London City of Angels
London City of Angels
#0London City of Angels
Posted: 9/9/05 at 10:57amI am a big fan of this score. Is the London cast worth getting?
twogaab2
Broadway Star Joined: 5/19/03
#1re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/9/05 at 11:01amThe London cast has more music. The Broadway cast is better. Get both if you can.
TWOGAAB
"A Class Act" will never die!
#2re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/9/05 at 11:05amI have the OBC. My problem with some London recordings of American musicals is that the accents are often unbearable.
twogaab2
Broadway Star Joined: 5/19/03
#3re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/9/05 at 11:38amYeah that can be a problem (also in the reverse-even more so). But if you are a compleatness nut, I would get it anyway, if not, then don't bother because if you have the original cast, I really don't think you will like it. It's up to you. Hope I haven't confused the issue.
TWOGAAB
"A Class Act" will never die!
yipper
Stand-by Joined: 8/24/05
#4re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/9/05 at 1:15pm
I saw the London production. The accents were funny, but the performances were energetic and sincere. If you love the score, you have to have both OBC and OLC. If only for variety.
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apdarcey
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/10/04
sanda
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/10/04
#6re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/9/05 at 1:34pmI love Roger Allam. His performance reminds me Humphrey Bogart in those old detective movies.
jacco
Stand-by Joined: 7/29/05
#7re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/9/05 at 3:11pmBroadway cast much better. Only saw the london one though. Which was great. But the CD? No.
#8re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/9/05 at 3:32pmI don't mean to hijack the thread but speaking of bad accents, listen to Michael Cerveris and Brian D'Arcy James butchering English accents in Titanic - couldn't they get coaches? In general I find that English actors do much better with American accents - even regional ones - than the reverse.
Faced with these Loreleis, what man can moralize!
#9re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/9/05 at 3:35pmHave you heard the RSC Carousel. Their Maine accents are, well interesting to say the least.
magruder
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#10re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/9/05 at 4:26pm
The Broadway cast of City of Angels is stronger, but I do like the London recording as an alternate. The Broadway recording has more of a slick pop sound, while the London recording always strikes me as giving more of a sense of how the score worked in the theatre. As another virtue, the London recording has Stone and Alaura's "Double Talk," which is omitted on the Broadway recording.
"Gif me the cobra jool!"
Updated On: 9/9/05 at 04:26 PM
#11re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/9/05 at 5:17pmI saw the London production and have the CD. It's a good companion piece for the Broadway cast recording.
yipper
Stand-by Joined: 8/24/05
#12re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/9/05 at 6:42pm
If you are a "big" fan of the score, as you say you are. You have two options. Not a real strain for you brain.
If you must choose only one...then OBC... but if you can buy both... then by all means get both, they will only make you appreciate the score and the efforts of the performers more.
I'm not really sure what the dilemma is.
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#13re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/10/05 at 10:54amI think the JIMMY POWERS stuff is all better on the LONDON recording and overall you definitely do get a better sense of the show on that recording.
"Your eyes..... they shine like the pants on my blue serge suit"
#14re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/10/05 at 11:00am
Jesus Yip, must we be so snotty? I have the OBC. I've said that in this thread already.
Thanks for the tip.
yipper
Stand-by Joined: 8/24/05
#15re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/10/05 at 4:46pm
I apologize, BobbyBubby. I was rude
My only excuse is I've been very upset about the The Govenor's vetoing the gay marriage bill here in California. Not an excuse, but an an explanation.
Again, I'm sorry.
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#16re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/10/05 at 4:54pm
No worries Yipper. It seemed out of character, so I was just curious.
Yeah, I'm pissed about that too. Gay marriage is wrong, but leaving people to die from a natural disaster is okay.
Which one is destroying the "moral fabric" of America again?
Go figure.
Updated On: 9/10/05 at 04:54 PM
bjivie2
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/04
#17re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/10/05 at 7:54pmWhen was the London City of Angels? Did it do very well? I can't imagine it, with such a Hollywood-centered plot, succeeding in London, just like Bombay Dreams, centered around Bollywood, didn't do well in America.
Eeeeeeyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaannnnnddddd aaaaaaaiiiiiiiiyyyyyyaaaaaammmmmmmm teeeeeeeelllllliiiiiinnngg yyyyooooooouuuuuuuwwwaaaahh...
sanda
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/10/04
#18re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/10/05 at 8:13pmNo, it didn't do well. Close for a short time run. What a shame! such a great show and a really strong cast.
sanda
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/10/04
#19re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/10/05 at 8:13pmNo, it didn't do well. Close for a short time run. What a shame! such a great show and a really strong cast.
#20re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/11/05 at 3:31pm
I remember that CITY OF ANGELS announced its closure on the opening night of ALW's SUNSET BOULEVARD at the Adelphi. This resulted in lots of free publicity as almost every "Name" attending the SB opening spoke about how tough it was to have a success if a BRILLIANT show like COA was closing. Even ALW said it was the most intelligent show in London. COA ran another couple of months on the extra ticket sales generated but it lost HENRY GOODMAN (Buddy Fiddler) who got another job lined up for the original closing date - Matt Zimmerman took over. BIG shock came when the OLIVIER awards gave BEST MUSICAL to COA (over SB) and even more so since COA had closed by the time the announcement was made!!
I saw the show twice and the most difficult thing was sitting behind Chinese tourists trying to explain the plot to one another!!!
The sets looked fantastic though apparently ROBIN WAGNER was unhappy as the stage wasn't big enough to accommodate them properly (they had been shipped from the L.A. production) and I did notice that the final sound stage set looked rather squashed!
OVERAL ABSOLUTE MAGIC FROM CY COLEMAN!!
"Your eyes..... they shine like the pants on my blue serge suit"
#21re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/15/05 at 11:12amI just got the London Cast in the mail yesterday. I love the cd! It sounds much more theatrical than the Broadway recording, and it's one of the few London recordings I've heard where the American accents are painful. I'll give a more detailed review later, but I suggest that anyone who loves this score pic up this recording as well.
#22re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/15/05 at 1:34pm
"and it's one of the few London recordings I've heard where the American accents are painful."
hee hee
Try Gypsy with Angela Lansbury or Whistle Down the Wind. Yikes! I remember seeing shows in London wondering why the American accents in musicals were so bad, yet American accents in plays were perfect. I could only assume that dialect coaches were probably trimmed out of the already enormous budgets for musical theatre. The accents in Peggy Sue Got Married were quite humorous, though most of the cast got them right in Witches of Eastwick. The British are rarely satisfied with Americans performing British accents, but they rarely admit that they can be just as guilty performing ours.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#23re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/15/05 at 1:41pmThe worst is the teenagers in the Lodon Bye Bye Birdie who make no real attempt to cover up their accents.
yipper
Stand-by Joined: 8/24/05
#24re: London City of Angels
Posted: 9/15/05 at 3:13pmI agree with Mister Matt. Just listen to the Lansbury GYPSY, the American newsboys sound like hold overs from OLIVER. Very Funny.
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