audible lyrics?

[edyw32]

Posted: 8/17/10 at 9:24am

On a recent trip to New York, I took in quite a few shows.
I have a question/complaint about 2 of them.
Sound design.
In American Idiot, a show I didn't like much at all, I couldn't understand what they were singing about, the lyrics were inaudible, anyone else have a problem with that? Mind you I didn't give a rat's what the stupid cliched characters were singing about.
Next To Normal was I show I was blown away by, but again the same problem with inaudible lyrics at times, didn't seem to matte much, as the performances seemed to carry the show along. Still if the sound design wasn't so off-putting I feel the show would have been so much better, instead of 4.5 outta 5, it would have been 5 outta 5.

[CockeyedOptimist2]

Posted: 8/17/10 at 9:38am

I haven't seen American Idiot, but who did you see in Next to Normal? If I ever had problems understanding there, it was because of the singers not the sound design and I've sat all over that theater. I love Alice, but she can be a little challenging to understand sometimes.

The only place where I've had trouble hearing in a show because of the sound quality/design and not the actors was at this revival of West Side Story. Spent the whole first half of the first act unable to hear anything from Orchestra Center.

[backwoodsbarbie]

Posted: 8/17/10 at 9:44am

A friend of mine had the same experience at Wicked when Nicole Parker & Ali Mauzey were still there. I'm not sure whether that was the sound design or the lack of diction from the singers.

[edyw32]

Posted: 8/17/10 at 9:44am

I saw Alice in N2N, and yes i have to admit, she was the hardest to understand. But strangely, and through her brilliant performance, I understood what she was saying, just not in an audible way.
Don't bother seeing American Idiot, unless you are an idiot, or you like to see John Gallagher Jr overact and over sing

[mike_xtreme91]

Posted: 8/17/10 at 11:49am

I had the same problem at both The Lion King (boring) and Wicked (horrible performance throughout) last April when I went.
To me, it seemed that the problem was the lazy diction from some of the performers.