HARMONY Original Broadway Cast Recording Thread

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 8/16/23 at 12:31pm

Releases November 17! Music by Barry Manilow, lyrics by Bruce Sussman

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 8/16/23 at 12:37pm

Track listing:

• ACT I
• 1. Overture
• 2. Harmony
• 3. And What Do You See?
• 4. This Is Our Time
• 5. Your Son Is Becoming a Singer
• 6. Every Single Day
• 7. How Can I Serve You Madam?
• 8. The Wedding
• 9. Home

 

• ACT II
• 10. We're Goin' Loco!
• 11. Hungarian Rhapsody #20
• 12. Come To the Fatherland!
• 13. Where You Go
• 14. In This World
• 15. Threnody
• 16. Stars in the Night
• 17. Where Does the Time Go? (Barry Manilow Original Demo) (Bonus Track)

*Track 17 will not be available on the digital release*

Updated On: 8/16/23 at 12:37 PM

[BETTY22]

Posted: 8/16/23 at 3:50pm

Is Julie Benko on the recording. I think it was recorded when the show was playing off-Broadway? 

[mshalo18]

Posted: 8/16/23 at 8:13pm

BETTY22 said: "Is Julie Benko on the recording. I think it was recorded when the show was playing off-Broadway?"

Based on the official Harmony Instagram account- I don't think so. She doesn't appear (I don't think) in the Reel they posted- they're also calling it the Harmony Cast Album, not Broadway cast. 

[pethian]

Posted: 8/17/23 at 12:37pm

mshalo18 said: "Based on the official Harmony Instagram account- I don't think so. She doesn't appear (I don't think) in the Reel they posted- they're also calling it the Harmony Cast Album, not Broadway cast."

I just pre-ordered the album and Julie Benko is indeed on it according to the pre-order site. So is the actress playing Josephine Baker, Allison Semmes. I suspect both were recorded more recently, when they were hired, and that's why they are not on the video from the initial recording session.

https://www.harmonyonbroadway.com/products/harmony-the-cast-recording

Updated On: 8/17/23 at 12:37 PM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/17/23 at 2:05pm

If Julie Benko is on the album I wonder if they recorded the original cast and then later replaced their vocals with the Broadway cast?

[DCS]

Posted: 8/17/23 at 8:06pm

there's an article from BroadwayWorld from Sept 15, 2022 stating that Julie was joining Harmony, which I believe was right around the same time the cast recording was being done

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Julie-Benko-Joins-Cast-of-Barry-Manilows-Broadway-Bound-HARMONY-20220915

 

[BETTY22]

Posted: 8/21/23 at 10:05am

WOW!

Variety EXCLUSIVE: Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman Release Second Single ‘Every Single Day’ From Upcoming Musical ‘Harmony’ 

 

https://variety.com/2023/biz/news/harmony-barry-manilow-bruce-sussman-1235700937/

[bryan32]

Posted: 8/21/23 at 11:07am

is it going to be on cd I hope it will

 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 8/21/23 at 1:07pm

The digital release is set for August 31! It will still release physically on November 17. 

[Robbie2]

Posted: 8/21/23 at 3:21pm

[pethian]

Posted: 8/21/23 at 3:33pm

Robbie2 said: ""

Thanks for posting this, Robbie2. I tried to on the other thread about this show but couldn't figure out how to do it, Anyway, I really like this. It's exciting, beautiful and smart.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 8/30/23 at 1:14pm

Digital release is tomorrow. 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 8/31/23 at 12:02am

The album has dropped! Thoughts below, folks.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 8/31/23 at 12:22pm

I’m enjoying much of the score but those orchestrations and mixing are awful. It feels so flat and digital, and the strings sound heavily augmented by synths, plus the classic sound of lazy orchestration:  heavy piano underscoring. This really needed someone steeped in Broadway — a Doug Besterman or a Larry Hochman.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 8/31/23 at 3:35pm

It probably works better in context, but I can't say I was a big fan of most of this score. About halfway through listening to it, I discovered that this project has been in the works since the late 90s, and it does kind of sound like it - many of these songs would not sound out of place in a Don Bluth movie. Where You Go is quite a nice (Chopin-y) number, and I think In This World is the show's best pastiche, but a lot of the actual numbers featuring the group themselves feel overpolished and lacking warmth, which may be a result of the album's mixing. 

Chip Zien yelling at his past self to shoot Hitler has to be one of the more camp 11 o'clock numbers in a while. Again, maybe that works better onstage, but I couldn't get Nathan Lane's "Book! Fat! Book! Fat!" out of my head.

[BETTY22]

Posted: 8/31/23 at 3:46pm

After listening to the spectacular album, I re-read the New York Times review. Now I know why this show was a 'Critics Pix' 

"Defiantly classic. Those skeptical of the fact that the men behind “Copacabana” could tackle serious matters should perhaps listen closely.

Zien eventually leaves it all out on the stage in his heartbreaking last song. 

In case you were wondering what it feels like to cry under a mask, there is a good chance you will find out then."

[HenryTDobson]

Posted: 8/31/23 at 4:01pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "I’m enjoying much of the score but those orchestrations and mixing are awful. It feels so flat and digital, and the strings sound heavily augmented by synths, plus the classic sound of lazy orchestration: heavy piano underscoring. This really needed someone steeped in Broadway — a Doug Besterman or a Larry Hochman."

I couldn't agree more. It sounds like the vocalists are singing with karaoke tracks. Very strange.

Question for those who have seen the show - do you think Sierra's part will be considered lead or supporting? She's featured on the album much more than I expected. 

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 8/31/23 at 4:04pm

Personally I'd still consider her supporting, but I could see them making a petition for lead for awards, depending on the competition from the rest of the season (like where Lindsay Mendez will be put as well)

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 8/31/23 at 4:09pm

Charley Kringas Inc said: "I discovered that this project has been in the works since the late 90s, and it does kind of sound like it - many of these songs would not sound out of place in a Don Bluth movie."

I get big Alan Menken vibes from the score. Except Alan’s scores are helped by Danny Troob’s arrangements. 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 9/1/23 at 1:58am

It sounds pretty good!

For what will finally be his Broadway debut as a composer, Manilow has written a pleasant, digestible score that blends his signature tunefulness with surprisingly effective storytelling. An expositional opening number that melodically brings to mind La Cage aux Folles, a dramatic Menken-esque tearjerker later in Act One (with a terrific money note at the end) that already seems worthy of a mid-show ovation, the songs of love and special things he once mentioned all those decades ago — Barry does it all in just an hour of hummable music.

Act Two gets off to a lighthearted start before it takes a heavier turn. The Latin groove of "We're Goin' Loco!" provides a familiar echo of "Copacabana," while "Hungarian Rhapsody #20" shows off the comedy chops of the Comedian Harmonists with a medley that includes snippets of "Galop Infernal," "Hava Nagila," and "Entry of the Gladiators," among others. And don't even start with me on the hilarious rhythmic raspberries and "Anglo-Saxon / flaxen" rhyme in "Come to the Fatherland!"

I'm so glad Chip Zien is coming back to Broadway, and Sierra and Julie sound stunning on the haunting "Where You Go" — Chopin etude meets "Bring Him Home."

I actually think the orchestrations sound okay for the most part.

So with a month and a half until this show begins Broadway previews, I guess the only question left to ask is... could it be magic?

 

 

 

 

[BETTY22]

Posted: 9/1/23 at 7:36am

Chip Zien yelling at his past self to shoot Hitler has to be one of the more camp 11 o'clock numbers in a while. 

The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene - at the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust - is important, not camp. 

Shame on you. 

 

[Robbie2]

Posted: 9/1/23 at 1:15pm

HenryTDobson said: "ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "I’m enjoying much of the score but those orchestrations and mixing are awful. It feels so flat and digital, and the strings sound heavily augmented by synths, plus the classic sound of lazy orchestration: heavy piano underscoring. This really needed someone steeped in Broadway — a Doug Besterman or a Larry Hochman."

I couldn't agree more. It sounds like the vocalists are singing with karaoke tracks. Very strange.

Question for those who have seen the show - do you think Sierra's part will be considered lead or supporting? She's featured on the album much more than I expected."

Agree 100% with the cast singing karaoke sound as for Sierra Supporting.

I do hope they beef up the orchestra as is, it's sounding like a lot of synths and only a couple of pieces and a bit amateurish. Broadway deserves a larger orchestra from what we're hearing on the recording! Let's hope. I will be seeing this again at some point during the early run. We saw it downtown and it's a good show with a good score. Curious to see what's different for the Broadway run and with Julie btw, sounds great!

Updated On: 9/1/23 at 01:15 PM

[steve.sometime]

Posted: 9/1/23 at 1:41pm

Is it just me or does Every Single Day sound exactly like Take Me to the World (Evening Primrose)?

 

Updated On: 9/2/23 at 01:41 PM

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 9/1/23 at 3:07pm

BETTY22 said: "Chip Zien yelling at his past self to shoot Hitler has to be one of the more camp 11 o'clock numbers in a while.

The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene - at theMuseumofJewishHeritage: A LivingMemorialto theHolocaust - is important, not camp.

Shame on you."

This has nothing to do with either Folksbiene and the Museum of Jewish Heritage, both of which I deeply respect. As presented on the album, Zien's interjections throughout come across as frankly kind of goofy, particularly the "yes! no! yes! no!" sections, and combining that with "I could've killed Hitler!" is so on-the-nose in terms of how it's written and presented that I couldn't take it seriously at all. If it worked in the theatre, I imagine they could've found a way to make it work on the album, as do similar songs in other shows, such as Fun Home's Telephone Wire, or Take A Look, Lee from Assassins.