The Grand Imperial Cirque de Paris is coming back to town!  Stage Door Records has announced the latest in its series of Deluxe Edition cast recordings with a 2-CD expanded edition of the original 1961 Broadway Cast Recording of Michael Stewart and Bob Merrill's Carnival!  due on May 27.  The David Merrick production opened at Broadway's Imperial Theatre in April 1961, playing for 719 performances including a transfer to the Winter Garden.

Carnival! was based on the 1953 MGM film Lili which starred Leslie Caron as the title character who strikes up an unlikely relationship with tormented puppeteer Paul (Mel Ferrer).  Though the film picked up an Academy Award for Bronislaw Kaper's score and yielded Kaper and Helen Deutsch's popular song "Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo," Bob Merrill (Take Me Along, New Girl in Town) was enlisted to pen an all-original score for the musical.  Michael Stewart (Bye Bye Birdie) adapted Deutsch's screenplay - itself based on Paul Gallico's short story The Man Who Hated People) - for the stage.

Innovatively directed and choreographed by Birdie's Gower Champion, Carnival! was well-received from its first performances in Washington, DC through its subsequent Broadway opening.  Filling Caron's shoes as Lili was Italian-born screen star Anna Maria Alberghetti in her Broadway debut, while Jerry Orbach also made his first Broadway appearance as Paul.  The illustrious cast was rounded out with Henry Lascoe as carnival ringmaster B.F. Schlegel, the incomparable Kaye Ballard as The Incomparable Rosalie, James Mitchell as Marco the Magnificent, and Pierre Olaf as Jacquot...not to mention Tom Tichenor's adorable puppets.

The original production received seven Tony Award nominations, winning for Best Actress in a Musical (Alberghetti, tied with No Strings' Diahann Carroll) and Will Steven Armstrong's scenic design.  The original cast album on MGM Records reached the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200, introducing listeners everywhere to Merrill's delightful score including the lilting "Love Makes the World Go 'Round," intense "Her Face," and impassioned "She's My Love."  The score inspired numerous period covers, many of which feature on Stage Door's expanded edition.

The musical archaeologists at Stage Door have added choice renditions of Merrill's tunes from such diverse artists as Joni (James) and her husband Tony (Acquaviva), Mel Tormé, Pat Boone, and The Everly Brothers as well as two complete studio recordings.  Composer-bandleader Cyril Ornadel's recording was issued on MGM as a complement to the label's cast recording and The Paul Smith Ensemble's Carnival in Percussion arrived on sister label Verve.  (Electric organist Smith's album features "Magic, Magic," a duet between Rosalie and Marco that wasn't included on the original cast album.)  Stage Door has even appended one track from German-born American zither player Ruth Welcome's full-length Carnival! LP, recorded with notable arranger Klaus (or Claus) Ogerman.  Another rare treat is Anna Maria Alberghetti's live "Love Makes the World Go 'Round" from a Stars for Defense radio broadcast.

All three albums on Stage Door's set are presented in stereo and are made available via current U.K. public domain laws.  The Broadway album saw its first expanded edition in 1989 on the Polydor label; the Ornadel and Smith albums are happily making their CD debuts.  The package also features a new essay by historian George Dansker.  Though Carnival! hasn't yet seen a Broadway revival - coming closest with a 1968 New York Civic Light Opera production and a 2002 revival at City Center's Encores! starring Anne Hathaway and featuring puppets from Jim Henson's Creature Shop - its score remains rightfully beloved.  The original 1963 London production also yielded a cast recording issued on CD in 2011 via Kritzerland.  A long-rumored film version never materialized, but the show has also enjoyed successful national tours and regional revivals.

Stage Door's deluxe reissue, due on May 27, is sure to further burnish the legacy of Carnival!  Pre-orders placed directly through the label typically arrive early, and even ahead of street date.  You'll find links to order below!

Carnival! Original Broadway Cast Recording: Deluxe Edition (Stage Door 9093, 2022) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Stage Door Records)

CD 1:

Carnival! The Original Broadway Cast Recording (MGM LP SE 3946OC, 1961) (Stereo)

1. Opening / Direct from Vienna - Kaye Ballard, Henry Lascoe, Carnival People
2. Mira (Can You Imagine That?) - Anna Maria Alberghetti
3. The Sword, The Rose and The Cape - James Mitchell
4. A Very Nice Man - Anna Maria Alberghetti
5. I've Got to Find a Reason - Jerry Orbach
6. Yes, My Heart - Anna Maria Alberghetti
7. Humming - Kaye Ballard, Henry Lascoe
8. Theme from Carnival! (Love Makes the World Go 'Round) - Anna Maria Alberghetti
9. Grand Imperial Cirque De Paris - Pierre Olaf, Carnival People
10. Her Face - Jerry Orbach
11. Yum, Ticky, Ticky, Tum, Tum - Anna Maria Alberghetti, Puppets
12. The Rich - Anna Maria Alberghetti, Puppets
13. Beautiful Candy - Anna Maria Alberghetti, Puppets
14. Everybody Likes You - Jerry Orbach
15. I Hate Him / Her Face (Reprise) - Anna Maria Alberghetti, Jerry Orbach
16. It Was Always You - Kaye Ballard, James Mitchell
17. It Was Always You (Reprise) - Kaye Ballard
18. She's My Love - Jerry Orbach
19. Theme from Carnival! - Orchestra, Puppets

Bonus Tracks

20. Love Makes the World Go 'Round ('Stars for Defense' Version) - Anna Maria Alberghetti
21. Love Makes the World Go 'Round - The Everly Brothers (from Instant Party, Warner Bros. LP WS 1430, 1962)
22. She's My Love - Allen Case (Gothic single GOX 002, 1961)
23. Her Face - Mel Tormé (Verve single V-10232, 1963)
24. Can You Imagine That? (Mira) - Joni and Tony (MGM single K 12990, 1961)
25. Love Makes the World Go 'Round - Joni and Tony (MGM single K 12990, 1961)
26. Love Makes the World Go 'Round - Pat Boone (from Moody River, Dot LP 3384, 1961)

CD 2:

Carnival - Cyril Ornadel and The Starlight Symphony Orchestra (MGM LP SE 3945, 1961) (Stereo)

1. Opening / Direct from Vienna
2. A Very Nice Man
3. I've Got to Find a Reason
4. Mira (Can You Imagine That?)
5. The Sword, The Rose and The Cape
6. Yes, My Heart
7. Golden Delicious, Fish / Theme from Carnival
8. Yum, Ticky, Ticky, Tum, Tum / The Rich / Beautiful Candy
9. Her Face
10. It Was Always You
11. She's My Love / Finale

Carnival in Percussion - The Paul Smith Ensemble (Verve LP V-4051, 1961) (Stereo)

12. Theme from Carnival (Love Makes the World Go 'Round)
13. Magic, Magic
14. She's My Love
15. Yes, My Heart
16. Her Face
17. It Was Always You
18. The Sword, The Rose and The Cape
19. Direct from Vienna
20. Mira (Can You Imagine That?)
21. A Very Nice Man
22. Yum, Ticky, Ticky, Tum, Tum
23. Beautiful Candy

Bonus Tracks

24. Mira (Can You Imagine That?) - Russell Faith Orchestra (Chancellor single C 1083, 1961)
25. Tanz Mit Mir - Ruth Welcome's Zither with Klaus Ogerman's Orchestra (from Carnival, Capitol ST 1551, 1961)