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Caroline, or Change

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#1

Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/1/05 at 6:19pm

I checked out the cd from my library after hearing about it on this message board. Anyway, to make a long story short, I listened to ten minutes of it and I haven't listened to it since. I'm sorry but the music, in my opinion, was horrid. I guess it's something that one has to get used to. But still. The story itself seemed interesting, but I can't stand to listen to the soundtrack. I'll give it one more try. Soon. Has anyone seen the show? Could someone enlighten me? Maybe I'll learn to like it. To be fair, I felt the same way about INTO THE WOODS and now it's become one of my favorite shows.
Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia
#2

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/1/05 at 6:23pm

Personally, I think it's one of the greatest scores and greatest shows of the past two decades. The music is mostly variations on blues, r&b and gospel from the period (1963) and couldn't be more appropriate. Some of it is more long form and doesn't contain "buttons" which some people have trouble adjusting to, but the writing is superb and the performances are extraordinary, led by Tonya Pinkins giving a performance for the ages.

Try listening again. It's worth it.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney

Updated On: 12/1/05 at 06:23 PM

#3

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/1/05 at 6:23pm

"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney

Updated On: 12/1/05 at 06:23 PM

#5

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/1/05 at 7:01pm

You listened to 10 minutes and passed judgement? It's a great score. Perhaps you might find some of it a little tedious at first, although I loved it when I saw it without any prior knowledge of it besides the trainwreck Tony performance. Just listen to it, try to endure more than 10 minutes. There are lots of great melodies, Anika Noni Rose has some nice songs, and it has a lot of dramatic power. It's worth your time.
yr ronin,
joey
#7

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/1/05 at 7:16pm

Yes, give it a full listen. Then put it aside for awhile, and come back later for a second listen. You hit the nail on the head by comparing it to your experience with Into The Woods. As with many Sondheim scores, the first listen (especially out of the context of the live performance) can be tedious. But your appreciation grows and grows with each hearing and it is ultimately wonderfully rewarding. (At least that was my experience!)
"Do you know ChrisLovesShows?" "Yes. Why, yes he does!"

Updated On: 12/1/05 at 07:16 PM

#8

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/1/05 at 7:18pm

Caroline, or Change is a wonderful and moving musical. I saw it when it came here in SF with the original cast. Before I saw it, I had only heard the song that was performed at the Tonys and I ended up loving the music.
I think you should definitely give it another shot. With such songs as "I Hate the Bus", "1943", and "Lot's Wife", I don't know how you can't love the music.
"Yeah, Clarissa, explain it all."

Updated On: 12/2/05 at 07:18 PM

#9

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/1/05 at 7:22pm

For a first time listener, you must just listen to it all to grasp the full story. I remember it took me almost a year to listen to it all and fully appreciate it for all it is. The whole piece can just be breathtaking
#10

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/1/05 at 7:32pm

I have the same problem as the original poster. I recently checked out the OBCR from the library and I have listened to most songs. I think the reason why I don't like it it's because it is an unusual score; I don't recognize any actual songs as much as different scenes put to music. I do believe that the cast sounds very committed to each scene, I can imagine this was a very well-acted show, Veanne Cox sounds great on this cast recording, wonder why she didn't get a Tony nod.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#11

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/1/05 at 7:46pm

why isn't Caroline or Change listed on MTI anymore...? didn't it used to be?
#12

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/1/05 at 8:01pm

I agree with Margo. I posted a thread on this a while back. It's a phenomenal show and Pinkins was spectacular in it. I loved it. And the score deserved the Tony undoubtedly. It was so eclectic and wildly ferocious. A breathtakingly startling score.
#13

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/1/05 at 8:08pm

lot's wife is definitely on a list of the best numbers written for musical theatre.
#14

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/1/05 at 8:29pm

Give it a second try. Give it a complete try. The first time I listened to it I was floored. "Lot's Wife" still makes me cry. How powerful! One of my all time favorite musicals.
#16

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/1/05 at 8:56pm

I got the cd a day or two after I saw the show at Borders. It was an incredibly movieng night of theater. Its also probably one of the first shows I've seen with the OBC.
#17

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/1/05 at 9:06pm

I actually love the beginning of the score. Other parts of Act I take some effort to get through, but by "Roosevelt Petruchius Coleslaw" the whole thing really starts to come together. And all the dominoes are knocked down masterfully in Act II.
#18

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/1/05 at 9:17pm

I don't really have much to add except that I agree that this show has one of the most brilliant scores EVER written. Of all the cast recordings I own, this is one of the rare ones that I will actually put on from beginning to end on a fairly regular basis.
#19

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/1/05 at 10:22pm

Salty teardrops is nearly impossible to become bored during. I love the I guess oboe? introduction in the beginning and the moments after lots wife are so tender and you feel her agony that once this music plays I just get emotional feeling this poor womans pain and the life you learn she lived liked during "1943"
#20

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/1/05 at 10:23pm

goodness... after seeing this show i became so enamored with it that i just didn't take it out of my CD player for months. i went into the theater knowing nothing about the show- only that it was on Season of Savings and left overwhelemed it was brilliant. i love it even more now that i have the memories of the show and the cast recording
"Picture "The View," with the wisecracking, sympathetic sweethearts of that ABC television show replaced by a panel of embittered, suffering or enraged Arab women" -the Times review of Black Eyed
#21

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/1/05 at 10:36pm

yes i had the great pleasure of seeing this show live, and i was sold from the very first few opening notes, I first fell in love with the cast recording prior to seeing it live, I reccommend you listen to it again, its something any musical theatre fan shouldnt be without
#22

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:11pm

I must say it had one of the best broadway casts. i mean alot of talent was in that cast. Ramona Keller was a standout. Anika was a standout. Tonya Pinkins gave one of the greatest if not the greatest performance ive ever seen on the broadway stage, Chuck cooper, Aisha Dehaas, Capathia Jenkins...i mean come on! and such a standout performance from CHANDRA WILSON who i dont hear people talk about. she was great as dotty! ah! i loved the show. ai sat 4th row center and i would love to see this show again and again. my friend performed the sang the first couple of lines from the show as an opening and closing for a POWERFUL poem she wrote about New Orleans and hurricane katrina. wow. i love this show.
#23

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:59pm

I have seen many musicals in my lifetime. I have seen almost all of the big "blockbusters" currently on Broadway (and many that are now gone). I was more moved by this production than any that I have seen in at least the last 10 years. It is criminal that it had such a short stay on Broadway. Oh well, at least I got the chance to catch it again in L.A., with most of the original cast intact (including the beloved Tonya). This is a show that will be revered for decades.

The OCR is wonderful, but I think that you would have had to see the show live to fully appreciate it.
#24

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/2/05 at 5:22am

I've had a similar experiance to the first poster - I tried to listen to the CD but really couldn't get into it and put it back on the shelf. I always tell myself that I'll set some time aside to give it the attention it deserves, but haven't done so yet. As it's strongly rumoured to be coming to the National Theatre in London sometime soon, maybe I'll wait to actually see it in performance and give the CD another go then....
#25

re: Caroline, or Change

Posted: 12/2/05 at 6:18am

I agree with Margo (as always!!)

I was lucky enough to catch the show while In NYC, and it was amazing!!But even with that, I don't find myself playing the CD that often.I have to be in the right mood. The music is wonderful but it is not like what many of us are used to, and I think that is one of the reasons the show did not run as long as it should have.

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