HARMONY Original Broadway Cast Recording Thread

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

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

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

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

is it going to be on cd I hope it will

Digital release is tomorrow.

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.

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."

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)

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?

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

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.