A Little Night Music Recording---which do you suggest to get?- Page 2

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/11/09 at 12:19am

Definitely the OBC, though Johns was sick for the recording session, and she was/is unhappy with the final product.

The OLC is is good, but nothing special.

The studio album has some beautiful operatic voices, but Sian Phillips is BORING, BORING, BORING.

The Dench recording is quite good, though the incorporated cut material sounds odd.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 10/11/09 at 10:47am

Actually, ljay, Johns was fine for the recording of ALNM. A few weeks later when they did SONDHEIM: A MUSICAL TRIBUTE at the Shubert theatre she was ailing and her performance was very weak. Some have said this was the reason the song was left off the album but the real story there is that Columbia had just released the OBC and had a 2-year window when no competing recording could be released. This became standard in the industry after Capitol record the OBC of FUNNY GIRL but Barbara Streisand also recorded "People" as a single for her label, Columbia.

Because the album of the concert came out in the fall of 1973, it was beyond Capitol's 2-year window on FOLLIES (recorded April 1971) so they could use the FOLLIES songs, but the only NIGHT MUSIC songs heard on the concert album were the cut songs "Silly people" and "Two Fairy Tails." This is the only commercially released recording of these songs as sung by the OC members.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/11/09 at 11:06am

I have always been haunted by that rendition of "Two Fairy Tales."

In many ways, it is my "favorite" Sondheim song, if one could have one.

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/11/09 at 11:31am

Lyrics of any kind became a problem when Johns was struck with bronchial pneumonia soon after the show's debut on Feb. 25, 1973 at the Shubert Theater. "I lost my voice just after the first night and we had to do the album," she recalled. "But first we had to do a concert tribute to Steve (Sondheim: A Musical Tribute, March 11, Shubert Theater). Johns remembered begging Prince and Sondheim not to make her perform the song. "It's so wrong for Steve!" she pleaded. But both men were adamant. So, with virtually no voice, Johns had only one recourse.

"I used the emotion, the acting--that was the reason I got through. And that wonderful pianist, Bobby Short, was in the front row sobbing louder than I was singing! And Steve said, 'That's the best you've ever done it!' But I'm telling this because Len was in the wings. He's not an overly demonstrative man, but he was standing there with tears running down his face and his arms out--'You did it!' And that's what he was like all through the show. We didn't discuss anything, but he was absolutely there for me."

Probably Johns' biggest regret came in recording the Night Music cast album. With her still fragile voice, even fabulous acting wouldn't save her on a record. "When I got to the studio," she remembered, "Steve said, 'I've heard your head voice. You use it two or three times when you normally sing this song. Put it all up into the head. Don't try for your normal chest register.'

"So on the album, you'll hear it's all head. There's a certain sweetness to it, but there's not the dramatic impact like when I performed it because I didn't have the voice to do it. So I've never done a recording of the song the way I did it on stage."

However, Johns did tell the head of Columbia Records, which released the cast album, that she'd love to do a single of "Send in the Clowns" when her normal voice returned. His response? "Darling, you've got to remember that 'Send in the Clowns' is Cartier. It's not Woolworths, or even Saks. It's Cartier. And it will never sell as a single!"
http://www.sondheimreview.com/v5n1.htm

Sounds to me she was still sick for recording session.
Updated On: 10/11/09 at 11:31 AM

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 10/11/09 at 11:59am

Or is the actress in retrospect trying to stem any criticism of her performance on the record? Actors are notorious for rewriting history to suit their needs.

According to Sondheim & Co. Johns did come down with a viral infection while the show was in Boston and Tammy Grimes was considered as a replacement. But Johns quickly recovred and was back on stage a day later.

Truth is, Johns never had much of a voice - listen to her tracks from MARY POPPINS 10 years earlier.

I interviewed Len Cariou last fall and he recalled being in the studio when she recorded "Clowns" for Columbia Records. He said after the first take there was a pause that went on a beat too long and Glynis - very insecure in a recording studio - looked as if she were about to burst into tears. Then Goddard Lieberson's voice came over the talk back asking her to hod on a moment. He then came into the recording studio and told her that the take was fine, that it sounded just like she had sung it on stage and then added "but...it's a torch song." Len said that a look came over Glynis' face and she said "Ohhhh!" and then they recorded the 2nd take, which is what we hear on the album. (Makes you wonder what Take One sounded like, doesn't it?)

Updated On: 10/11/09 at 11:59 AM

[BroadwayBound062]

Posted: 10/11/09 at 1:58pm

OBC I have four different ones, London, OBC, Studio, and RNT and the OBC is a must

[binau]

Posted: 10/11/09 at 6:37pm

Slightly off topic, but on the subject of recording sickness. Can anyone 'validate' that apparently Len Cariou was sick during the OBCR of Sweeney Todd, and Bernadette was sick during her recording of GYPSY?

I've heard both of these, but would like to see 'proof' (other than the apparent criticism of their performances, lol).

Updated On: 10/11/09 at 06:37 PM