities.

I often enjoy the ORIGINAL recordings of shows, but you can hear the lack of quality (by our standards) that exist because of technology. I think recordings were more simple and more about the performance.

I really do like the LC recording as well.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 8/2/12 at 8:06am

I also love the LC recording, it's probably my favourite overall. I thought that it may have been trimmed down due to record time limits!

Thanks for the replies! :)

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 8/2/12 at 3:08pm

AT the time SOUTH PACIFIC was recorded, the dominant format was still 78-rpm shellac records. A 10-inch record could hold about 3 1/2 minutes per side, a 12-incher could take in about 4 1/2 minutes per side. They did not have variable groove cutting techniques then (where quiet passages were given less land) so the grooves were a a standard size to allow for louder passages.

That is why when you hear these original recordings, the songs are all cut to fit that timing. (Decca's CAROUSEL and SONG OF NORWAY albums used 12-inch records but most 1940's cast albums...OKLAHOMA!, BLOOMER GIRL, BRIGADOON, ALLEGRO were made as sets of 10-inch records.)

SOUTH PACIFIC was released as a 12-inch Lp, as well as as a set of 7 10-inch 78-rpm records. (Columbia's KISS ME KATE was the first cast album released on LP, and also as a set of 6 12-inch 78 platters.) Because Victor wanted a competitive edge they came out with the 45-rom record (with that lurid spindle hole!) and for a few years albums were issued in all 3 speeds: 33, 45 and 78. (Victor arrived at the 45 RPM speed by subtracting the LP's 33 rpm from 78 rpm!) Record stores had to triple stock everything. Until the early 1950s most show albums were recorded with all three speeds in mind...therefore Decca's KING AND I is cut down to 12 selections (spread over 6 10-inch 78's) which explains the abridgments in the Overture, A Puzzlement and Shall I Tell You What I think of you?

In 1971 Clive Barnes started off his review of FOLLIES suggesting the show release it's cast album on 78's.... and the way Capitol abridged it, he sort of got his wish!

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/2/12 at 5:33pm

Thank you, frontrowcentre, I didn't know all that history.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 1:05am

I have my grandma's Oklahoma set--I believe it's from the late 40s, on Decca's EP format, which I had heard was meant to be a rival to the LP format. It fits 2 tracks on each side of a 34rpm, "big spindle" record. I have no idea really why they thought this would be a format people would want over LPs though (of course now the term EP is used for an album that's shorter than the usual LP length).

I still think, for its time, the SP record sounds terrific (and a sharp improvement over, say Allegro a few years earlier), no doubt because Columbia's techniques and Godard Lieberson's production were of such a high standard (this remained true, IMHO, until the mid 70s really when Liberson's protoge, Thomas Z Shepard left for RCA, and other studios seemed to improve their standards). Even compared to King and I two years later, SP sounds better.

But I admit, I'm a sucker for all of those original cast albums, particularly for the R&H shows. Obviously for their first five shows, you really need at least one other recording to hear much more of the score, and to hear much better sound, but I grew up with the OBCRs (I bought them all in elementary school at a used record shop) and they remain the definitive performances for me. FOr SP I think the new Lincoln Center recording is the best one to combine with it--great performances, sound and complete enough for me. (For the record, for Oklahoma! my choice would be the 1979 recording, for Carousel the Lincoln Center one even with some different orchestrations and Highest Judge of All--which is fairly complete on the 1945 recording anyway, and for King and I... I'm not sure what my second choice would be, though I like the 70s Brynner one. Allegro obviously, there's only one alternative--the recent studio recording which really fills in so many blanks).

*ahem* sorry rant.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 1:43am

I actually enjoy the South Pacific OBC and that's rare for me because I usually prefer revival recordings if there is one. The Lincoln Center recording came so close, but whoever thought to leave off the end of "Honey Bun" should be slaped, and I rarely listen to it because of that. The OBC, I understand because time was so limited on LPs, and Mary Martin makes up for it, but today with CDs and digital downloads which could be unlimited there's no excuse.

[jv92]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 3:20am

The Columbia OBCR SOUTH PACIFIC from 1949 is probably the first really great cast album. I think Goddard Lieberson really perfected his "formula" of making a successful album. I think it is a wonderful aural representation of a legendary production and cast. Certainly, some earlier recordings have their charms and capture great performances, but SOUTH PACIFIC begins an entire new era in cast albums.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 6:52am

Well said, and absolutely agreed. Of course he had great material to work with, and popular material, but I think the quality of the recording itself is a large reason it remained such a massive best seller for so long. (I know there is some controversy about the various remasters on CD)>

[The Other One]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 7:39am

I remember that one of the earliest CD releases used an alternate, abridged version of "Carefully Taught".

I agree with all that's been said about the evolution of technology and its impact on cast, indeed all, recordings.

Although they are a very different species, the 1950's soundtrack recordings of the R&H shows are worthy companions to their Broadway counterparts, and SOUTH PACIFIC is no exception. The orchestra is enormous, creating a sound you would never hear on Broadway, but it's sumptuous and quite thrilling to listen to on many tracks. Though the film shuffles the order of the songs in Act One around quite a bit, the album adheres to their order on stage. Mitzi Gaynor, the only one of the principals to do her own singing, sounds wonderful on all of her songs. The dubbers, two of whom had performed their roles live, don't suffer from the technical but cold quality that afflicts many ghost singers. Tozzi's performance is less about volume than Pinza's, and he brings beautiful nuance and subtlety to his singing. (A shame "This Nearly Was Mine" is missing a verse.) Muriel Smith sounds majestic signing "Bali Hai" and "Happy Talk" and Bill Lee brings an appealing, aw-shucks quality to Cable that is entirely appropriate. Neither he nor Smith match the speaking voices of their screen counterparts, but that is not a problem on the isolated soundtrack. You also get "My Girl Back Home", which wouldn't actually be performed on stage until the 2008 revival (it had been written for the show but removed due to time concerns). The male chorus (largely dubbed, I believe) does sound a bit "Hollywood" -- less charactery and more polished than on the original cast recording -- but they still deliver robust performances.

It's a wonderful representation of the score.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 8:15pm

I always found it odd that Juanita Hall was dubbed for the film--but there's no denying Smith's vocals. I( admit, to me sometimes the R&H film soundtracks sound TOO lush, but it works for the lushness of SP, and I do love My Girl Back Home (which was put back in the slightly re-written Trevor Nunn/NT London production in 2001, in a different place than the 2008 revival--and perhaps in earlier stagings, BTW).

"Though the film shuffles the order of the songs in Act One around quite a bit, the album adheres to their order on stage. "

When the longer Roadshow print of this came to DVD there was a lot of talk about all the different versions of the film on film websites. Apparently in Europe the film was cut to open how it does on Broadway--with Dites Moi, etc, and THEN going into the male chorus--the N American print opens with the sailors.

[After Eight]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 9:48pm

"Anyone here a fan of this recording and prefer it over others? "

I prefer it to all others.

In fact, I can't listen to any others.

[The Other One]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 11:40pm

I always found it odd that Juanita Hall was dubbed for the film

Agreed!


--but there's no denying Smith's vocals.

Again, agreed.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/4/12 at 9:49am

I love SOUTH PACIFIC. I'm partial to the 1967 Lincoln Center cast recording. Florence Henderson's vocals are beautiful.