Cast Recordings You Wish You Hadn't Bought — Page 3

I love obscure musicals, foreign musicals, concept recordings, etc, but there are a few that stump me...one is Wuthering Heights which is mentioned before in this thread. DREADFUL!

Worse than that is "In Spite of Reason" which is a noisy rock opera/musical about Abe Lincoln's presidency during the Civil War. The singing is putrid.
http://www.sparxecho.com/

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I have to add here that some of you naming some mainstream stuff as "the worst you've heard" really need to expand into some of the lesser known stuff (ie Wuthering Heights or In Spite of Reason). There are some REALLY bad musicals that have been recording - whatever you may think of Side Show or Titanic - they're freaking Sweeney Todd next to some of the crap that's out there.

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I am so glad to know I am not the only one who owns Wuthering Heights...thankfully I think I paid a grand total of $5.50 for it. Definitely under $10.

Part of my problem is, I want it all. So even if it's a show I *don't* like, I'll eventually buy it for one of two reasons:
a) Completeness
b) the hope I might eventually like it.

That said, some shows I will not buy with my own money.

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I'm actually glad I bought "The Woman In White," because there are several songs I really like on there, and I love just popping in the CD and listening to it straight through-- it's like a crazy mystery radio drama that happens to be sung. But I was really, really, really, really underwhelmed with Michael Crawford's Count Fosco. I just wanted to skip through everything he sang, which was a pity because I LOVE Fosco and I adore the song "You Can Get Away With Anything" (definitely my favourite ALW song).

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I've had several cast recording grow on me after awhile....Cabaret was one of them. When I first got it, I hated it...but then I saw the show and enjoyed the songs more, probably because I could put them in context and such. I also disliked [title of show] as well until I saw the show. That, for me, was a time when I definitely needed to see the show to appreciate the recording.

That being said, I never listen to the Drowsy Chaperone. The show itself is a delight to watch, but outside of the stage, the recording makes very little sense.

And a few mentions of Wuthering Heights...I actually picked up this recording at the Boston Public Library last weekend but haven't had a chance to pop it in the CD player yet. Should I just return it without a listen, lol? :)

Odd, I LOVE My Life With Albertine.

As for Bombay Dreams, I got it from the library to listen to so I didn't spend a dime on it. Mwahaha.

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Updated On: 1/27/09 at 12:14 PM

jenna-
No no no, listen. It's full of LOLS.

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Evita 20th Anniversary recording - I didn't realise it had Colm Wilkinson as Che. I must be one of the only people in the world who doesn't like his voice.

Woman in White - only about 2 songs on it that I actually like.

I've also got a bunch of foreign cast recordings of Rent, in lanuguages that I can't understand, that I listened to once and haven't taken out of the box since.

Bye Bye Birdie ... awful.

My Life with Albertine
Little Fish
See What I Want to See
The Bakers Wife (London cast)
Company (1995 revival)
Divorce Me Darling
DuBarry Was a Lady (film)
Evil Dead: the Musical
Evita (London revival)
House of Flowers
Jekyll & Hyde - Resurrection
Kiss of the Spider Woman (Vanessa version)
Legs Diamond (sound quality is CRAP!)
Pinafore! (LA Gay Men's Chorus version)
The Woman in White

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the new recording of Assassins..that whole thing just neeeds to be burned. I still love the OCR.

The Papermill recording of Follies....just ew

The new Gypsy cast, it REALLY does nothing to help the reputation of the cast...biggest ew song Momma Get Married

No schmerg it seems the general consensus is the OCR is better, however, I'm surprised about all the hate towards the Broadway recording, I mean, it isn't that bad at all.

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