LEMPICKA to release original Broadway cast recording in June- Page 2

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 6/14/24 at 8:19am

This score is so bizarre, but damn “The Most Beautiful Bracelet” is hot.

Updated On: 6/14/24 at 08:19 AM

[bwayobsessed]

Posted: 6/14/24 at 9:21am

In the show isn’t there an opening chunk to Our Time with Eden and Andrew that the album doesn’t have?

[60'splayoff]

Posted: 6/14/24 at 10:17am

Miserent said: "They really took Eden’s vocal from the 2022 recording of Woman Is and put it over a new orchestration…"

I had the same thought, but there are definitely differences. Could be a mix.

[OhHiii]

Posted: 6/14/24 at 10:37am

60'splayoff said: "Miserent said: "They really took Eden’s vocal from the 2022 recording of Woman Is and put it over a new orchestration…"

I had the same thought, but there are definitely differences. Could be a mix."
 

They were recording right around the time Eden was out for that extended stretch and it’s very clear there wasn’t additional $$ for additional sessions. I’ll happily listen to this as my experience hearing it live was…touch and go. 

[GiveMeEntr’acte]

Posted: 6/14/24 at 11:23am

It sounds like it’s trying to be Greatest Showman or Hamilton.

I know this show has its fans but the score is generic current pop musical theatre to me. 

Underwhelmed.

[Miserent]

Posted: 6/14/24 at 11:38am

60'splayoff said: "Miserent said: "They really took Eden’s vocal from the 2022 recording of Woman Is and put it over a new orchestration…"

I had the same thought, but there are definitely differences. Could be a mix."

 

It’s odd because certain phrases/words are different.  When she sings “Every minute designed”, that is a new recording, and you can really hear the strain in her voice before it goes back to unstrained 2022 vocals.  The final “your heartbeat” also sounds new and solid, but other than that, its a copy/paste vocal.  Otherwise, I’m enjoying the recording.  A very weird and somewhat erratic score, but the performers sell the hell out of it.

 

[OhHiii]

Posted: 6/14/24 at 12:50pm

Now that you point it out you’re so right. There are distinct jumps to different vocal quality on Woman Is. And on the harder parts of the song that she didn’t nail in the way it sounds on the 2022 version. Weird. 

In all honesty, there are some really high highs in this score. But the lows are very low. It just makes me sad for a squandered opportunity. There could have been something great here which I felt after seeing Williamstown. I think the biggest thing is they wanted to be too cool and the material got muddled by the execution. 

[binau]

Posted: 6/14/24 at 1:29pm

Omg, when I heard "Woman Is" I was like WHAT??? This sounds SO close to the original recording. Maybe they did indeed splice the notes she couldn't reach - I'm going to listen more carefully. It is true that Eden was really struggling with some of the high notes in that song on Broadway (I don't blame her, it's one of the most difficult new scores for women we've seen in a very, very long time). I'm not sure if Eden is her best in this recording I must admit, but I might be so used to listening to a bootleg of her understudy who has a very full voice that I'm not used to it. 

I don't find the score to be weird or erratic at all - I think it's a genuinely new sound, this kind of dystopic electro pop mixed with occasional moments of beauty (ok maybe that is why it feels erratic if it doesn't all feel the same haha). 

In particular, this set of songs I consider brilliant and would consider it certainly worthy of a Tony nomination or even a win. I am talking especially musically not necessarily lyrically. My suggestion is give these songs a few goes and see if it starts to click. If it doesn't fine but it really is like a whole new world of sound for me, like a new almost iconic sound that I am really surprised the show did so poorly and I think it could work with a different creative team.

"Overture"
"Unseen" 
"Don't Bet Your Heart"*
"I Will Paint Her"
"Plan and Design"
"Perfection"
"The Most Beautiful Bracelet"* (*And Amber Imam's performance easily feels like what a Tony Award for best supporting actress feels like)
"Woman Is" 
"Speed" 
"In the Blasted California Sun"
"Finale"

I think one of the biggest differences with this score is that I genuinely FEEL things, the way we'd used to actually FEEL something when we'd hear a Sondheim score for the first time (or perhaps after the first time as people will often say hehe, or a new Kander and Ebb score, or the occasional modern excellence (e.g. Tom Kitt's next to normal). The problem is over the last 20 years so many pop scores can feel so generic or samesey. I really don't think Lempicka is like this - it's very different. 

I'm happy at least today people seem to have found how to find a little bit of a melody through derivates of Tom Kitt and Pasek/Paul even if not groundbreaking though. One of my LEAST favourite eras (and I think it might have been Jordan who first mentioned this here and it's so true) is around the years 2002-2007 approx. where for some reason the trend was all this off-broadway pop scores that were so unmemorable, boring and unmelodic. It was like they were trying to be a pop Jason Robert Brown-Sondheim but they just couldn't find much of value. I don't want to name any because It will just annoy people. I think we're better at pop scores now than back then, but it's very rare to come across something new. 

Updated On: 6/14/24 at 01:29 PM

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 6/14/24 at 3:55pm

Did a full listen through of the album, and the score definitely retains some of the "epic-ness" that I felt in the theater.  I think it was mostly the music that propelled the show forward and kept me engaged, and it was only afterwards that I realized how many flaws the show had in how it told the story.

The beginning especially feels like it has a different sound than a lot of modern musical theater and it really feels thrilling.  I think maybe in a way the staging didn't live up to the scale of the music, as listening to the music now does also make me want to go back, whereas when I think about the visual components of the show, they don't feel nearly as interesting.

I do think as a whole the store can feel eclectic, but it all coalesces into something really interesting (except Wake Up, which is beautifully sung but at that point of the album I couldn't care less about Lempicki).  There are some moments though when it feels like Eden is just screaming for the sake of screaming, when she really doesn't need to be--it still makes the score interesting to listen to but I wonder if pulling back in some of those moments could've helped her more in the long run.

I'll look forward to seeing if this show pops up again in the future (hopefully with revisions), but either way I'd love to just see a large-scale concert of these songs (like in a stadium or somewhere they'd go full out with lights/effects like lasers etc).

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 6/14/24 at 6:37pm

So many cast album releases today!

I’ve been tracking Lempicka’s development for many, many years, and wow – this music soars and shines even more on recording than it did inside the Longacre. It might not sound this spectacular ever again.

Between this and Witness Uganda, Matt Gould really has given me great hope for the future of original, melodic pop-rock Broadway scores. His love of compound meter is especially palpable throughout this passion project. 

My only qualms with the album are that “Don’t Bet Your Heart” sounds too overproduced (sounded MUCH better live), and of course, the aforementioned 2022 vocals with the new orchestrations on “Woman Is.” 

Tamara de Lempicka is in Eden’s blood by now, and I once again felt her passion, love, and pain through sixty years of her tumultuous life. Amber Iman delivers on one of my favorite musical theatre bridges of the decade in “Stay” and caps it off with a brilliant opt-up near the end. Well-earned Tony nods for both, although I think the fantastic George Abud should have garnered one too. 

Perhaps someone will discover this album many years down the line, just like with Tamara’s work itself getting a second wind, and the show will be noticed a bit more. 

We do not control the world…

[steven22]

Posted: 6/15/24 at 4:02pm

I’ve now listened to the  cast recording in full a number of times. I really regret not seeing this live more than once. It’s certainly not perfect, but gosh is it beautiful. 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 6/15/24 at 6:13pm

I’m pretty sure no audio exists, but I would love to hear Cynthia Erivo’s Tamara from the show’s 2017 reading — alongside Steven Pasquale as Tadeusz!

Updated On: 6/15/24 at 06:13 PM

[steven22]

Posted: 6/15/24 at 7:17pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "I’m pretty sure no audio exists, but I would love to hear Cynthia Erivo’s Tamara from the show’s 2017 reading — alongside Steven Pasquale as Tadeusz!"

What about with Carmen Cusack as Raphaela? 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 6/15/24 at 7:59pm

steven22 said: "EDSOSLO858 said: "I’m pretty sure no audio exists, but I would love to hear Cynthia Erivo’s Tamara from the show’s 2017 reading — alongside Steven Pasquale as Tadeusz!"

What about with Carmen Cusack as Raphaela?"

YES - forgot about her!

[binau]

Posted: 6/16/24 at 5:03pm

Does anyone think if Lempicka was a hit Eden would be the front runner for the tony award tonight? (Assuming her voice held out, which to be honest she did say in an interview after the show closed she was found it difficulty and she wanted to drop down to 7 shows soon, and then maybe even 6 after the Tony’s). 
 

This year, it doesn’t look like there is a clear favourite. Well has anyone heard Eden singing these songs????

 

Updated On: 6/16/24 at 05:03 PM

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 6/16/24 at 5:07pm

I loved the show live, and I'm loving the cast album. Probably one of my favorite cast albums from this season.

[tiburon19]

Posted: 6/16/24 at 6:48pm

this show needs to be studied for how divisive everything about it is, including this score.

It unfortunately doesn’t work at all for me. It seems the mood board was top 40, Greatest Showman, and Les Mis, and the result is messy as expected.

[steven22]

Posted: 6/16/24 at 6:57pm

bwayphreak234 said: "I loved the show live, and I'm loving the cast album. Probably one of my favorite cast albums from this season."

I honestly can’t choose a favorite. Between Lempicka, Suffs, Water for Elephants, the Outsiders, and Day of Wine and Roses, I just can’t pick a favorite. All of them are just fantastic.