Babes in Toyland (operetta) - Recordings

Recordings

Decca Records recorded ten selections (on five 10-inch 78-RPM records) in 1944. The recording featured Kenny Baker and Karen Kemple with a chorus and orchestra conducted by Alexander Smallens. This album was reissued on a 10-inch LP in 1949, and by reducing the selections from ten to six, Decca re-released it on one side of a 12-inch LP (The Red Mill was on the reverse) in 1957. This edition stayed in print until 1969. After a long absence from the catalogue, Decca Broadway reissued the complete album on CD (again paired with The Red Mill) in 2002.

The Walt Disney film version, released in 1961, was given two recordings released in the same year. The first was a cover version featuring only Ed Wynn and Ann Jillian from the film, supported by a cast of singers unidentified on the album. This version was released by Disneyland Records. The second used the original vocal tracks from the soundtrack of the film; however, the musical accompaniments were not those heard in the film, but those heard on the cover version. The choral arrangements were, likewise, those heard on the cover version, not those heard in the actual film. This album was released on Buena Vista Records and features Jillian, Wynn, Ray Bolger, Henry Calvin, Kevin Corcoran, Annette Funicello and Tommy Sands. Neither one of these albums has been issued on CD.

A stereo recording was made by Reader's Digest for their 1962 album Treasury of Great Operettas. Each of the 24 operettas in the set is condensed to fill one LP side. The recording was conducted by Lehman Engel and featured Sara Endich, Patricia Kelly, Peter Palmer, Mary Ellen Pracht, Jeanette Scovotti, and Mallory Walker. A 1963 recording of several of the songs was released together with numbers from The Wizard of Oz (1963 MGM Studio Cast). A compilation album was released on CD in 1997. A recording of highlights from Babes in Toyland was released on CD in 2012. A recording of the complete score, with the original orchestrations restored and conducted by John McGlinn with the London Sinfonietta, was reportedly made in 2001, but it has never been released.

A cast recording of the 2003 production of "Toyland!" was released in 2007, featuring the voice of Mickey Rooney as the Master Toymaker. His wife, Jan Rooney plays Mother Goose.