Amazon.com Kismet, George Forrest and Robert Wright's "musical Arabian night" based on the themes of 19th-century Russian composer Alexander Borodin, has received a number of recordings, including this 1964 studio effort. Playing both the poet and the Caliph is Gordon MacRae, best known for the Oklahoma! and Carousel movies and who was recording a number of operettas for Capitol at the time, this one included. Dorothy Kirsten performs the role of the young Marsinah, while the Roger Wagner Chorale serves as the chorus and providing some other solo voices. One of the drawbacks of using so few voices is reducing the complex and moving quartet "And This Is My Beloved" to a duet. If you grew up with this 40-minute recording, it's probably still all that you remember it to be. But if you're new to Kismet, you'd be better served by the original Broadway cast or the flawed but sometimes spectacular 1991 studio recording with Samuel Ramey and Julia Migenes. --David Horiuchi, ISBN13: B000GCG63C ISBN10: B000GCG63C Material Type: audioCDAmazon.com Kismet, George Forrest and Robert Wright's "musical Arabian night" based on the themes of 19th-century Russian composer Alexander Borodin, has received a number of recordings, including this 1964 studio effort. Playing both the poet and the Caliph is Gordon MacRae, best known for the Oklahoma! and Carousel movies and who was recording a number of operettas for Capitol at the time, this one included. Dorothy Kirsten performs the role of the young Marsinah, while the Roger Wagner Chorale serves as the chorus and providing some other solo voices. One of the drawbacks of using so few voices is reducing the complex and moving quartet "And This Is My Beloved" to a duet. If you grew up with this 40-minute recording, it's probably still all that you remember it to be. But if you're new to Kismet, you'd be better served by the original Broadway cast or the flawed but sometimes spectacular 1991 studio recording with Samuel Ramey and Julia Migenes. --David Horiuchi, ISBN13: B000GCG63C ISBN10: B000GCG63C Material Type: audioCD , ISBN13: B000GCG63C ISBN10: B000GCG63C Material Type: audioCD