Far From Heaven recording

I don't know but I saw the show, own the CD, and much admire a lot of the score. It's an ambitious project -- the film's tone is so hard to capture/duplicate, since the meta aspect of capturing Sirk's gand 50's style is impossible to translate effortlessly into musical theater terms without cheapening what Todd Haynes accomplished -- that deserves another listen/look. Pasquale and O'Hara were wonderful; I had problems with the rest of the casting.

I'm not a jazz fan, and I, too, found the jazz inflections in HEAVEN evocative and fresh. The show's best known song (if it has one) is a beauty, "The Only One," perfectly placed at the end of the first act. And a key phrase in it is reprised by O'Hara's Kathy in her second act meltdown, "Tuesdays, Thursdays," which is a harrowing, character-specific catharsis (I thought of it recently listening to "Days and Days" from FUN HOME, with which it shares sentiments about being tethered to a demanding absent husband. Worth noting: both are songs by wives of closeted gay men.) But I also love "Sun and Shade" and the exquisite "Miro."

The PH production was undermined by a truly awful design plan, a kind of metal skeleton onto which pieces were clumsily added, against projections that maybe too easily evoked (and reminded us of the origins via:) the stunning cinematography in the film. I'd love to see the show done not necessarily in a physically pared down way, but in a bigger, emptier space. No one had any breathing room at PH, and despite wonderful costumes, the period didn't seem authenticated. I wonder if Pasquale's "I Never Knew" ever makes it into cabaret spaces. It's a tough, start-stop song, filled with introspection (again, a little like Bruce's "Edges of the World" in FUN HOME, but without the final despair). Pasquale's performance of it is a wonder, and the NY Times included it in its on-line performances.

Far From Heaven has a (mostly) great score, but great scores don't always make great musicals. It felt like a long evening in the theater, and not all of the music served the story. I listen to the cast recording fairly regularly, though, and some of the music ("Miro," "Sun and Shade") is really stunning.

The digital download is free if you have Amazon Prime.

I love the cast recording. Its such a good score and Kelli sounds fantastic. It's interesting Autumn in Connecticut reminds me somewhat of To Build a Home