Kismet (musical) London's West End and has been given several revivals. A 1955 film version was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The musical was commissioned by Edwin Lester, founder and director of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, who conceived of a musical based on the 1911 play "Kismet" by Edward Knoblock. Lester had previously produced "Song of Norway", with the same composing team, adapting the melodies of Edvard Grieg. For "Kismet", the writers seized upon the melodies of Alexander Borodin, which they felt had a suitable exotic flavor and lush melodies. "Kismet" is set in a fictional Baghdad in the times of "The
Robert Aldridge (composer) Robert Aldridge (composer) Robert Livingstone Aldridge (born 1954 in Richmond, Virginia) is an American composer, professor, and current Professor and former Director of Music at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. He has written over sixty works for orchestra, opera, musical theater, dance, and various chamber ensembles that have been performed in the United States, Europe, and Japan. He is widely known for his opera "Elmer Gantry", based on Sinclair Lewis's 1927 novel of the same name, which was completed in 2007 and won Best Engineered Album (Classical) and Best Contemporary Classical Composition in the 54th