Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
#1Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 8:08am
The recent thread on WOMEN ON THE VERGE and MB's comment that "Lots of shows work better on disc" has made me wonder...
I guess CHESS and ANYONE CAN WHISTLE might be frequently cited examples, with the books preventing the shows from 'working' live. But is this the only reason some shows work better on CD than live? (purging of the dialogue), or are there other reasons?
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
Updated On: 8/24/11 at 08:08 AM
#2Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 8:45amMerrily We Roll Along?
Wilmingtom
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/11
Nettik
Featured Actor Joined: 6/4/10
#3Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 11:15amI think Aida works better on CD because the book scenes are very hit or miss.
#4Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 11:17amCatch Me If You Can is the most recent example of this.
"Broadway...I'll lick you yet!"
eatlasagna
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#5Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 11:26amI would have to see the show again with a better cast... but I would have to say Young Frankenstein... i actually love listening to the cast recording.. but when I saw the national tour I was REALLY bored...
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#6Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 11:52am
Actually, I can think of a great many musicals that work better, in some cases far better, in recording than on stage. The argument could even be made that this is true of most musicals, the true masterpieces being the primary exceptions because they are equally pleasurable as recordings or fully staged. There are many great scores that are not matched by great books.
What would be more interesting would be to think of those - much rarer - shows that are better in performance, for whatever reason, than in recording.
hyperbole_and_a_half
Leading Actor Joined: 3/21/11
#7Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 11:55am
Merrily We Roll Along. The CDs (particularly the off-Broadway and London casts) are vibrant, pulsating, evocative. Even the reverse chronology makes perfect, tragic sense on CD. But the book...! It's hard enough to follow Frank, Charley and Mary backwards, let alone Beth, Gussie and Joe. And every single minor character has a name! It would be one confusing show even without the reverse chronology, because there is just too much going on. Then there's the weird disconnect between score and book: the book wants to tell the story of Franklin Shepard, while the score finds its thrust with Mary, Charley and Beth.
The net effect is a disjointed narrative about a composer who doesn't (can't? won't?) sing, who is only on stage to set up situations where secondary characters sing some of the best music Sondheim has ever written. I'd love to see a total overhaul of the show, throwing out the entire script and the Lapine revisions, but keeping the music and plotting, and let Sondheim himself fill in the gaps, either with new music or simplified book scenes. I think he could handle it.
philly03
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/07
#8Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 12:00pmThe Civil War for sure, which will save you from the usually boring staging.
#9Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 12:10pm
Based on the original productions I saw:
Aida
Kiss of the Spider Woman
The Witches of Eastwick
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Closer to Heaven
Ragtime
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
bobbybaby85
Featured Actor Joined: 8/3/11
#10Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 12:25pm
The Witches of Eastwick...
Listening to the CD, it should have done what The Producers and Hairspray had done before they did it, and with better music. (Solidifying that Broadway was ready to enjoy musical comedies again after years of depressing pop opera). But it just doesn't "mesh" completely on stage. And the authors keep tinkering with it... IMO, throwing away good stuff trying to fix it.
#11Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 12:32pm
Apparently House of Flowers and Greenwillow fit this category.
I think instances where the live theater production is far superior to the cast recording is when the score is so enmeshed in the dialogue and stage action like Grand Hotel and Into the Woods.
With Irma you gotta do something!
#12Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 1:03pm
The Witches of Eastwick wasn't bad and I love most of the original score, but when I saw it, it had already been moved and downsized and the songs they replaced weren't the ones that needed replacing. I saw a lot of potential for a real blockbuster, but I felt like I was watching a tour. Plus, the rigging for the flying sequence at the end of the first act didn't work and it appeared that nothing had been rehearsed for such an incident. The result was bizarre. The act ended to utter silence from a completely bewildered audience and you could hear the actors walking off stage.
Closer to Heaven sounds fun and exciting on CD, but it was a tacky cheap mess on stage. The best thing about the show was chatting with Sandra Bernhard and her girlfriend in the lobby. The finale of Positive Role Model pretty much summed it up. The characters demanded a positive role model because there was neither one in the story, nor did anyone appear to want to step up to the task. Frances Barber as Billie Trix was the only interesting thing going on in the show. Fans of the Pet Shop Boys will love the CD and probably long to see a production, but it was the worst musical I ever saw in the West End.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#13Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 1:19pm
I agree with the person who said Ragtime.
I also LOVE the Light in the Piazza score and recording, but I'm in no rush to see the show again.
There's also the opposite...shows you enjoyed in the theatre but don't love the CD. I enjoyed the 2006 revival of Company, but can't help but cringe at some parts of the recording.
metropolis10111
Broadway Star Joined: 7/28/06
#14Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 4:19pmFoe me Les Miz always played better as an album then a show. I tend to think the opposite of Miss Saigon, maybe because that piece was more theatrical then Les Miz. I think LM is a much better score then show
Gaveston2
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/11
#15Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 4:40pm
I agree about Les Miz. I love the CD, but found the actual show cold and not at all engaging at the Schubert in L.A. The show is so mechanized it feels like a visit to a factory to me (and not in a cool, pseudo-Brechtian way like the original Sweeney Todd).
On a different note, I don't think the book to Passion is bad, but I don't think it tells us much we don't learn from the score. Somebody could stage the CD as a one act opera and I'd be content.
AwesomeDanny
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/30/09
#16Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 7:25pmI have to disagree about Merrily--I think the revised book is really good. I also thinks it makes sense that Frank doesn't sing all that many songs because I see the show as him examining what went wrong from his perspective, for the most part, so we see how he sees things--I don't think that Charlie's breakdown on TV would have been quite as crazy as it was, but Frank saw it as ultimate humiliation, so we see Charlie going crazy. The fact that the minor characters have names doesn't mean you have to know them, but I like it because one of the hardest parts about being in the ensemble is not really having much to base your "character" on, but this show provides a little something for everybody. That usually makes the actors more comfortable, and the fact that everybody has a character can make scenes involving the ensemble feel more authentic. I love both the album and the show.
Gaveston2
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/11
#17Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 7:44pm
I agree that the revised Merrily fixed everything about the show that could be fixed (short of a complete rewrite, as suggested above).
But nothing changes the fact that a plot that goes backwards is by definition ironic rather than dramatic. Two-plus hours is a lot of irony, no matter how beautiful the score.
#18Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 7:47pmCatch Me If You Can.
#19Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 7:54pm
WOMEN ON THE VERGE is the only one I can think of off the top of my head...
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#20Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 7:55pm
I don't know if I'd agree with Catch Me If You Can, I didn't/don't find some of the songs very interesting on the CD (e.g. Butter Outta Cream) but at least on the stage it seems interesting if only to forward the story. And the song I love most on the CD (Goodbye) works even better on the stage in the context of the story and with the dialogue etc.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
Updated On: 8/24/11 at 07:55 PM
#21Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/24/11 at 8:02pm
Off the top of my head, a few classic scores with troublesome books:
LADY IN THE DARK
ON THE TOWN
ST LOUIS WOMAN
FINIAN'S RAINBOW
CANDIDE
and a few recent shows with great scores BUT...
TITANIC
WILD PARTY (Broadway)
ASSASINS
How I'd love to see a production of ANY of the above shows to prove me wrong.
#22Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/25/11 at 12:56am
I think THE LAST 5 YEARS is beautiful on disc. It is a painfully slow show to watch, one I so desperately wish had lived up to my hopes for it. It is a novel concept, but one that just doesn't work in person. It was like eavesdropping on a horrible couple at the next table in a restaurant.
But a beautiful score that works despite its staging.
#23Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/25/11 at 1:24am
There are quite a few. I agree about Finian's Rainbow. I always enjoyed the music from Stop the World I Want to Get Off far more than the show. Same with Flower Drum Song in which I only saw the movie version.
Then there is Wicked which I much prefer just hearing.
#24Which shows work better on CD than in the theatre?
Posted: 8/25/11 at 5:57am
I'll put my hat in for Merrily but I'll have to be the dissenting voice against the revised book, which is just awful. The characters have been reduced to silly archetypes (not to mention that they all have the same voice, with slight alterations for their various shallow quirks), a good deal of the dialogue is just miserable, and by cutting the gymnasium bookend scenes they removed any hope of closure, which makes Merrily not much more than a cautionary tale. The show that opened in previews wasn't very good but it's miles better than what it eventually became.
Anyways, Mack and Mabel has a pretty good score but I can't really imagine the show working on-stage without a major overhaul. Anyone Can Whistle is mostly really good as well and I could see it playing spectacularly with a new book and some music trims.
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