Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
ErinDillyFan
Broadway Star Joined: 7/14/06
#1Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 12:50pm
"Just In Time" from "Bells are Ringing" OBCR.
Love the song and many singers' versions. But, hearing the OBCR version OnBroadway on Sirius/XM quite often and it drives me batty it is so cringe worthy!
What is your favorite song destroyed by a broadway cast?
Updated On: 6/28/13 at 12:50 PM
#2Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 1:33pmCringeworthy? Judy Holiday? WTF?
#2Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 1:47pm
I think it's that tired old "Sidney Chaplin couldn't sing" thing again.
Yes, he doesn't sound like James Barbour or Brian D'Arcy James, but give me a voice with character over a pure, gorgeous, generic quality any day.
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#3Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 1:51pm
I don't think the Kinky Boots recording does any justice to the show. It feels dead. (Note: I didn't love the show, but I cannot muster my way through the entire cd -- not once.)
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
dreaming
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/24/09
#4Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 1:55pmdramamama-I love Kinky Boots, but I think they might have wanted to record it live to capture the energy on stage. That said, I listen to the recording but totally understand the criticism.
ErinDillyFan
Broadway Star Joined: 7/14/06
#5Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 2:04pm
That's interesting. Have not seen Kinky Boots, but was not enticed to see it based on the Tony's segment. I just got the CD and was very pleasantly surprised.
And yes, Judy Holliday and that awful nasal baby doll voice.
Here she is with a different take on the same song with Dean Martin and none of the cringe worthiness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jbsTk3g-vQ
Updated On: 6/28/13 at 02:04 PM
#6Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 2:18pm
"Judy Holliday and that awful nasal baby doll voice."
So sad, to be all alone in the world.
#7Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 2:26pmIt's interesting that you noted Brian D'Arcy James as a generic voiced singer- I see him as having one of the more distinctive voices among leading men of his generation.
#8Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 2:35pmMany others feel that way, too, I know - I'm comparing the current breed to voices like Sidney Chaplin, Dean Jones, Harry Guardino, Robert Preston - actors who didn't sing the song with utter purity, but who acted it for every word, meaning, feeling. Voices with unmistakable and specific character.
#9Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 2:49pmIt's always interesting hearing people equate great singers with bad acting. Honestly? I'd take an Aaron Tveit or a Laura Osnes over a Sidney Chaplin or a Judy Holliday any day. They're actually excellent actors, they just don't let it destroy the purity of the song. That takes skill. The story always takes precedence, but selling a song without caring how your voice sounds - that's lazy, and all it shows is an inability to multitask.
#10Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 3:09pmThe Kinky Boots cast recording made me fall in love with the score to the show. That being said, the live performances on TV and the audios I have heard sons way better. Especially the orchestrations.
"There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. "
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#11Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 3:21pmErinDillyFan, where do you draw the line between playing a character and singing a song. It's fine if you don't like what Judy Holliday did with the song, but don't you think that was a character choice?
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
Wilmingtom
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/11
#12Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 3:49pmSondheim has often said that he prefers an actor who sings rather than a great singer who's not a great actor and I feel the same. Judy Holiday was no Audra but she didn't play roles that required a great singer. She was utterly unique, as was Eartha Kitt and Robert Preston, even Bacall in her two musicals. No great singer but it simply didn't matter because her strength of character carried the stories. Of course it's fantastic when you have a brilliant voice and are a compelling actor as well but not every role in a musical depends on that. The acting has to come first.
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
#13Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 4:03pmI know not everyone agrees (and that always surprises me on this one) but I think Dean Jones sounds absolutely magnificent on the COMPANY recording.
eatlasagna
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#14Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 4:04pmRENT... I just can't listen to the OBCR anymore... it's definitely one of those shows that you need to experience live
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#15Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 4:07pmRent was the Hair of the 90s. It had great impact at that time in history, but I don't think the future will be kind to it.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
#16Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 4:17pmHow exactly has the present not been kind to Hair? I don't know a single person under the age of thirty who doesn't absolutely love it. The recent revival alone had a massive impact.
Wilmingtom
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/11
#17Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 4:18pmI never fully understood the impact of Rent. It was on the cover of Newsweek (or Time?) as "the future of the Broadway musical." Future? I thought it was a complete throwback to the Hair-Godspell-Your Own Thing let's-all-hold-hands-and-sway-together musicals of yesteryear. The Falsetto musicals had already illuminated the AIDS epidemic a decade earlier so that wasn't new. However, there was enough there to make me curious about what the obviously talented young author would come up with next which, sadly, was not to be.
ErinDillyFan
Broadway Star Joined: 7/14/06
#18Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 5:37pm
Yes, I understand character over vocal ability. I really enjoy all the songs in "Jenny" and can get past Bacall's shortcomings. I don't care for Glynns Johns' singing, but I can enjoy the songs. I have seen "Bells are Ringing" and heard the song wonderfully in character. And have heard Judy Holliday sing many songs I find very nice. I even gave you an example of Judy singing the same song in a way I find beautiful. The OBCR version is just something that gives me the same feeling as nails on a chalkboard or chewing tinfoil.
Updated On: 6/28/13 at 05:37 PM
ErinDillyFan
Broadway Star Joined: 7/14/06
#19Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 5:40pm
Wow, this is one of those threads that just off into the weeds.
Except for the whole cast of Rent.
No one else has a song that they really like, but don't like on the OBCR?
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#20Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 5:56pm
"How exactly has the present not been kind to Hair?"
Kids today don't have the same experience with Hair. Yes, astounding revivals of the piece can be mounted, but it has to be understood in context and therefore can't be fully experienced. It's more than just tie dye and swaying to rock music. They don't understand the Vietnam War because there's not a draft system in place. They don't have the same context (shock value) over a song like Black Boys. Do they have any reference point for the Margaret Mead material?
It's the same with Rent. In another generation, young people won't fear AIDS. They won't have a reference point for "AZT break." To them, it will be just a musical about some cool hipsters making it in NYC.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
After Eight
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
#21Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 6:20pm
"What is your favorite song destroyed by a broadway cast? "
Well, I wouldn't say he destroys it, but Vincent Price's singing of my favorite song in Darling of the Day, "I've Got a Rainbow Working for Me," definitely does not do it justice.
#22Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 6:30pm
Give me Judy Holliday and her brilliant comic timing, and her heartfelt sincerity, and her nuances, and her brazenness. All the colors of the rainbow in that woman.
I wouldn't care if she sang like a buzz saw.
We don't have stars like Judy Holliday anymore.
Learn it. Understand it.
And before you say, "you were too young to know her and appreciate her," so the hell was I. I found her anyway. And I know a gem when I see one. It doesn't have to be produced in the last five years. Seek out the talent. Not the conventionality. You'll be all the richer for it.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#23Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 7:47pm
I don't enjoy Glynis Johns' recording of Send in the Clowns. I am grateful that I was able to see a Desiree who could both sing and act at the same time (Brrnadette Peters). Maybe the OBC performance was special live and in context, but it's not something I like to listen to today. Kind of like Tyne's GYPSY album, which also is not a very pleasant recording.
"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: 6/28/13 at 07:47 PM
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theeatah
Leading Actor Joined: 1/31/10
#24Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording
Posted: 6/28/13 at 7:58pmWelcome To The Theatre - Debbie Gravitte (TV concert) vs. Lauren Bacall (OBC).
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