Wayman_Wong said: "I've had great luck catching Conrad Ricamora onstage. I saw him in ''Little Shop of Horrors,'' and his Broadway debut in ''The King and I.'' I've seen him multiple times in ''Here Lies Love,'' when it played the Public about a decade ago, not to mention recent shows now on Broadway.
I guess it’s 3 strikes and you’re out for me! After missing Conrad Ricamora the first two times I tried, I made a special one night detour through NYC before returning home from Boston so I could see him since he seemed to be back. Alas, he was out again on Wednesday night! I live too far away to be back for quite a while, so I guess the fates are against me on this. However, this time I did get to see Lea Salonga, which was a treat.
Anyway, I wanted to give my two cents on the show after seeing it twice, once from the VIP lounge, and once from the floor. As a professional instrumentalist myself, I would like to address the controversy about live musicians by comparing it with the other show I watched earlier that day, Hadestown. I’ve seen it multiple times, but this time, sitting in the far left front row (lottery.) With the instrumentalists so close, and with a brand new cast member (Solea Pfeiffer,) I became aware of the tight collaboration between the instrumentalists and the singers, and I realized that that is part of what makes Hadestown so special. As a musician myself who has played in many pits, I am very aware of how the instrumentalists adjust with the singers so that the ensemble is always perfectly together. In fact, instrumentalists will even jump ahead if needed when a singer comes in a little early, and I felt like I might have noticed one moment like that at Hadestown. The result is very organic and allows the singers to have some flexibility in their timing and interpretation. It can seem subtle to the average viewer, but it actually makes so much difference.
Flash forward to that evening. After the negotiation with the musicians’ union, it seems that the instrumentalists have been shoehorned into the very end of the show to meet the requirement. I understand that the show is supposed to have a karaoke quality, but I also have heard that they used live musicians for the cast recording, and you can hear it made a difference. Sitting in the VIP lounge a couple of weeks ago, I wondered if that area could even have been used for instrumentalists. (Those seats are just not great, anyway.)
There are places in the show when the singers seem just very slightly out of sync with the backing tracks, through no real fault of their own, but because it lacks the give and take of playing with live musicians. Having live instrumentalists would have made everything gel more, and would have taken the show to the next level. Overall, I loved this show, but regret this decision on the part of the producers. And when you compare this show to David Byrnes/Alex Timbers’ American Utopia, it is a surprising choice, too. American Utopia actually celebrated the collaboration between vocalists and instrumentalists in a way that was mesmerizing.
***Edited my post to correct that there were never live musicians in the previous versions of show, but my understanding is that they used live musicians for the cast recording.( I just read the show's explanation for the recorded music as being artificial as to represent of the artificiality of the Marcos. That may be an artistic choice to suit the story, but I still think it detracts from overall quality of the performance.)
Updated On: 8/18/23 at 11:57 AM
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