South Pacific, credited to Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza with the original Broadway cast, is the album containing the original studio cast recording of the 1949 musical South Pacific. It was released by Columbia in the same year, on May 9.
The album was released as a set of seven 10-inch 78-rpm phonograph records (cat. no. MM-850). It was also made available on LP (cat. no. ML-4180). According to The Complete Book of 1940s Broadway Musicals, that was the "first Broadway musical issued on the new LP format".
Recording The album was recorded in Columbia's 30th Street Studio on April 18 and 19, 1949.
Reception The album spent a total of 69 weeks at number one on Billboards popular albums chart.
Legacy The album was added to the National Recording Registry as being "culturally or historically significant".
Track listing 12" LP''' (Columbia Masterworks ML 4180)
Charts Chart (1949–1951) Peakposition US Billboard Best-Selling Popular Record AlbumsUS Billboard Best Selling Pop Albums (from July 22, 1950, onwards) 1
Certifications
Notes – In 1950, Billboard'' split its "Best-Selling Popular Record Albums" chart into two: one for 33⅓-rpm albums and one for 45-rpm albums. So that is 69 weeks for the "Best-Selling Popular Record Albums" and "Best Selling Pop Albums – Best Selling 33⅓ R.P.M." charts combined.
References