Favorite Company Cast Recording?

[Broadway_Bound_Star]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 6:20am

I was podering this question while listening to the 1995 revival with Boyd Gains as Bobby. I feel that the 1995 recording represents the show the best, partially because Boyd sings the role of Bobby the best out of all the others. Not to say that I didn't think that Raul did the part justice, because he was phenominal. I just feel that Boyd had a better understanding of where Bobby was at in his life when he was singing "Being Alive". I also enjoy listening to LaChanze's rendition of "Another Hundred People", and I think that her's is far superior to Angel Desais, who in my opinion, murders the song. The only downfall of the 1995 recording is Debra Monk. That role obviously belongs to Elaine Stritch. But i'd have to admit, whoever was going to take the role of Joanne in the revival had some serious shoes to fill. The OBCR is still very close to my heart though, because I love, love, love the Myers, McKechnie, Browning, trio, "You Could Drive A Person Crazy".
This show has quickly rose to the top of my favorites, and i'm curious to know others opionions on what you think your favorite cast recording of Company is!

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 6:36am

the original for sure. It is soooo ingrained in my memory. Dean Jones - woo- woo! Stritchy - amazing! the dance music (mckechnie)!
what's not to love on this. the set was so cool (on Bway) for it's day...the great boris Aronson, I think, with one of his more ambitiously "modern" plexiglass apt. structures.
Side note: Wnenever I hear the "telephone ringing" in Company OBCR,
I inevitably start humming the telephone song in Bye, Bye, Birdie. Weird!
Oh, I just remembered seeing Jane Russell in the '71 Company, (my 2nd time), replacing Stritch --- ummmmmm.....
Updated On: 7/1/08 at 06:36 AM

[tazber]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 6:50am

OBC definitely.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 7:18am

The OBC.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 7:42am

I remember my jaw hitting the floor when the '95 production started up and it sounded like two Casio keyboards, piped in from somewhere down the street.

OBCR for the full original sublime Jonathan Tunick orchestrations and the indelible performances.

[JBSinger]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 8:32am

OBC - Brilliant and favorite
Raul Esparza revival #2
Roundabout revival #3 (but I never listen to it).

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 8:45am

I hate this show, but I saw the original production, after listening to the cast album. So, the OBCR, by a mile! I find the other recordins,virtually unlistenable.

[sondhead]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 8:51am

OBC!! The roundabout is WAY over produced. That recording sounds way too polished to be interesting.

I also like the '96 London Revival myself, because I feel they preserved something close to the "Alternate" orchestrations without making it sound over-produced, but most people hate that one, so I won't fight for it or anything.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 9:01am

I love the original cast, but the recording is pretty terrible, even the remaster. Mr. Thomas Z. Shepard sucked at his job.

For that reason, I love the recording of the '95 revival, and I think the orchestrations sound much better, so does the choral singing, where you can actually hear the separate lines and how well they fit together.

The brass sounds better (on the OBC they sound like they were recorded in a high school gym).

I wish we had gotten the far-superior recording production of the '95 with the original Broadway cast.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 9:35am

I agree with best12 on this one. The OBC performances can't be beat, but I love the transparent "sound" of the Roundabout recording.

And props to Veanne Cox for actually singing "Getting Married Today."
Updated On: 7/1/08 at 09:35 AM

[bob8rich]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 9:43am

I love all the versions in different ways. Boyd Gaines and Jane Krakowski stand out in the 1995 version and Raul Esparza was amazing in the 2007 staging. But overall I would plump for the OBC - if only because Elaine Stritch's Joanne is both definitive and mindblowing.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 9:57am

The original. To me, the show is inexorably linked to the 70s, so I love the original orchestrations with all their "boom wacka wacka" 70s sounds.
Updated On: 7/1/08 at 09:57 AM

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 11:18am

I don't have a favorite because I would like to pick and choose. I love Elain Stritch from the obc, and I love Jane Krakowski from the Roundabout revival, and I like Angel Desai the best as a Marta. And well, my favorite Bobby is certainly Raul Esparza. My favorite Amy is definately Heather Laws. So I love them all and listen to bits of each.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 11:23am

I agree with PRS. The show (like Chorus Line) is soooo 70s, that without that feel it just doesn't seem right.

That and Tick-Tock is an amazing piece of music that should never be cut.

[jv92]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 11:46am

The original. In my opinion, it's the greatest cast album ever made. Shepard takes all of the things he learned from Lieberson, but also does things his own way, little things Lieberson never would have done. For example, he includes dialouge. Lieberson never put dialouge on his albums. Now, I'm not talking about three minute long patches of dialouge, but little snippets. It captures the show. He also does not revise or change any orchestrations. Lieberson was known for this, and it's glaringly obvious on the My Fair Lady OBCR, for example (it's fixed for the London album).
The performances are perfect. The energy is perfect. The tempos are great (Thanks Hal Hastings!). It sounds good (Sorry best12bars). It's a masterpiece.
The second greatest cast album of all time is also Shepard's- Sunday in the Park with George.
Oh. And that guy wrote both of them? What's his name? Stephen something?

[Broadway_Bound_Star]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 11:53am

"That and Tick-Tock is an amazing piece of music that should never be cut. "

AMEN!
I saw a regional production of Company which it had Tick-Tock in it. I'm not sure if it was legal or not. Do they allow people to put the dance back into the show?

[Smaxie]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 11:58am

>I love the original cast, but the recording is pretty terrible, even the remaster. Mr. Thomas Z. Shepard sucked at his job.<

I'm stunned by the statement above. My own feeling is that the OBCR of Company is one of the best, most vivid cast recordings ever made, especially due to Shepard's work. I have issues with some of his later recordings, but feel that Shepard did really great work on his '70s cast recordings.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 9:47pm

I don't understand that comment,either. I find the OBC to be a brilliant recording. However, it was done in quadraphonic sound, and I really wish they would re-release that master. All those background vocals are so vivid.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 9:55pm

Boyd Gaines is alright, but if someone owns those songs is Dean Jones. I find his Bobby to be just hard to match, and neither Esparza or Gaines or Leste have been able to capture the raw, transparent acting that Jones gives in the OBCR.
Truly no one (except for maybe Veanne Cox) have been able to match, let alone surpass, the original cast's rendition of the score.
Susan Browning's interaction with Jones during "Barcelona" is priceless. Krakowski turned it into a somewhat funny number, and I enjoy it, but Browning actually manages to make it into a real examination of Bobby's way of dealing with romance. Not even going to talk about the bland rendition Elizabeth Stanley gives in the revival recording.
LaChanze murders "Another Hundred People," and Charlotte D'Ambosse is boring during her solo in "You Could Drive a Person Crazy."
Veanne Cox truly shines in "Getting Married Today" though.
Debra Monk was soooooo miscast as Joanne it's not even funny. Walsh is good, but obviously Elaine Stritch's shoes are virtually impossible to fill.
All in all, it's OBCR all the way.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 10:00pm

The OBCR by miles. It's brilliant.

[TheBoyDownstairs]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 10:04pm

OBCR and there isnt even a close second. I honestly cant listen to another recording of Company. Mostly because I have year to hear a Bobby or Joanne that can match Dean Jones or Elaine Stritch.

And the 70s sound of the recording fits the show perfectly, it really is just the 70s to the core.

[heathurrr]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 10:04pm

I love both the OBCR and the recent Doyle revival CR. Crazy amounts.

[antiandrewx]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 10:18pm

I'm gonna be unpopular and say the Doyle revival. I LOVE the OBCR, though.

[thejcm]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 11:31pm

The OBC by far. My favorite number from the show is "Another Hundred People" and Pamela Myers does it the best out of all of the recordings. (That said, there's a video of Marcy Harriell performing it and that's my favorite performance of that song, ever.)

Dean Jones, Elaine Stritch, Donna McKechnie, Pamela Myers...nothing compares to them.

I haven't heard much from the 95 revival so I can't really form an opinion but I do love the Doyle revival...it just doesn't touch the original.

I do love Barbara Walsh as Joanne, so much. I can't say that she's as good as Stritch, because she's so different, but she's amazing in her own way.

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 11:37pm

Updated On: 5/3/09 at 11:37 PM