Biggest Difference: Quality of Song vs quality of broadway cast recording

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 12:50pm

"Just In Time" from "Bells are Ringing" OBCR.

Love the song and many singers' versions. But, hearing the OBCR version OnBroadway on Sirius/XM quite often and it drives me batty it is so cringe worthy!

What is your favorite song destroyed by a broadway cast?

Updated On: 6/28/13 at 12:50 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 1:33pm

Cringeworthy? Judy Holiday? WTF?

[newintown]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 1:47pm

I think it's that tired old "Sidney Chaplin couldn't sing" thing again.

Yes, he doesn't sound like James Barbour or Brian D'Arcy James, but give me a voice with character over a pure, gorgeous, generic quality any day.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 1:51pm

I don't think the Kinky Boots recording does any justice to the show. It feels dead. (Note: I didn't love the show, but I cannot muster my way through the entire cd -- not once.)

[dreaming]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 1:55pm

dramamama-I love Kinky Boots, but I think they might have wanted to record it live to capture the energy on stage. That said, I listen to the recording but totally understand the criticism.

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 2:04pm

That's interesting. Have not seen Kinky Boots, but was not enticed to see it based on the Tony's segment. I just got the CD and was very pleasantly surprised.

And yes, Judy Holliday and that awful nasal baby doll voice.

Here she is with a different take on the same song with Dean Martin and none of the cringe worthiness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jbsTk3g-vQ


Updated On: 6/28/13 at 02:04 PM

[newintown]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 2:18pm

"Judy Holliday and that awful nasal baby doll voice."

So sad, to be all alone in the world.

[darquegk]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 2:26pm

It's interesting that you noted Brian D'Arcy James as a generic voiced singer- I see him as having one of the more distinctive voices among leading men of his generation.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 2:35pm

Many others feel that way, too, I know - I'm comparing the current breed to voices like Sidney Chaplin, Dean Jones, Harry Guardino, Robert Preston - actors who didn't sing the song with utter purity, but who acted it for every word, meaning, feeling. Voices with unmistakable and specific character.

[ReggieonBway]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 2:49pm

It's always interesting hearing people equate great singers with bad acting. Honestly? I'd take an Aaron Tveit or a Laura Osnes over a Sidney Chaplin or a Judy Holliday any day. They're actually excellent actors, they just don't let it destroy the purity of the song. That takes skill. The story always takes precedence, but selling a song without caring how your voice sounds - that's lazy, and all it shows is an inability to multitask.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 3:09pm

The Kinky Boots cast recording made me fall in love with the score to the show. That being said, the live performances on TV and the audios I have heard sons way better. Especially the orchestrations.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 3:21pm

ErinDillyFan, where do you draw the line between playing a character and singing a song. It's fine if you don't like what Judy Holliday did with the song, but don't you think that was a character choice?

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 3:49pm

Sondheim has often said that he prefers an actor who sings rather than a great singer who's not a great actor and I feel the same. Judy Holiday was no Audra but she didn't play roles that required a great singer. She was utterly unique, as was Eartha Kitt and Robert Preston, even Bacall in her two musicals. No great singer but it simply didn't matter because her strength of character carried the stories. Of course it's fantastic when you have a brilliant voice and are a compelling actor as well but not every role in a musical depends on that. The acting has to come first.

[morosco]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 4:03pm

I know not everyone agrees (and that always surprises me on this one) but I think Dean Jones sounds absolutely magnificent on the COMPANY recording.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 4:04pm

RENT... I just can't listen to the OBCR anymore... it's definitely one of those shows that you need to experience live

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 4:07pm

Rent was the Hair of the 90s. It had great impact at that time in history, but I don't think the future will be kind to it.

[ReggieonBway]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 4:17pm

How exactly has the present not been kind to Hair? I don't know a single person under the age of thirty who doesn't absolutely love it. The recent revival alone had a massive impact.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 4:18pm

I never fully understood the impact of Rent. It was on the cover of Newsweek (or Time?) as "the future of the Broadway musical." Future? I thought it was a complete throwback to the Hair-Godspell-Your Own Thing let's-all-hold-hands-and-sway-together musicals of yesteryear. The Falsetto musicals had already illuminated the AIDS epidemic a decade earlier so that wasn't new. However, there was enough there to make me curious about what the obviously talented young author would come up with next which, sadly, was not to be.

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 5:37pm

Yes, I understand character over vocal ability. I really enjoy all the songs in "Jenny" and can get past Bacall's shortcomings. I don't care for Glynns Johns' singing, but I can enjoy the songs. I have seen "Bells are Ringing" and heard the song wonderfully in character. And have heard Judy Holliday sing many songs I find very nice. I even gave you an example of Judy singing the same song in a way I find beautiful. The OBCR version is just something that gives me the same feeling as nails on a chalkboard or chewing tinfoil.



Updated On: 6/28/13 at 05:37 PM

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 5:40pm

Wow, this is one of those threads that just off into the weeds.

Except for the whole cast of Rent.

No one else has a song that they really like, but don't like on the OBCR?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 5:56pm

"How exactly has the present not been kind to Hair?"

Kids today don't have the same experience with Hair. Yes, astounding revivals of the piece can be mounted, but it has to be understood in context and therefore can't be fully experienced. It's more than just tie dye and swaying to rock music. They don't understand the Vietnam War because there's not a draft system in place. They don't have the same context (shock value) over a song like Black Boys. Do they have any reference point for the Margaret Mead material?

It's the same with Rent. In another generation, young people won't fear AIDS. They won't have a reference point for "AZT break." To them, it will be just a musical about some cool hipsters making it in NYC.

[After Eight]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 6:20pm

"What is your favorite song destroyed by a broadway cast? "

Well, I wouldn't say he destroys it, but Vincent Price's singing of my favorite song in Darling of the Day, "I've Got a Rainbow Working for Me," definitely does not do it justice.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 6:30pm

Give me Judy Holliday and her brilliant comic timing, and her heartfelt sincerity, and her nuances, and her brazenness. All the colors of the rainbow in that woman.

I wouldn't care if she sang like a buzz saw.

We don't have stars like Judy Holliday anymore.

Learn it. Understand it.

And before you say, "you were too young to know her and appreciate her," so the hell was I. I found her anyway. And I know a gem when I see one. It doesn't have to be produced in the last five years. Seek out the talent. Not the conventionality. You'll be all the richer for it.

[binau]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 7:47pm

I don't enjoy Glynis Johns' recording of Send in the Clowns. I am grateful that I was able to see a Desiree who could both sing and act at the same time (Brrnadette Peters). Maybe the OBC performance was special live and in context, but it's not something I like to listen to today. Kind of like Tyne's GYPSY album, which also is not a very pleasant recording.

Updated On: 6/28/13 at 07:47 PM

[theeatah]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 7:58pm

Welcome To The Theatre - Debbie Gravitte (TV concert) vs. Lauren Bacall (OBC).