1949 Original Broadway Production

The original Broadway cast of South Pacific gathered in Columbia Record’s famous 30th Street Studio to record the original cast album on April 18 and 19, 1949. With orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett, the recording was conducted by Salvatore Dell’Isola and produced by Goddard Lieberson. Introducing such classics as “Some Enchanted Evening,” “Younger Than Springtime” and “Bali Ha’i” to the American public for the first time, this original cast album spent 69 weeks at number one on the popular albums chart. In over 70 years, no other cast album has broken such a record. It would remain on the chart until 1953 and make its return in 1957 upon the film’s release, where it would stay until 1959.