The CD Was Better

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/10/03 at 6:10pm

On a similar note as the CDs you don't like:

What CDs did you enjoy, but didn't like the show upon viewing?

For me:

Ragtime
Jekyll and Hyde (Broadway)
Witches of Eastwick
Footloose

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/10/03 at 6:25pm

Oklahoma (recent PBS airing of London production)
Jekyll and Hyde

[Auggie27]

Posted: 12/10/03 at 6:38pm

RAGS by Strouse and Schwartz.

One of the most moving, stirring scores in the past 30 years. Yet moment-to-moment, the show is dreary, plodding. Falling in love with it again on CD, I saw a decent production at the Papermill Playhouse. The book scenes just laid there, keeping the numbers at arms length. Even the triangle fire tragedy is muted, offstage. Curious if anyone else feels this way about RAGS (Musicman, we've debated this I know...).

[BroadwayGal]

Posted: 12/10/03 at 6:53pm

I'm probably weird for saying this but The Sound of Music. I saw the tour recently and didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I love the music just on its own though.

[Albin]

Posted: 12/10/03 at 7:13pm

Titanic
Les Mis
Miss Saigon

[Deena Jones2]

Posted: 12/10/03 at 7:44pm

Chess- concept album

Jekyll & Hyde- concept album and recording with Anthony Warlow

Scarlet Pimplehole- I mean Skanky Pampersmell - I mean Scarlet Pimpernel!!!

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 12/10/03 at 8:53pm

Jekyll and Hyde
Jesus Christ Superstar
Aida

[Kitzarina]

Posted: 12/10/03 at 9:25pm

I agree with you Auggie. Rags has a fantastic score, but the two times I've seen it have been bland and forgetable. I'd also like to second Footloose--I love the CD, but the book is dreadful.

[LiTtLeDaNcEr729]

Posted: 12/10/03 at 9:29pm

Jekyll and Hyde


Thats the only one that really comes to mind right now...I love the music, but hated the show. Of course, I saw it when I was around 10 years old, so maybe my opinion will have changed by now, but I highly doubt it.

[QueenS]

Posted: 12/11/03 at 11:25am

A slightly different take are the shows that I didn't like as much when I saw them, but loved the CD when it came out:

Rent
Tick, Tick, Boom
Smokey Joe's
Aspects of Love

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/11/03 at 12:22pm

Actually, the Jekyll and Hyde production the accompanied the 2-CD concept recording (which also starred Bob Cuccioli and Linda Eder) was far superior to the Broadway production. The staging, costumes and choreography were great. The show only needed a couple of minor changes and it would have rivaled Phantom of the Opera as one of Broadway's top shows.

Also agree with Rags - love the CD, but the show iteself drags. It's too bad. Could've been a great comeback for Strouse. The poor man has had one of the most bizarre careers in Broadway history.

[DoubleDown11]

Posted: 12/11/03 at 12:42pm

Aida...I like Elton John music therefore I enjoyed the CD. The story and book of Aida, though, was horrid!!!

Posted: 12/11/03 at 2:00pm

Phantom of the Opera.

I loved the show, but for some reason I liked listening to the cd better, so i could visualize what I thought waht was going on.

[Musetta1957]

Posted: 12/11/03 at 2:16pm

RAGTIME.

I had to see it live to realize it was a bunch of showy audition songs strung together.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 12/11/03 at 4:03pm

They're Playing Our Song;

A gleeful collection of songs with terrific orchestrations nicely performed by two attractive stars;

And the script, with a running time of close to three hours, is about a desperate and unfunny pair of forced neurotics who have less fascination than a herd of water buffalo.

My own life holds more interest.

[PB ENT.]

Posted: 12/11/03 at 4:16pm

Mr. Matt~ the double concept CD features Anthony Warlow, Carolee Carmello and Linda Eder. The Bd'w (OBC) features Cucciolo, Eder, Noll.
I'm not all that smart, just an old "jekkie" who LOVED the orignal music and wished they had put something to support that great music onstage, instead of what was presnted. I did however think the original casting was great( Cooch, Noll, Eder, Evan,McLeod, Spencer etc. etc). Rival POTO?...now that's a stretch, even for a jekkie. LOL!

Updated On: 12/11/03 at 04:16 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/11/03 at 4:58pm

PB ENT.1 - When the double concept CD of J&H with Warlow was released, it was being premiered in its first proscenium staging in Houston and Seattle years before it went to Broadway. There were 3 pre-Broadway productions in Houston before the show finally went to NY. The first production at the Alley Theatre (which also premiered Wildhorn's Svengali and Civil War) is considered by most who saw it as the favorite. It included Good and Evil as a song for the owner of the bar where Lucy performed. The Alley is mostly a thrust stage, so the show was remounted for a large proscenium to generate interest in a Broadway production. The first proscenium production was my favorite and closely resembled the double CD recording with the exception of The World Has Gone Insane (which was cut). Only a few minor changes were necessary to tighten the show, but they couldn't stop. The third production was like a cut-and-paste version of the second with a patchwork of inserted and deleted material and did not flow well at all. Bring on the Men started as an all-female cabaret act and was restaged to resemble more like something on a New Orleans Mardis Gras float. Finally the show was almost entirely rewritten and restaged for Broadway and remains one of the worst Broadway musicals I have seen. The original sets and lighting were far superior including a huge lab that bubbled, sparked, and fizzed. There was an enormous mirror behind the lab. A recording of Cuccioli as Hyde was projected onto the mirror for The Confrontation and the music was meticulously timed so the actor performed a duet with himself ending with the dramatic destruction of the lab. A series of lights were embedded into the stage floor that lit only the actors faces at the end of a beautiful choreographed "Facade". There were no costumes that resembled Les Mis or vacation slide-show projections of London to remind the audience of the setting. I only wish fans of the show could have seen the amazing second pre-Broadway production. If it had gone to Broadway, the show would have been HUGE.

[PB ENT.]

Posted: 12/11/03 at 5:33pm

Matt~ thanks for the great background of the pre-Bd'w show. Many people have no idea how far this baby wandered from the original concept. Fortunately I am not one of them. I almost croaked when I heard they were taking out songs (TWHGI, the Girls of the Night and inserting Good and Evil and that cheezy Mary Poppins " Facade"). The Bd'w "Confrontation" is laughable. The Mirror was very cool and effective. It WAS something much different and better than what was on Bd'w. I've seen a handful of regional shows that tried despretely to salvage some scenes. (A production in Long Island with Brad Little) was directed a bit better than Bd'w, but alas, under strict rights scrutiny. Brad & I had a field day disceting what "we" would have done! LOL!

I aggree with you that it COULD have been a much better given what they had to work with. Even the Bd'w cast admitted that. PM me , sometime to discuss further.

Updated On: 12/11/03 at 05:33 PM

[IssaMe]

Posted: 12/12/03 at 11:16am

The Grass Harp is one of the most brilliant cast albums ever made but it just didn't work quite as well on stage.

As much as I loved Titanic on stage - the CD worked even better since it seemed to come off as a concept album (likewise "Candide" - the original album was never surpassed on stage).

J&H's Broadway cast album (not the pre-Broadway concept albums) had full orchestrations, whereas the stage show at the Plymouth seemed not only squeezed onto a stage far too small for the scope of the production but also had too sparse instrumentation in comparison.


The classic cast albums of the 50s and 60s are much better than the shows were on stage - i.e. Christine, Goldilocks, First Impressions, Oh! Captain, Saratoga (blame muddled or just plain bad books). Even Whoop-up and Donnybrook which are fun on disc thanks to Susan Johnson but didn't quite make it so effectively on stage.