Broadway Les Miz or London Les Mis OCR- Page 2

[NDS34111]

Posted: 8/17/04 at 8:39am

I like the London recording better. even though it does have less numbers from the show, I at least get to hear Colm Wilkinson and Michael Ball together.

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 8/17/04 at 1:46pm

I think some people have too many Lesmiz soundtracks. The most amount of one show I have is 8 and that's STARLIGHT EXPRESS.

Francess Ruffelle rock. I like they way she cries and sounds whiny. She doesn't always do that. WHy don't you buy one of her albums and listen to everything she does. Her single of Stranger to the Rain is not screamy at all compared to the OLC of Children of Eden.

[Musetta1957]

Posted: 8/17/04 at 1:51pm

"I think some people have too many Lesmiz soundtracks."

CAST RECORDING CAST RECORDING CAST RECORDING CAST RECORDING CAST RECORDING

And stop assuming all our CD money is being poured into one show...

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 8/17/04 at 1:54pm

Soundtracks is what I am used to calling them and I will never change it for anyone or any reason.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/17/04 at 1:57pm

Broadway Matt - Is Kunio Murai on the Red cast or the Blue cast? There are two Japanese recordings that were released the same year.

rockfernis2005 - I assume when you talk about the French cast, you mean the concept recording and not the Paris recording from 1991. I'm wondering what you mean by the English version being "too story". Is there less story in the French version? What parts did they leave out? I have the recording, but I don't speak French.

[Musetta1957]

Posted: 8/17/04 at 1:59pm

Murai is on the red one, with Takeshi Kaga, Yuhko Ema, Kaho Shimada, and Akira Tomemori.

[Taryn]

Posted: 8/17/04 at 2:04pm

I'd say OLC over OBC. You've got Colm, of course, and Frances Ruffelle on either of them. But then you've also got Michael Ball and Patti LuPone.

Then again, I'd probably prefer the 10th Anniversary cast album if I didn't strongly dislike Lea Salonga as Eponine.

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 8/17/04 at 2:18pm

The one thing that bothers me about non-english cd's in general is that I CANT FRIKEN UNDERSTAND IT!!! haha but i think ill look into the 10th anniversary concert or the symphonic one.

[Broadway Matt]

Posted: 8/17/04 at 3:41pm

yes Murai is on the Red CD, I haven't picked up Blue yet. if anyone has both, how do they compare? is it worth getting both?


bronxbound: as far as having "too many" Les Mis recordings, I assure you that my cast album collection and musical theatre interests are very well-rounded. in either case, "collection" is the key word. As we are all collectors, we each have our own definitions of how many is too many. To me 23 can't be excessive because it's Les Mis and I enjoy all of them. Starlight Express is something else altogether. I only have 4 albums from SE, but it's still 3 too many.


jai: you're probably making a smart move getting the CSR or TAC. the board seems pretty split between London and Broadway, but the other two are so well-cast and well-performed you can't really go wrong. and the best part is you'll avoid that whole unpleasant Frances Ruffelle situation!

[Musetta1957]

Posted: 8/17/04 at 10:20pm

I don't mind not knowing the language -- it's a little less distracting, and lets me not pay attention to the lyrics and instead just pay attention to the melody and the quality of the singer's voice. A lot of times I've discovered new stuff about the score, or other interpretations that way.

Sometimes I wish I DIDN'T know Spanish because the translation on the Madrid recording is pretty awful.

[CJR]

Posted: 8/17/04 at 10:22pm

International Symphonic Cast Recording.... just cause I'm partial to someone on it lol

[zepka102]

Posted: 8/17/04 at 10:23pm

10th anniversary cast... no one sings "On My Own" better than Lea.

[Broadway Matt]

Posted: 8/17/04 at 10:46pm

Musetta, we have very similar experiences with the international Les Mis CD's. a big reason why I collect foreign language versions of my favorite shows is because they are less distracting and are perfect background music. when I would listen to my showtunes in English during high school, I can think of plenty of times I'd start out cramming for a final or writing a term paper, then find myself 3 hours later with nothing accomplished except having sung the entire score of Scarlet Pimpernel. now when I have work to do or anything that requires my focus, I'll set the iPod to an international cast recording and it's all gravy baby!

And as a fellow speaker of Spanish, I agree the Madrid cast is painfully translated, though beautifully sung.

[amasis]

Posted: 8/17/04 at 11:05pm

"I can think of plenty of times I'd start out cramming for a final or writing a term paper, then find myself 3 hours later with nothing accomplished except having sung the entire score of ..."

Yep, sounds familiar to me, too...

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 8/17/04 at 11:06pm

Concert version is THE BEST out of all of them. Dream Cast indeed

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 8/17/04 at 11:23pm

hmmm i should try that trick broadway matt. The original french concept album intrigues me just becuase it seems cool to have the album where everything grew from. and frech is a beautiful language.

[Musetta1957]

Posted: 8/17/04 at 11:49pm

Broadway Matt, I have to disagree with you on the Madrid performers. Well, partially. Really, the only people I like on that one are Gema Castaño and Enrique R. del Portal. The rest of the folks are either miscast or just not pleasing to the ear, and I wish I could hear it using their own orchestral tracks instead of Denmark's. Well, maybe they'll record another Spanish language one somewhere down the line, like one of the South American productions.

I actually have not bought a Les Miz cast recording in about 5 or 6 years. But I probably have as many as you do!

[bythesword84]

Posted: 8/17/04 at 11:57pm

haha CJR, I purposely didn't say anything about her on the CSR because I knew you'd be reading it!

And on a side note, you can never have too many Les Mis recordings.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/18/04 at 10:36pm

I prefer the Broadway recording. The London OCR sounds too much like a demo recording of Les Miz; the instrumentation and songs changed significantly after the show crossed the Atlantic. Plus, I don't really like LuPone's Fantine.

The Broadway recording is better produced and doesn't lumber along like the London one. However, the downside is that it doesn't feature Michael Ball.

The symphonic recording is good because it's the most complete (although, after the 10th anniversary changes to the show, it's not longer that complete), but Colm Wilkinson is still the definitive Valjean for me, and to not have him on the recording really taints it.

But the best English recording of Les Miz is still the 10th anniversary concert album. A true dream cast (everyone from Colm and Lea Salonga to Michael Ball and Maguire), a phenomenally large orchestra, a "fuller" performance than on the Broadway OCR, and finally the energy of a live audience.

[Musetta1957]

Posted: 8/18/04 at 10:42pm

"(although, after the 10th anniversary changes to the show, it's not longer that complete)"

It wasn't actually complete as of 1989 or so. The lyrics to the final battle were different, and some English language productions had different lyrics to the Bamatabois/Fantine exchange. Not sure what they were or why, though.

[little_sally]

Posted: 8/18/04 at 10:48pm

I'd go with the 10th Anniversary recording before both the Broadway and London BUT because I am a big fan of both Michael Ball and Patti Lupone, I like the London better.

[Delphine]

Posted: 8/18/04 at 10:54pm

I, myself, would not recommend the TAC recording. I just don't feel that the cast is a "dream cast". Almost all of the performers (including the popular Michael Ball), I would have wanted exchanged. I think Colm is fabulous, and the same goes for Judy Kuhn. But although Philip Quast, Lea Salonga, Michaels Ball and Maguire etc. are all very good, they are definitely not the best. I think the only really GREAT part of the TAC recording is the energy of the live performance.