A Minister's Wife cast recording shipped/any thoughts?

[binau]

Posted: 8/31/11 at 11:29pm

Mine has arrived but I haven't had time to listen to it yet. I liked the ADDING MACHINE cast recording and Bobby Steggert so I hope it will be interesting (although the biggest criticism is that it apparently is not interesting)..

Perspectives from those who saw the show and liked it and the recording, those who saw it and didn't like it but liked the recording, those who didn't see it and liked the recording, those who didn't see it and also didn't like the recording etc etc.. would be informative (although I wonder if there is even enough interest for these kind of groups to be all listening on the forum)

Updated On: 8/31/11 at 11:29 PM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/31/11 at 11:49pm

I haven't listened to it yet either, but I'm excited about it. I wasn't super interested until I heard Marc Kudisch talk about the show in his downstage center interview and now I'm really interested in hearing it.

[mallardo]

Posted: 9/1/11 at 2:46am

LOL. So the two people who bought it haven't listened to it yet. What are you waiting for?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/1/11 at 3:26am

While on the subject can we talk about the photoshop nightmare on the cover? Kate Fry is sitting on a couch that disappears and Marc Kudisch has no legs.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 9/1/11 at 5:43pm

One has to ponder why this thing was recorded. It was painful to sit through.

[mallardo]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 7:11am

It can be painful and still be good. Ask the Marquis de Sade.

[wonkit]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 1:45pm

I enjoyed this production, and I have listened to the cast recording. The voices are all excellent, and the more dramatic moments, especially the final songs, are lovely. But I would have to say that, without the visuals of the performance, I find that the music comes across as rather dry and abstract.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 2:36pm

It's a gorgeous score. May not be everyone's cup of tea. I think the comparisons the the snoozer Bed and Sofa are a bit unfair. Kudisch has never sounded better. His voice is perfect for this music. I liked it more than Adding Machine, actually.

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 2:45pm

It was a chore to sit through in the theatre. Kudisch sang beautifully, but his character was very two-dimensional. Steggert pulled out his worst kewpie-doll/little boy affectations for Marchbanks. I kept thinking how I'd love to see Kate Fry in something that wasn't this. "Score" seems an overstatement for a show that's essentially a couple of disparate sung lines and a quintet at the end.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 4:34pm

I didn't get to see the production. Maybe it plays better on disc?

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 5:30pm

That very well may be the case, Mildred. I can see how the music--some of which is very melodious--might fare better emancipated from the plodding, endless stretches of dialogue.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 10:09pm

The problem was that the creative staff pulled all the ripe social commentary out of CANDIDA and turned it into a silly (painfully silly) love triangle.

Updated On: 9/3/11 at 10:09 PM

Posted: 9/3/11 at 3:54am

Is it as dull as My Life With Albertine? I have no fair reason to compare them, but for some reason they're associated in my head--and I've *tried* to get into Albertine way too many times...

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/3/11 at 5:38pm

I saw MY LIFE WITH ALBERTINE at Playwrights and have listened to the score several times, and I find it to be leagues better than most people give it credit. I actually quite like it--some of the music is hauntingly beautiful, while other parts are ridiculously bad. But it certainly works for me a lot more than A MINISTER'S WIFE.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 9/3/11 at 6:44pm

No, it is far from the bore that is My Life with Albertine! I've tried to get through that score on several occasions. Never been successful.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 9/3/11 at 9:50pm

I think part of my problem in judging the score of A MINISTER'S WIFE is that the sound balance was off (I saw the show in previews) and I was getting hit loud and hard from the band (It was too small to be called an "orchestra"). It overwhelmed the singers. Ironically, I had a house seat.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 9/3/11 at 9:53pm

Are you STILL stalking Bobby Steggert? I'd have thought you'd have found a new twink by now...

[MusicMan]

Posted: 9/3/11 at 11:23pm

"It's a gorgeous score."

This abysmal excuse of a score has not a measure of anything musical, melodic or memorable about it and, like The Adding Machine, only put audiences to sleep with its hollow pretension. The tin-eared Chicago critics should be ashamed of themselves.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 9/3/11 at 11:32pm

Geez, cranky much! Stop asserting your opinion as fact. You're entitled to hate it. I'm entitled to like it. Who cares? Nobody's forcing you to listen to it. It's not like I just called the score for The Pirate Queen gorgeous. Crikey!

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/3/11 at 11:39pm

I like the score (most of it, anyway) to THR PIRATE QUEEN. As for this show, I'm one of Kudisch's biggest fans and even he couldn't keep me from wanting to give myself enough papercuts with the playbill so that I would just bleed out an not have to sit through the rest of this show. The music sounded like it was part of an 8th grade drama class project and it was the only time I'd ever heard audible groans (and audible snoring from more than two people) during a show.

When it ended the applause was light, to say the least and a very good portion of the audience rushed for the doors the second the lights went down.

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 1:06am

i wonder if bobby steggert will date me.

this thread is making me not want to buy this recording. I'll save for follies.

[binau]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 8:45am

It costs $10...

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 11:10am

that's a lunch at cosi.

[Brutus2]

Posted: 9/5/11 at 11:29pm

I'm not sure where you get the notion that all the political commentary was pulled out Dollypop! On the CD there is a 5:41 minute anthem to socialism which essentially takes place of the scene in Shaw's play between the minister and his father-in-law. I went to the text to look. That is the extent of the 'ripe social commentary' in the original. The rest of the play is devoted to the love triangle. The 'endless stretches of dialogue' insofar as I can tell, are straight from the Shaw. There is a wonderful track of dialogue on the disc in fact.

I love the recording. I think the music is vibrant, fresh, adult and serious. The show got a fantastic notice in the New York Times and it was also favorably reviewed in the Wall Street Journal.

It may just not be to your taste. Which is fine of course. That's the wonder of art - everything is highly subjective. However, when I saw it at least, it received a standing ovation and played to a very engaged and enthusiastic audience.