'Favorite' or 'Definitive' rendition of "Being Alive'

[factorykid2]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 12:19pm

Earlier this week I went to a screening of "Company" with a friend (both loved it). He asked me if there is a definitive recording of the song. I wasn't sure how to answer. Is the OCR considered definitive? - not sure it is for this song...

The first version I heard was Streisand's 'Broadway Album'. Favorite recording is Patti LuPone from "Sondheim: A Celebration", with Bernadette Peters rendition on "Sondheim, Etc." a distant, but notable second.

Wondering what other folks think.

[castlestreet]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 12:22pm

No matter how many times I listen to the CD- LuPones version on the Concert Sondheim has always been my favorite!

[Eris0303]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 12:24pm

I love the Stephen Bogardus version from the "Musicality of Sondheim" album

[blacktie]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 12:25pm

Norm Lewis from "Sondheim on Sondheim"

[Unknown User]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 12:26pm

Obviously, the original BeeGees version from Saturday Night Fever,

[newintown]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 12:28pm

Dean Jones.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 1:15pm

Larry Kert, from the 1972 Sondheim tribute (the Scrabble album):

http://youtu.be/1TvagUwpgGE

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 1:18pm

I guess I would go with Dean Jones for definitive.

But for favorite? Hands down Norm Lewis.

[JP2]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 1:24pm

Dean Jones.

[Katia2]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 2:01pm

Dean Jones is definitive.
Personally, for some reason I haven't heard a rendition of this that I liked that was sung by a man. Love Streisand's, Peters', and LuPone's though. LuPone's is my favorite.

[broadwaybabytn]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 2:02pm

Favorite- Raul Esparza or Patti Lupone

Definitive- Dean Jones or Larry Kert

[moljul]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 2:04pm

Lupone's seems to suffer from her continual difficulties with diction. Of course I heard Bernadette's first so I was probably biased when I first heard Lupone's.
Updated On: 6/23/11 at 02:04 PM

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 4:12pm

I'm shocked that this hasn't already turned into a thread where people argue about Raul Esparza's performance.

Side note: Raul Esparza's performance is definitive.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 4:14pm

Bernadette's is the definitive version for me. So moving.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 4:18pm

Bernadette's version is absolutely my favorite - and I would say definitive too (outside of the context of the show).

Wait, what does definitive mean?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 5:36pm

Would be Raul's if I was on suicide watch.

Jones, or Kert's for the win.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 7:29pm

Raul, though not just out of partiality to him, and I don't think it's objective so much as determinately personal; I think the first time you see something like that song, in context, performed, it does something to you that nothing can ever recreate. Raul's version tore me up in such a beautiful way, and every time I see or hear it sung, no matter how well, my mind always goes back to him.

Vocally, though, Stokes' version is also really beautiful.

Updated On: 6/23/11 at 07:29 PM

[danny10086]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 7:30pm

I've always loved Anthony Warlow's version from the On The Boards album. Original orchestrations and sung in full, minus the dialogue and. as always, impeccably sung.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 7:38pm

For me, it's hands down Bernadettes version.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 7:39pm

Dean Jones, followed by Patti LuPone.

[FrauleinKost]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 9:08pm

Bernadette, hands down. More specifically, this performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iRkwhV3MAE

[blaxx]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 9:38pm

Bernadette wins. Patti LuPone = Somebodone to hojhhgd too clojhseeee...

[egghumor]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 9:59pm

As OBCRs go, the original COMPANY just might be my favorite OBCR of all time. That being said, I have a particular fondness for Adrian Lester's performance of "Being Alive" on the far-from-wonderful 1996 OLCR. I assume most others here don't agree as Lester has not been mentioned previously in this discussion. As non-OCRs go, I'm in total agreement about the power of Bernadette's performance as well.

[chewy5000]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 10:26pm

Carol Channing's

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/23/11 at 10:29pm

Bernadette's is good, but boy does she strain to hit the notes at the end. Patti delivers a flawless vocal, despite some diction issues.