Another Time, Another Place: Stage Door Expands Broadway's "Kwamina" For 2-CD Deluxe Edition

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On January 31, Stage Door Records will revisit a short-lived yet ambitious 1961 Broadway musical from the co-writer of Damn Yankees and The Pajama Game. For his first musical since the baseball-centric Damn Yankees, composer-lyricist Richard Adler (working solo following the 1955 death of his partner Jerry Ross) turned his attention to a very different subject. Kwamina (which translates to "born on Sunday") recounted the (fictional) life story of Peter Kwamina Mwalla, the son of a West African tribal chief who returns to his home country after attending medical school in London, bringing with him modern methods which don't sit well with his traditional village. He's met with opposition by the village's white female doctor, but (in formulaic style) romance blossoms before the evening's end and they eventually work together to teach the tribe's young members. Stage Door will reissue the original cast recording as an expanded 2-CD entry in its Deluxe Edition Broadway Cast Recording series.

Kwamina was inspired by a conversation Adler had with then-United Nations ambassador Adlai Stevenson about African nationalism. The songwriter invited Robert Alan Aurthur (a playwright and television author who was once married to The Golden Girls' Beatrice Arthur, who adapted his surname as her own) to write the book. Tony Richardson was originally slated to direct but was replaced by Robert Lewis, while the esteemed Agnes de Mille was tapped for choreography. The entire cost of the musical was paid for by South African industrialist John S. Schlesinger.

Terry Carter played Kwamina, while Adler's then-wife Sally Ann Howes (My Fair Lady, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) took the role of Dr. Eve Jordan. Brock Peters and future Benson star Robert Guillaume also appeared in the musical which opened on Broadway at the now-demolished 54th Street Theatre on October 23, 1961. Kwamina was bold in many ways; the cast featured just two Caucasian performers, and recounted a romance between a black man and a white woman in an era where audiences were unfortunately much less accepting. (Later the same season, Richard Rodgers' No Strings would more successfully present a romantic relationship between a white man and a black woman.)

Kwamina closed on November 18 after just 32 performances, having received mixed-to-negative reviews from the New York critics. (They reserved their appreciation mainly for de Mille's work and the physical production.) Despite the show's lack of success, Capitol Records made good on its promise to record Adler's stirring, Tony-nominated score - and did so the day after its closing. Adler had incorporated strains of African music into his compositions which were strikingly orchestrated by Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal (West Side Story). Kwamina has only been released on CD once before, in 1993 on EMI's Broadway Angel imprint.

This 2-CD presentation, made possible as a result of current U.K. public domain laws, has the stereo Original Broadway Cast Recording accompanied by three alternate takes from the album sessions and a special bonus recording of "Another Time, Another Place" by original star Sally Ann Howes, recorded in July 1962 for the public information broadcast Stars For Defense. The second disc is dedicated to cover recordings from Kwamina including a new-to-CD studio cast recording, a jazz LP of the score by the Billy Taylor Orchestra originally issued on Mercury Records, and pop covers by such artists as Robert Goulet, Jerry Vale, Al Martino, The Kingston Trio, Joanie Sommers, and Gordon MacRae. George Dansker has written new liner notes for this release.

Look for the Deluxe Edition of Kwamina from Stage Door Records on January 31 at the links below!

Kwamina: Original Broadway Cast Recording - Deluxe Edition (Stage Door Records STAGE 9069, 2020) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1

ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST RECORDING (Stereo) (Capitol SW 1645, 1961)

THE COCOA BEAN SONG - Company
WELCOME HOME - Company
THE SUN IS BEGINNING TO CROW - Company
DID YOU HEAR THAT? - Sally Ann Howes, Terry Carter
YOU'RE AS ENGLISH AS - Sally Ann Howes
SEVEN SHEEP, FOUR RED SHIRTS, AND A BOTTLE OF GIN - Company
NOTHING MORE TO LOOK FORWARD TO - Robert Guillaume, Ethel Ayler
WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME? - Sally Ann Howes
SOMETHING BIG - Company
ORDINARY PEOPLE - Sally Ann Howes, Terry Carter
A MAN CAN HAVE NO CHOICE - Brock Peters
WHAT HAPPENED TO ME TONIGHT? - Sally Ann Howes
ONE WIFE - Lillian Hayman, Rosalie Maxwell, Issa Arnal, Victoria Harrison, Lee Hooper
ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER PLACE - Sally Ann Howes