| Kismet | |
|---|---|
 Original logo | |
| Music | Alexander Borodin Adapted by: Robert Wright George Forrest |
| Lyrics | Robert Wright George Forrest |
| Book | Charles Lederer Luther Davis |
| Basis | Play byEdward Knoblock |
| Productions | 1953Broadway 1955West End 2007English National Opera |
| Awards | Tony Award for Best Musical |
Kismet is amusical adapted byCharles Lederer andLuther Davis from the playKismet (1911) byEdward Knoblock, with lyrics and musical adaptation (as well as some original music) byRobert Wright andGeorge Forrest. The music was mostly adapted from several pieces composed byAlexander Borodin. The story concerns a wily poet who talks his way out of trouble several times; meanwhile, his beautiful daughter meets and falls in love with the youngcaliph.
The musical was first produced onBroadway in 1953 and won theTony Award for best musical in 1954. It was also successful in London'sWest End and has been given several revivals. A 1955film version was produced byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
The musical was commissioned byEdwin Lester, founder and director of theLos Angeles Civic Light Opera, who conceived of a musical based on the 1911 playKismet byEdward Knoblock.[1][2] Lester had previously producedSong of Norway, with the same composing team, adapting the melodies ofEdvard Grieg. ForKismet, the writers seized upon the music ofAlexander Borodin, which they felt had a suitable exotic flavor and lush melodies.[3] Four film versions of the play were made before the creation of the musical, including a 1944 film produced byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed byWilliam Dieterle and starringRonald Colman as Hafiz andMarlene Dietrich as Jamille.[4]
Kismet is set in a fictionalBaghdad in the times ofThe Arabian Nights.
At amosque, animam prays as the sun rises ("The Sands of Time"). Threebeggars sit outside the temple, but the fourth,Hajj, has gone toMecca. Crying "Rhymes! Fine Rhymes!", a poet enters to sell his verses. His beautiful daughter Marsinah joins in the sales pitch, but they have no success ("Rhymes Have I"). Marsinah is sent to steal oranges in the Bazaar for their breakfast, while her father sits down to beg. When the beggars object to the poet's taking Hajj's place, he claims to be a cousin of Hajj. The poet threatens to curse those who do not give him money and soon earns a few coins ("Fate"). Hassen-Ben, a huge man from the desert, mistakes him for Hajj and kidnaps him. The poet (who is referred to as Hajj thereafter) is taken to Jawan, a notoriousbrigand. Fifteen years ago, the real Hajj had placed a curse on Jawan that resulted in the disappearance of the brigand's little son. Now he wants the curse removed. The new Hajj, seeing an opportunity to make some money, promises to do so for 100 gold pieces. Jawan leaves for Baghdad to search for his son, and Hajj rejoices in his new-found riches ("Fate" (reprise)).
Back in the city, the wazir of police comes through the busy bazaar ("Bazaar of the Caravans"). The evil wazir and his seductive, beautiful wife-of-wives, Lalume, discuss a loan he desperately needs. In return for the money lent from the king of Ababu, the wazir must arrange for thecaliph to marry one (or all three) of the princesses of Ababu, who perform a sexy dance. Through theiramah, the princesses tell Lalume that they wish to return home. Lalume convinces them that Baghdad is much more exciting than any other place on earth ("Not Since Nineveh").
Marsinah is being pursued by a fruit merchant whose wares she has stolen. Her father arrives to rescue her, giving the man money. Hajj gives his daughter half of the money and leaves. The merchants set out their finest "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" for the young lady. The young caliph and his advisor,Omar Khayyam, have been traveling incognito. He is struck by Marsinah's beauty and follows her. Elsewhere, Hajj is basking in the glow of some scantily-dressed slave girls he has just bought, when he is stopped by the police, who are checking identities because they are looking for Jawan. The Chief recognizes, on the coins, thecrest of a family Jawan has robbed and arrests Hajj as a thief. Meanwhile, Marsinah has found a quaint little house with a beautiful garden to buy for her father and herself. She is admiring the garden when the Caliph slips in and, pretending to be a gardener, introduces himself to her. They fall in love on the spot ("Stranger in Paradise"). They promise to meet again in the garden at moonrise. The Caliph tells Omar that he has fallen in love, which is overheard by the princesses of Ababu; they are furious that he seems to ignore them, but the Chief Policeman reassures them that "He's in Love".
At the wazir's palace, Hajj is on trial for the theft of 100 pieces of gold. The wazir has no need for evidence; he sentences Hajj to 20 lashes, and his right hand is to be cut off. The poet pleads that, as a poet and storyteller, the loss of a hand would cripple his career; it is the gesture that tells the story ("Gesticulate"). The lovely Lalume, attracted to the handsome poet, begs her husband for forgiveness, but the Wazir is not convinced and orders his guards to drag Hajj off to punishment. As Hajj curses the wazir, a guard bursts in with news that they have captured Jawan. The old brigand is brought in and asks Hajj where his son is. He sees, around the wazir's neck, a medallion that his son was wearing when he was captured. The wazir is his son! Jawan praises the power of the great magician, Hajj, a man who has the power to curse and uncurse. Jawan is thrilled to see his son, but the Wazir sentences his own father to death. "For the leading judge ofMesopotamia to have as a father the leading criminal of Mesopotamia," he says, is "a disturbing thought."
As Jawan is led to his execution, the wazir realizes that the "powerful magician" has cursed him. Just when he is about to murder Hajj, the caliph enters with news that he has found a bride, a commoner, and that he will marry her tonight. The wazir is distraught: if the caliph does not marry a princess of Ababu, the wazir will be ruined. He concludes that this is a result of Hajj's curse and begs Hajj to reverse the situation, promising him a reprieve and the title ofEmir. Hajj agrees. Lalume knows that the poet is no wizard, but she decides that he may be her chance out of a dull life ("Bored")[5] and is falling in love with him; she promises to help. When the wazir returns, Hajj sings a mystic-sounding invocation to fate as the slave-girls dance wildly, distracting the wazir. Hajj jumps out of a window, leaving his coat behind him. When the wazir sees he is gone, he clutches the cloak in amazement and faints.
The caliph and his wedding procession approach the house of his beloved ("Night of my Nights"). Inside, Marsinah thinks only of her gardener ("Stranger in Paradise" (reprise)). Hajj enters and tells her of his situation and says that they must flee immediately toDamascus, but Marsinah refuses to go. They argue, and he nearly strikes her before he runs off, ashamed. She departs in the opposite direction. When the caliph enters the garden, his love is not there.
The wazir is informed by his spies that the caliph's bride has disappeared. He rejoices at the power he wields, by having a magician as Emir ("Was I Wazir?"). He instructs Lalume to keep his new Emir happy, and she is eager to comply ("Rahadlakum"). Hajj and Lalume are discussing a trip to a "small oasis, a week's travel by camel" when Marsinah enters the Harem. Father and daughter reconcile, and she tells him of her lover and asks him to find him. At the same time, the caliph, in the next room, orders the wazir to find his love ("And This Is My Beloved"). Hajj and Omar encounter each other and engage in a battle of wits ("The Olive Tree").
The wazir, hoping to convince the caliph that only wanting one wife is just a phase, shows him his harem through a peephole where he sees Marsinah. The caliph is horrified that his love is a member of the wazir's Harem, and the wazir, sure that Hajj has arranged the whole thing, claims that she is one of his wives. The caliph, heartbroken, agrees to choose his wife-of-wives that night during hisdiwan. So as not to have lied to his prince, the wazir immediately marries Marsinah, promising to visit her that night. She vows to kill herself if he does.
That night, at the caliph's diwan, the candidates for his hand dance for him: Princess Zubbediya of Damascus, Princess Samaris of Bangalore, and the three Ababu princesses. The caliph is unmoved. Hajj is searching for Marsinah; the wazir thanks the "wizard" for placing the caliph's beloved in his own harem. Laughing, he tells him that he has married the pretty little Marsinah. Realizing what has happened, Hajj pulls a knife, but has a better idea. He takes a blank plaque and throws it in a pool, proclaiming that when it is retrieved, it will read the name of the caliph's fated bride. He secretly gives the wazir another tablet, this one with the name Ababu written on it, and tells him to substitute it for the tablet from the pool. When the wazir enters the pool, Hajj trips him and holds him underwater until he drowns.
Hajj explains all to the caliph, who is joyfully reunited with Marsinah. The caliph is ready to pardon Hajj for his murder of a public official, but the poet requests, as his punishment, to be "banished to some dreadful oasis ... at least a week's journey away by camel," and to be made to comfort the wazir's widow in her "grief". As the two couples unite, the poet reflects on the fleetingness of "The Sands of Time".
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†Wright and Forrest composed the music for the bridge in "Stranger in Paradise" as well as the music for "Rahadlakum." The music for the latter was originally used in the Wright and Forrest song "I'm Going Moroccan for Johnny."[6][7][8]
According to Richard E. Rodda in his 2008 liner notes to recordings of Borodin works, Robert Wright and George Forrest specialized in "turning melodies from classical music into film scores and popular songs". The following Borodin works were used as musical sources forKismet:
Kismet premiered in Los Angeles and then moved to San Francisco in the summer and autumn of 1953.[9] A successful change during the tryouts was to transform the character of Hajj from being merely a beggar to also being a poet.[3]Charles Lederer became producer as well as book writer.[9] The production moved toBroadway on December 3, 1953, playing at theZiegfeld Theatre. The director wasAlbert Marre, with choreography byJack Cole and sumptuous settings and costumes byLemuel Ayers. The original cast starredAlfred Drake as the poet Hajj,Doretta Morrow as his daughter Marsinah,Richard Kiley as the young Caliph of Baghdad,Henry Calvin as the Wazir andJoan Diener as Lalume, the vampy wife of the evil Wazir. BodybuilderSteve Reeves played the wizard's guard, a mute role.Bill Johnson later took over the role of Hajj, andElaine Malbin the role of Marsinah.[10]
The show opened on Broadway in the midst of a newspaper strike,[10] and since newspaper reviews were unavailable, the producers used television advertising to promote the show. The musical caught the popular attention and ran for a successful 583 performances, winning the 1954Tony Award for Best Musical.[3] The strike may have ultimately assisted the popularity of the show, since the reviews, arriving a few weeks after the opening, were not all favorable.[11] The critic ofTime magazine, punning on the name of the composer Borodin, disparaged the score as "a lot of borrowed din."[12]Walter Kerr wrote that "It's the sort of show that would sell its soul for a joke, and the jokes should be better at the price."[13] William Hawkins, however, wrote that it was "noisy, spectacular, and vigorous. ... It is melodic and gay".[13] Bloom and Vlastnik noted that it was the score that made the show successful, as the songs "Stranger in Paradise" and "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" were "huge hits on radio, television and records."[10]
Kismet was even more successful in London'sWest End, enjoying a 648 performance run at theStoll Theatre commencing in April 1955. The London production opened with the three stars of the Broadway cast, Drake, Morrow and Diener. They were subsequently replaced by Tudor Evans, Elizabeth Larner and Sheila Bradley, respectively.[14]
The first Australian production opened at thePrincess Theatre, Melbourne in November 1955, featuringHayes Gordon and directed by American Burry Fredrik. It played over a year in Melbourne and Sydney.[15][16]
The musical was revived atLincoln Center'sNew York State Theater, starting on June 22, 1965, for 39 performances and starring Drake, Lee Venora, Anne Jeffreys, and Henry Calvin.[17]
TheNew York City Opera presented the musical in October 1985, featuringGeorge Hearn (Hajj),Susanne Marsee (Lalume) and Maryanne Telese (Marsinah) with direction byFrank Corsaro.[18] In 1994,BBC Radio 2 broadcast a complete production starringEthan Freeman as Hajj,Julia Migenes as Lalume, Stephen Hill as the Caliph, Katrina Murphy as Marsinah,Frank Middlemass as Omar Kayyam and David Adler as the Wazir, with theBBC Concert Orchestra, conducted byKenneth Alwyn. The production was re-broadcast on 13 August 2016.[19]
Jettisoning the lush oriental context and physical production of the original, a restaging re-titled asTimbuktu! opened at theMark Hellinger Theatre on March 1, 1978, and ran for 243 performances.[20] This version, with a new book by Luther Davis, set the story in Africa, with minimalist settings and an all-Black cast. Plot emphasis was shifted, with increased emphasis given to Lalume (renamed Shaleem-La-Lume), played byEartha Kitt oppositeWilliam Marshall andMelba Moore. Two new songs were written for the production: "Since the Beginning, Women" and "Golden Land, Golden Life."[17]
TheNew York City CenterEncores! series presented a staged concert in February 2006, starringBrian Stokes Mitchell andMarin Mazzie.[1][21] The musical was revived in 2007 by theEnglish National Opera at theLondon Coliseum and starredMichael Ball,Faith Prince andAlfie Boe.[citation needed]
The musical was made into aCinemascopefilm in 1955 byMGM, directed byVincente Minnelli and starringHoward Keel as Hajj,Ann Blyth as Marsinah,Dolores Gray as Lalume, andVic Damone as the Caliph. The quartet "This is My Beloved" was changed to a trio, becauseSebastian Cabot, who played the Wazir, could not sing.
AnArmstrong Circle Theater[22] TV version premiered onABC in 1967 starringBarbara Eden as Lalume,José Ferrer as Hajj,Anna Maria Alberghetti as Marsinah, andGeorge Chakiris as theCaliph.[23][22] The script was edited down to fit the 90-minute broadcast, but it cut few musical numbers.
Columbia Masterworks Records recorded the original Broadway cast in late 1953; the recording was later reissued on CD byMasterworks Broadway Records.
Other recordings of the musical include a 1961 London studio recording byWorld Record Club conducted byKenneth Alwyn with Graham Laver (Hajj),Elizabeth Harwood (Marsinah), Peter Grant (Caliph), Diana Landor (Lalume),Paul Whitsun-Jones (Wazir) andHazel Holt. A 1964 Decca recording was conducted byMantovani withRobert Merrill (Hajj),Adele Leigh (Marsinah),Kenneth McKellar (Caliph),Regina Resnik (Lalume),Ian Wallace (Wazir) andThe Mike Sammes Singers. An abridged 1964 Capitol version was conducted byVan Alexander withGordon MacRae as Hajj and the Caliph,Dorothy Kirsten (Marsinah), Bunny Bishop (Lalume),Johnny Guarnieri, Richard Levitt,Salli Terri and theRoger Wagner Chorale.[citation needed]
A 1989 recording on Jay Records that includes some songs from thefilm version andTimbuktu! as bonus tracks was conducted byJohn Owen Edwards withDonald Maxwell (Hajj),Valerie Masterson (Marsinah),David Rendall (Caliph),Judy Kaye (Lalume),Richard Van Allan (Wazir),Bonaventura Bottone andRosemary Ashe.[24] A 1991 Sony Broadway version with new orchestrations by conductorPaul Gemignani starsSamuel Ramey (Hajj),Ruth Ann Swenson (Marsinah),Jerry Hadley (Caliph),Julia Migenes (Lalume),Dom DeLuise (Wazir) andMandy Patinkin (Marriage arranger).[25]
| Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Tony Award | Best Musical | Won | |
| Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical | Alfred Drake | Won | ||
| Best Conductor and Musical Director | Louis Adrian | Won | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
