CD of current cast of wicked?

I went to wicked the other night and enjoyed it. Is there a CD of the current cast? the only one I can find is the original.

Thanks

LOL. Not true! There are full show audio and videos of nearly every cast of Wicked since the beginning.

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As a general rule replacement casts aren't recorded, even for long running shows.

There are a few notable exceptions, however, like the Brooke Shields re-edit of the 2004 WONDERFUL TOWN revival.

Could you imagine a new recording being made EVERY single time a new cast member joined a show?

A show doesn't replace the entire cast all at once. Its always just a single new replacement or maybe 3 at most -- no entire cast ever leaves all at once and is entirely replaced by a new cast which would merit of possible new cast recording as its a whole new cast not just one new addition.

These days, some shows can't even afford to record a cast recording. Doing one every single time a new cast joins a show is just not financially possible. The list of new Broadway shows that went without ever recording an Original Broadway Cast Recording is endless.

But why spend the money to produce another CD when the current sells like gangbusters.


MANY revivals also get a recording (Promises, Promises) as it is an ENTIRELY different production.

That Matilda got an American recording still suprises me.

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There actually is a precedent for the entire cast of a show being replaced - HELLO DOLLY! had its entire cast replaced by African American actors in 1967, starring Pearl Baily and Cab Calloway. That replacement cast actually did recieve an entirely new cast recording, rather than the substituted vocals on the Shields WONDERFUL TOWN and others.

I've long been in favor of saving the cast recording cottage industry by doing something like what Concert Live does in the UK. To quote their website, "Concert Live enables fans all over the world to relive the experience with instant audio recordings of live gigs available within minutes of the last note being played. Concert Live are dedicated to providing high quality collectable items featuring band commissioned artwork, exclusive content and premium sound quality."

Basically, they do exactly what it says on the box: they patch a multi-track into the soundboard that regulates a show's sound, and rather than the muddy noise that may result from just taking a raw dump from the board, they get clean channel feeds. This means they can record a whole concert in high quality, get a fantastic recording, make CD's of the show everyone just saw, and have them ready in time to be on sale for the fans on the way out the door. Some bands do this for every gig, even in 1,000 person venues; bear in mind, these are not recordings that would only be good for archival purposes. They are the real deal.

So, rather than play the waiting game and see if a major label would invest in a conventional cast recording, let's create something much more collectable for the audience member. Let's record every performance live, nightly, for sale in the lobby. It's a good advertising gimmick, and you can structure it into the price of the ticket so that the recording is continually generating revenue to make its costs back. Also, it destroys the bootleg market completely, something that companies have been trying to do in various media for years. Why go to the trouble of making an audience bootleg of variable quality where you're required to follow along with a script to be able to understand every line being said or sung, when you can just pick up the CD on the way out?

No major savings would result. Remote engineering is quite expensive. One still has to pay the cast and musicians union minimums. Extra costs (arrangers' fees, copyists' fees, fees to use production photos in the booklets, poster artwork, etc.) would still apply. But these can arguably be factored into the overall financial scheme: work the minimums into the base salaries of the cast and musicians, and the fees into the production budget.

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Updated On: 12/13/13 at 03:02 PM