Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album 2018- Page 4

[John Adams]

Posted: 12/31/17 at 9:15pm

I would hope that Sunday in the Park... would take the Grammy over all the others considered in this thread. 

To my mind, a 'Best Album' winner is one that tells a story, in a way that is engineered and composed ('composed' as in how it is laid out in album format for listening - NOT as in how the score was composed) so that the listener feels all the elements of story line: beginning, middle and end, tell a complete story.

SITPWG demonstrates the story elements, and is also engineered beautifully. Hello, Dolly! on the other hand (as an example) has some glaring engineering flaws - just listen to Sunday Clothes as an example of how that HORRIBLE sample of poor mixing makes the suspension @ 4:29 sound like an accidental note.

Of all the contenders, SITPWG fits all the criteria.

Updated On: 12/31/17 at 09:15 PM

[bdn223]

Posted: 1/2/18 at 12:14pm

We all know that the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album should be renamed Musical Theater Album that is either a Ziegiest or the Most Music Industry Connections in recent years. This is especially true since 2011 when many saw Best Musical Theater Album as a way to right a wrong when Ray Charles' posthumously released Genius Loves Company, which rode the awards wave of the movie Ray to the 2005 Album of the Year over the Generation defining American Idiot. I am not saying American Idiot's cast album didn't deserve its Grammy, it is a gorgeous album that I actually prefer over the original. I just think that was the beginning of Grammy voters actually noticing/using one of their votes in the Best Musical theater Album category, since voters are only allowed to vote in 9 of the 30 categories.

Since then we've have Once win over Follies and Porgy and Bess, Kiny Boots win without Cinderella or Pippin being nominated with only Matilda and Motown being the other nominees, Beautiful winning over Headwig, with If/Then and Bridges of Madison County not being nominated, the rules being rewritten for only 2016 so the entire principal cast of Hamilton could receive a Grammy, then last year when The Color Purple won over Waitress and Bright Star with the Kinky Boots Live West End Recording getting a nomination. Then this year there are only 3 nominees and they've excluded The Great Comet, as well as Sunday in the Park with George. One could even argue the trend started earlier when the at the 2010 Grammys, after pulling off the upset of the century some might argue as the best Score and Orchestrations winner at the 2009 Tonys Next to Normal, didn't even get nominated for Best Musical theater album.

The trend post 2010 has somewhat diverged from simply being the reigning Best Musical or Best revival winner winning Best Album to a list of more music industry-centric winners.

The fact that people are putting so much energy into debating who is going to win Best Musical Theater Album this year is laughable. With the amount of connections Ben Platts's father Marc Platt has, and the fact that Pasek and Paul are still seen as the the new wonder boys someone should call Jan Maxwell because the award is in the bag for Dear Evan Hansen.

The only way Dear Evan Hansen won't win is if Bette Midler actively campaigns for the Grammy when she moves back to LA after she finished her run in Hello Dolly. Consider Ms Midler already has 3 Grammy's on her mantel I don't see her caring enough and would rather take her well deserved vacation.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 1/2/18 at 4:35pm

you guys, the grammys are basically a charade. i didn’t really get it until last year when 25 won album of the year instead of Lemonade, one of the best albums of the decade. the clowns in charge over there clearly don’t know how to award excellence in music.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/2/18 at 4:50pm

One could even argue the trend started earlier when the at the 2010 Grammys, after pulling off the upset of the century some might argue as the best Score and Orchestrations winner at the 2009 Tonys Next to Normal, didn't even get nominated for Best Musical theater album.

The Tonys for Score and Orchestrations mean absolutely nothing in terms of the Grammy, especially when the production quality is far worse than the material, as is the case with Next to Normal.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 1/3/18 at 1:08am

The Grammy Award for Best MT Album is totally dumb anyway. You think the votes are gonna sit down and listen to each album and award it on merit? Nah. 

Also, Re: Adele vs. Beyonce - I agree that Lemonade did something different, but I mean, damn, there's not one bad song on that Adele album. Where as Lemonade, to me, has a few clunkers (Sandcastles, Daddy Lessons). 

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 1/3/18 at 1:28am

Dear Evan Hansen is winning and always was going to win. The Grammys tend to vote for the most popular show, not the best recording or material.
.
Also (off topic), Lemonade is masterbatory crap (as is most of the rest of Beyonce's stuff), while 25 was genuinely great music without all the distracting glitz.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 1/3/18 at 2:30am

I tend to agree, even as someone who actually enjoy most of Lemonade. Lemonade, to me, was an artist taking themselves WAY too seriously. And did it even turn out any radio hits? The songs are all fine in context, but I don't find myself reaching out to listen to them the way I would Adele's.

[MadonnaMusical]

Posted: 1/3/18 at 7:03pm

RippedMan said: "The Grammy Award for Best MT Album is totally dumb anyway. You think the votes are gonna sit down and listen to each album and award it on merit? Nah.

Also, Re: Adele vs. Beyonce - I agree that Lemonade did something different, but I mean, damn, there's not one bad song on that Adele album. Where as Lemonade, to me, has a few clunkers (Sandcastles, Daddy Lessons)."

Buh-what???? I press skip on half the boring repetitive  songs on 25... and Daddy Lessons was on repeat in my earbuds. 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 1/4/18 at 9:04am

several songs on 25 are very mediocre, Remedy and River Lea come to mind immediately. it has some great moments but does not reach the heights Lemonade reaches. i also disagree about the songs you listed as clunkers from the latter (daddy lessons is a complete jam imo). i suppose neither one is perfect but still think Lem deserved the award over 25 (although i think All I Ask may be Adele’s best song so far).

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 1/4/18 at 9:46am

Patti LuPone & Ben Platt will perform! Looks like Patti is reprising her "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" from the 1981 awards.

Link

[bdn223]

Posted: 1/4/18 at 12:45pm

gypsy101 said: "several songs on 25 are very mediocre, Remedy and River Lea come to mind immediately. it has some great moments but does not reach the heights Lemonade reaches. i also disagree about the songs you listed as clunkers from the latter (daddy lessons is a complete jam imo). i suppose neither one is perfect but still think Lem deserved the award over 25 (although i think All I Ask may be Adele’s best song so far)."

 

Beyonce’s problem when it comes to album of the year is that she is a manufactured performer and not an artist. People felt the same way when Beck won over Beyonce in 2014. The last time a pop album won Album of the Year, where the performer didn’t help craft every song since its inception was Nora Jones Come Away with Me in 2002. Especially since pop music as a whole has turned away from crafting traditional albums and more toward singles in the world of Itunes, The Album of the Year category has become a category music purists have clung to awarding the process of crafting an album instead of the final product. Until Beyonce releases a stipped down album of songs she has personally written, she may get nominated, but she will likely never win Album of the year.

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 1/28/18 at 4:09pm

Dear Evan Hansen is the winner!

https://twitter.com/TheTonyAwards/status/957721970270965761

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 1/28/18 at 4:10pm

The tweet was deleted

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 1/28/18 at 4:12pm

They changed the tweet for some reason: https://twitter.com/TheTonyAwards/status/957722443765944321

Updated On: 1/28/18 at 04:12 PM

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 1/28/18 at 4:14pm

Congrats to the cast and creatives

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 1/28/18 at 8:17pm

GeorgeandDot said: "The hate for the Dolly album is such BS. I don't love that there's only one picture in the whole booklet and that the finale is missing, but I actually really enjoy it and I think it sounds a lot like the actual show. I think the show was so great that even it's own cast album couldn't live up to the hype. I think it's all in your heads."

So how do you explain those
of us who were disappointed
with the recording despite
never seeing the revival?
(And despite being huge
Bette Midler fans, while
we're on the subject.)

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 1/28/18 at 8:18pm

After Eight said: "Call_me_jorge said: "The Dolly album is just poorly produced"



The "Hello, Dolly!" score could be played on a kazoo and recorded with the sound quality of a scratched-up 78 RPM, and it would still be and sound 78 zillion times better than any of thewoeful thingsthat the critics throw superlatives at."

Surely even you, yourself,
are bored with the droning
by now.

[After Eight]

Posted: 1/28/18 at 8:21pm

 

"Dear Evan Hansen is the winner!

 

Ridiculous! Asinine! Unbelievable!

Dear Evan Hansen wins a music award over Hello, Dolly!?

Over HELLO, DOLLY!????

Can such a dumb, ludicrous decision actually be for real?

Like there is anything in Dear Evan Hansen that comes within even 206,712,843 miles of the score to Hello, Dolly!? 

Is this the kind of absurd nonsense indicative of the world in which we live?

Absolutely.

I wholly expected it.

[SempreLiberal]

Posted: 1/28/18 at 8:28pm

Was this the year that Great Comet could have been nominated?

This is the one cast album from last season that I can’t stop listening to.

I’m not surprised it’s not up for a Grammy, but I was disappointed that it didn’t receive a score, book, or orchestration Tony.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/28/18 at 8:31pm

Like there is anything in Dear Evan Hansen that comes within even 206,712,843 miles of the score to Hello, Dolly!? 

It doesn't matter because the Grammys don't award for Best Score.  That's not the category.  That's not the award. 

Is this the kind of absurd nonsense indicative of the world in which we live?

Not "we".  Just you.  I doubt there is anyone here who is willing to live in your ancient world of fabricated negativity.

Updated On: 1/29/18 at 08:31 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 1/28/18 at 8:47pm

After Eight said: "

"Dear Evan Hansenis the winner!



Ridiculous!Asinine! Unbelievable!

Dear Evan Hansen wins a music award over Hello, Dolly!?

Over HELLO, DOLLY!????

Can such a dumb, ludicrousdecision actually be forreal?

Like there is anything in Dear Evan Hansen that comes within even 206,712,843 miles of the score to Hello, Dolly!?

Is this the kind ofabsurd nonsense indicative ofthe world in which we live?

Absolutely.

I wholly expected it."

I'm on the West Coast and haven't
seen the show, and there seems
to be some question about the
tweet announcing the winner.

But I'm sure you know the
category in question doesn't
judge the DEH score v. the
HD! score. It is the recordings
that are in competition and
the DEH recording is clearly
superior.

You and I can agree that HD!
is the more important score
historically, but that's not the
question put to the voters. I
own five different recordings
of Hello, Dolly! and the Midler
revival is by far the weakest
(alas, despite the lovely work
by Baldwin and Creel).

[After Eight]

Posted: 1/28/18 at 9:13pm

"It is the recordings that are in competition and the DEH recording is clearly
superior."

 

Oh, so that's how it works. In that case, a perfect recording of cats screeching in an alley could be given an award over a recording of a Beethoven symphony. Makes perfect sense. And, I wonder, if the Dolly recording is so bad, why was it given a nomination in the first place?

Absolutely absurd.

But this is the world in which we live.

Updated On: 1/28/18 at 09:13 PM

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 1/28/18 at 9:16pm

After Eight said: ""It is the recordingsthat are in competition andthe DEHrecordingis clearly
superior."



Oh, so that'show it works. In that case,a perfect recording ofcats screeching in an alley could be givenan award over a recording of a Beethoven symphony. Makes perfectsense. And, I wonder, if the Dolly recording is so bad, why was it given a nomination in the first place?

Absolutely absurd.

But this is the world in which we live."

They wouldn’t be in the same category 

[rjm516]

Posted: 1/29/18 at 8:22am

Trying not to care about how the entire cast got Grammys, but it's pretty ridiculous! If CFA won, very worthy cast members wouldn't have gotten one, and if Dolly won, Gavin and Kate would have been emptyhanded, right? What kind of rulings are going on over there! 

[John Adams]

Posted: 1/29/18 at 9:06am

After Eight said: "Like there is anything in Dear Evan Hansen that comes within even 206,712,843 miles of the score to Hello, Dolly!?"

Hello, Eight!

You know you're one of my favorite posters on this Board, right? That being said (truthfully), I still have to point out that the question you've asked doesn't apply.

The award isn't for "best score" (even though I share your thought that Dolly's score is better than Evan Hanson's). The award is for "album".

IMO, the new Dolly album is very poorly produced (engineered?). Case in point: in "Put On Your Sunday Clothes", who allowed that baritone's (tenor's?) voice to stand out like a solo on the suspension at the modulation???? It sounds as if someone's hit a sour, clunker note instead of the interesting chord Herman wrote. In general, the ensemble lacks any sense of blend - at least that's how they're engineered on the album.

And that's just one example. Others have mentioned the absence of the Finale. Also, the whole album sounds flat and dull - in spite of how the performances may have sounded in the live theater. It's one of the few recordings I have to tinker with the EQ settings before listening.

The Evan Hanson album however, sounds GREAT (no EQ tinkering needed) - even if I'm not so much a fan of the score, which I think has already dated itself.

But again, it's not about the better score. It's more about the quality of the album.

PS: Still my favorite curmudgeon....

Updated On: 1/29/18 at 09:06 AM