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

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.

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

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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

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.

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

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It all depends on my interest in the musical.

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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. :)

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.

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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