"Chorus Line" Recording Article.....

[jimnysf]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 6:29am

'Chorus Line' aims to become a singular recording sensation

http://www.insidebayarea.com/stage/ci_4194525

By Chad Jones, STAFF WRITER
Inside Bay Area

ON JUNE 2, 1975, the company of the newly minted hit "A Chorus Line" headed into a Columbia Records recording studio to make history.
On that fateful day, under the watchful eye of producer Goddard Lieberson, the king of Broadway cast recordings working on what would be his last Broadway project, the "Chorus Line" singers and musicians created one of the best-loved cast albums of all time.

On Aug. 14, 2006, the company of the Broadway-bound revival of "A Chorus Line" took a day off from performances at San Francisco's Curran Theatre to see if history might repeat itself.

On Monday, the current "Chorus Line" troupe headed up to Nicasio in Marin Country to record the revival cast album at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch.

In a deceptively quaint brick building set among beautiful golden hills is Lucas' scoring stage, an enormous recording studio frequently used to record movie soundtracks with symphony orchestras. The giant movie screen at one end of the cavernous room makes it look like a movie theater.

But instead of theater seats, the floor is divided into two sections. The bulk of the floor is filled with musicians, including a 10-piece horn section, a piano, two keyboards, a percussionist and a bassist. The drummer is off in his own little room.

Behind a clear divider are the nearly 30 actors, all wearing headphones and many not wearing shoes, who comprise the "Chorus Line" cast. Microphones are set up above and in front of them to catch their every note.

Right now, under the baton of conductor/musical director Patrick Vaccariello, the cast is rehearsing various parts of the complex montage "Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love." Some of the primary vocalists have been sequestered in their own little booths behind double-glass sliding doors.

In the recording booth, surveying all this, is producer David Caddick, a veteran of the Andrew Lloyd Webber shows "Cats" and "The Phantom of the Opera" as well as other shows such as Stephen Sondheim's "Bounce" and the current London hit "Mary Poppins."

At Caddick's side is composer Marvin Hamlisch, part of the original creative team who shared the Pulitzer Prize awarded to "A Chorus Line" 30 years ago, and orchestrator Jonathan Tunick, whose sterling work can be heard in numerous Sondheim musicals.

No time to spare


This is a crack team working under a tight deadline — four three-hour shifts from about 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. — to re-record one of Broadway's most beloved musicals.

Caddick can handle the time pressure because he's done his homework. What's more daunting is living up to the original "Chorus Line" recording.

"We'll always be in the shadow of that album," Caddick says during a break in the control room. "But this cast comes to the show so fresh and gives such wonderful performances. The new album is an opportunity to hear from contemporary performers and to honor what's come before."

Thirty years ago, record producers were confined by LP, cassette and 8-track time constraints. With the advent of CDs, Caddick is able to record a more complete version of "A Chorus Line" with room left over for a bonus track.

Composer Hamlisch jokes in his nightclub act that the overture is always the place for the composer to show off, but "A Chorus Line" jumps right into the dancing and skips the overture.

So for the new album, Hamlisch will record "the overture that never was" as a bonus track. On Tuesday, Hamlisch returned to the studio and recorded the overture on twin pianos — he recorded them separately but they'll be mixed together.

The new disc — recorded for Sony/BMG's Masterworks Broadway — will also include the first recording of "And," which was cut from the original recording and will be an exclusive iTunes download.

Tunick returned to New York Tuesday and began mixing the disc on Wednesday, hoping to finish it by Sunday night. The final mix has to be delivered Monday to meet manufacturing deadlines that would have the finished disc available for "A Chorus Line's" Oct. 5 Broadway opening.

Back in the studio, the cast has just recorded a rousing "What I Did for Love" and Vaccariello is correcting their enunciation. "You're hissing the kiss on 'Kiss today goodbye,'" he says.

Last-minute change


Hamlisch and Tunick emerge from the booth to tweak an orchestration.

"The C sharp is becoming a dotted half note," Tunick says.

"This is for the show also," Hamlisch adds, indicating a minor but permanent change in his Tony Award-winning score.

Next up is the finale song, "One" with tongue-twisting lyrics like "She's uncommonly rare, very unique, peripatetic, poetic and chic" and "loaded with charisma is my jauntily sauntering, ambling shambler."

Conductor Vaccariello moves his podium behind the clear divider so he can more precisely direct the singers through this tricky number.

"Guys you need to watch your pitch," he tells the male half of the ensemble.

But when the singers let loose, any pitch problems are completely obscured by their amazing sound and energy. At the end of the first take, the red "recording" light goes off and the actors all look a little stunned by how extraordinarly good they sounded.

As great as the recording experience is, it's still not the same as being onstage.

After completing his solos earlier in the day on "Hello Twelve," actor Michael Paternostro, who plays Greg, emerged from one of the isolated booths happy but slightly frustrated: "It's not satisfying at all. I want the audience."

- "A Chorus Line" continues through Sept. 2 at the Curran Theatre, 445 Geary St., San Francisco. Tickets are $30 to $90. Call [phone] or visit http://www.shnsf.com or http://www.ticketmaster.com for information.

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 7:06am

YAY! Nice article. Thank you for sharing.

[WiiCKED x3]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 11:01am

I can't wait until it comes on Broadway in October.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 11:17am

I'm still pissed off about the exclusive "And..." download.

I want my hard copy CD in tact! I like having the jewel cases and the inserts and the liner notes and the photos.

Plus if my computer or iPod dies, I want to have the full original CD as a backup.

I guess I'm too "old school." I need to get over it. This seems to be the way of the future.

That's why stores like Tower Records (and so many others) are going under. The Internet killed them. I can't go "browse the rows" anymore and see what's in stock.

It's getting harder and harder to find a CD/music store anywhere in L.A. these days. There's Virgin, Amoeba, and a few Wherehouses left. A couple of used CD stores in the Valley. That's it! Everything is on line, or downloadable. I'll bet we're only a few short years away from this being the ONLY way to get music.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 11:42am

Awesome article. Can't wait for the cd and show!