Do you watch a musical or listen to the CD first?- Page 2

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 4:52am

Some of the more complex scores (Sondheim, Guettel, Brown, LaChiusa, Finn) really benefit if you are familiar going in. In fact a really good score reveals subtleties with each subsequent listen.

On the other hand, with really banal scores like WICKED or HAIRSPRAY you can pretty much glean everything in one listen, so with those shows you might as well wait until you see the show live then if you really like the score buy the cast album afterwards.

[JBSinger]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 8:25am

When I lived in NYC, even if the album came out before I saw the show, I would hold off listening to it until I saw the show. It's so hard to surprise me in the theatre, that I want to go in without knowing all the jokes/songs before hand. When i was in High school, I saw Into the Woods (198 and knew the album backwards and forwards before I saw it. That spoiled it in some ways for me, because the audience around me was laughing so much, but I was already jaded to the material. Now that I'm in FL, I buy and listen right away since its my only outlet.

[WickedRentHead]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 8:32am

I pefer to listen to the cast recording first. I dont like not knowing what Im going into. In some cases I have been pleasantly surprised but for the most part, I like to listen first. Often times the shows I decide to see are ones that Ive already listened to the CD first because I at least know the music and some of the story and know that I will enjoy the show and that it wont be a waste of time and money.

[Weez]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 9:36am

As a resident of the UK, I don't get to Broadway very often. Somehow, I get to the West End even less, although I am working to remedy that this year. XD So if I don't listen to cast recordings before seeing shows, then I'm never going to get to know any new shows. Sure, in an ideal world, I'd see show previews with no prior song knowledge, then buy the recordings, then go to see the shows again, but we don't seem to live in an ideal world. ^_^

I find it kinda helpful in some cases to know what's going on beforehand anyway. Particularly if a show has a *lot* of singing. It's ever so easy for an actor to get absorbed in their performance and forget something basic like enunciation. Some shows, I wouldn't know what was going on at all if I had no prior knowledge.

And what I love about live theatre so much is that two shows will never be the same. You can watch a cast perform a show with no goofs or anything on a Monday, and you can watch that same cast perform that same show with that same level of perfection the very next day and you'll still get two completely different shows. I may know my 'Avenue Q' CD inside out, but I'm still confident I'm going to be surprised when I see it in September. I've seen 'Blood Brothers' countless times and know every song off by heart, but it's still worth my money to see it again and again and again (although I wouldn't mind seeing a new Mrs Johnstone; it's been Linda Nolan my last few times now! ).

Sure, some shows benefit from the element of surprise, mostly comedy. But I wouldn't sacrifice my listenings just for the sake of full unknowing effect, when I may never get back to Broadway while that show's running. :3

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 12:02pm

If I know going in that it is a complex score/book, I read up on it or listen to a cast recording. This includes Edward Albee shows, Sondheim and Caroline or Change ect... Other than that, I like to go in not being familair with too much.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 12:50pm

most of the time i listen to the CD first... then i watch the show... i live in LA so i rarely get to see a show first... for shows like hairspray and ave. q if i hear one or two songs then i generally would like the whole CD then i buy it...

oh and i remember that when i first heard miss saigon i loved it and would listen to that show every day for like a year and had it all memorized... then i finally saw the show (1st national tour in LA in 1995) and i was like... those aren't the lyrics!! i was all mad that the Sacred Bird wasn't performed and that certain lyrics were changed... it was a kind of a jarring experience as this was my first real broadway show experience.... oh well

[luvwicked]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 1:29pm

Hmm...I used to listen to the recording first...back in the day (1991), when I was a young theatre-goer, I listened to the Original London Cast of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (on cassette, mind you) over and over again. I loved it so much and convinced my family to take me to see it! I also obsessed over the recordings of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, VICTOR/VICTORIA, and LES MISERABLES before seeing the shows live.

In more recent years, I sometimes see shows that never have the chance to get cast recordings. And sometimes I never have the chance to listen to a recording before seeing the show - OR the recording is released after I see the show (as was true with DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS and SPELLING BEE). So it depends on the show.

[WickedOne2]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 7:09pm

With the exception of Lippa's The Wild Party, I always see the show first. This is especially helpful when an original cast member leaves, that way I am not accustomed to his/her voice when I see the show.

[NJRae]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 9:03pm

I haven't seen that many shows (yet! I'm working on it!) but I do like to listen to the recording first. I feel like there is so much to see that if you are sitting there just trying to absorb what is being said you miss a lot (or at least I do!) I know the first time I saw RENT I had heard the recording years before and barely remembered it and a lot went over my head. I not only missed things that were sung, but things that were going on during scenes. I do agree that it can take some of the fun out of it and ruin some of the surprises, but I like being able to watch as much of what is going on on stage as possible.

My sister is the total opposite and would get mad at me if I would put on the recording of a show we were going to see for the first time with her around. She likes the surprise. Of course then on the way home she is asking me, "What were they talking about there?" or "what did she say there?" Or I would be talking about something that happened in the background that she totally missed b/c she was busy concentrating on what was being said.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 9:26pm

I always listen to the cd first, if it is out

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 6/9/06 at 7:23am

I'm with Weez - as I'm in the UK, I tend to buy the Broadway CDs as soon as possible it's unlikely I'm going to see the show for a few years.

On the other hand I always try and see West End shows before buying the CD (and I see most of them in previews anyway, which makes it easier )
Updated On: 6/9/06 at 07:23 AM

[jasobres]

Posted: 6/9/06 at 7:30am

It all depends on my interest in the musical.

[Maryjoannejean]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 5:43pm

I'm wit sally on thihs one for sure.

[bwaybabe3]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 5:49pm

I NEVER buy CDs before seeing shows... and I don't listen to the whole album at all even if my friends are playing it. I don't know, just tradition of mine. :)

[BroadwaySinger2]

Posted: 4/15/07 at 4:31pm

I think that listening to the Forbidden Broadway CD stopped me from wanting to go see it. On the other hand, I listened to the A Chorus Line Revival CD before I saw it and I enjoyed the show even more. It depends on the show.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 4/15/07 at 5:00pm

I usually get the CD first. The only exceptions are "Fame" and "Mamma Mia" and I ended up getting the CDs anyway, either at the theatre or later.

That said, I was VERY disappointed by "Rent" when I saw it in 04 in NYC.

[StageFan2]

Posted: 4/15/07 at 5:23pm

I always get the CD first because it's so hard for me to get to NYC to see the shows. I haven't often been disappointed by the shows I've attended after first having heard the CD. However, I have been disappointed enough by a CD to not want to see the show.
Updated On: 4/15/07 at 05:23 PM

[keybowvio]

Posted: 4/15/07 at 5:29pm

I began to be intrigued by this thread, and decided to try and do my best to keep track of who said what, in a sort of UN-official poll of my own, just to see how it measures up:

Prefer to listen to soundtrack prior to seeing show- 14

Prefer not to listen to soundtrack prior to seeing show- 11

Don't care- 1

Depends- 11

In the "depends" section, I would like to add the reason for most poters saying that it "depends on the show" (either diorectly or inderectly) usually routes back to the idea of of simple the score/entire show is.

Please don't harass me for posting a thread which requires me to interpret the opninions of others, keep in mind that I may of gotten this all wrong, but this is my UN-official poll, take it or leave it, this is how I interpreted the answers of others, and I apologize if it is incorrect, Cum grano salis.


EDIT: okay, so I wanted to put in one more persons opinion, but this is it.
Updated On: 4/15/07 at 05:29 PM

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 4/15/07 at 5:33pm

I usually listen to the CD first then go see the show.
Yet, I never let the bits on the CD effect my view of the show.
I take everything in as if it were new.