LA CAGE CAST RECORDING UPDATE- Page 2

[LaCageAuxFollesFan2]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 2:31pm

Chairty winning over La Cage certainly wouldnt be a good representation of BROADWAY AT ITS BRIGHTEST...then again, I think the same thing is SPAMALOT takes the top prize over the much more (IMO) deserved DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS!

[grizzabella]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 2:41pm

Luke makes a good point. It's not actually the original, revival cast. Also, Goulet's praise, from what I've heard from people who've seen him (I haven't)was critically more generous than it deserved to be. Frankly, if the audience is paying Broadway ticket prices, they have a right to a lead who actually plays the role and not himself. That's just my opinion, of course, and I'm admittedly not really a Goulet fan.
Sadly, because of all the baggage that this show has acrued, I have to agree with Munk. Let it go. The 18-20 percent drop in attendance since Daniel Davis' departure may have been audience goodwill, and the realization that the show isn't as good as it used to be.

[bryan]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 2:42pm

i am glad this is get a cast cd made but the show that still needs a cast cd is good vibrations.and i am not stop unil i hear a yes we will do one.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 2:44pm

Would you say if LA CAGE *doesn't* win the Tony - the cast recording has a significant less chance in getting made?

[LaCageAuxFollesFan2]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 2:49pm

Most certainly...it's all about protecting assets!

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 2:50pm

I say even if it wins there still won't be one. if they were going to make one they would have done it already. I can't imagine there have been very many cast recordings in all of history that were recorded six months after the show opened. I mean, it may have happened before, but I don't think it's common... at least not now...

[justthefacts2]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 7:04pm

That 10-seconds of Goulet singing "Song on the Sand" in the Beach dressing room video - If I had been the orchestra conductor trying to keep in some kind of time with him, I would have had to jab the baton into my eye to end it all. Tire chains couldn't have dragged that man into rhythm. I wanted to scream PLEASE PLEASE CATCH UP WITH THE BEAT!!! Where does the madness end?

[James2]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 7:20pm

Amour recorded its cast recording in April 2003 - about five months after it closed.

[Luke0827]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 1:28pm

If I had to bet, I'd put money on no recording being made. What would be the point (I ask not from an artistic perspective, but a marketing one)? There already is a cast album of the show, which is already a known entity. Something like Amour is new, and without an OBCR, the chances of it not fading into obscurity are slim. What are the benefits from a financial viewpoint of doing the recording? Attendance is poor, reviews weren't great, and unless the show wins a Tony it's history. This could have been a terrific revival, but the direction and casting choices have really hindered it.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 3:26pm

Luke0827 - The same could be said of nearly every revival recording, yet they still get recorded. Look at Pacific Overtures, Wonderful Town (Murphy AND Shields), Fiddler on the Roof, Man of La Mancha, Flower Drum Song, Gypsy and Nine. Were the recordings really justified? Not especially (other than possibly the "star" factor of Peters' Mama Rose), but sometimes people enjoy the show and want something to preserve the memory of the production they saw.

[MagicToDo82]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 3:31pm

While I agree with others who think it won't actually end up getting recorded, I want to say that I would totally buy it if it were to be recorded - Goulet or not - purely for the preservation of Gary Beach's performance.

[romanov]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 3:32pm

I will be stunned if La Cage is recorded.

[Hanna from Hamburg]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 3:35pm

One would hope that, if it were recorded, it would include "extras" that aren't in the original. For example, the German cast recording has Chantal's aria, which I was extremely happy to hear. Also, a lot of the dance material is cut and I would like to have that available on a recording. I, also, would like to have Beach's performance preserved.

[Mythus]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 3:35pm

Deciduous?

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 6:27pm

Probably won't happen. The producers were banking that hiring a "star" would raise attendance levels. Hiring Mr. Ghoulet did the opposite - attendance has been down since Daniel Davis left and got worse when Ghoulet took over.
Maybe winning for best revival might generate more interest, but personally, I love the score of La Cage, and I wouldn't pay 2 cents to hear the cast as it is now.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 6/2/05 at 1:31am

That's a good thing darlin'...cause nobody's offering it to you for two cents.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 6/2/05 at 6:54am

You're right - if I wanted to, anything is available on the internet for less. If they recorded this production as is, it wouldn't be worth the time it takes to download.

[Luke0827]

Posted: 6/2/05 at 10:24am

Mister Matt - I have to disagree with you. When a revival is mounted of a show that hasn't played Broadway in decades its cast often brings something new to the production that would make recording it seem like it's a fresh score. Also, if the show is doing well, or has a huge advance, getting the new cast recording made is a useful marketing tool to keep the ticket sales up.

For example, you mentioned Gypsy. Peters, Merman, Daly, and Lansbury were all so completely different in the role of Rose -- and the productions of Gypsy in which they starred so thoroughly unique -- that the recordings each held their own weight.

Other examples: Kiss Me, Kate hadn't been recorded in decades when Brian Stokes Mitchell and Marin Mazzie opened the revival. Listening to Alred Drake and Patrica Morrison was great, but the recording sounded old. It's still a great album, but the producers quite rightly felt that the new intrpretation and fresh sound of the leads would lure an audience -- and it did.

In the 1980's when Oklahoma! was revived, the original album was some 40 years old! There was a business need and an artistic need for the revival to be preserved.

I'd be willing to buy a new La Cage recording, because I collect show music. But at the same time, sentimental reasons not withstanding, I'd never give the okay to make the album if I were an investor in the show. It's lost too much money, and it's just sinking deeper -- in spite of, or perhaps because of -- the addition of quasi-star Robert Goulet.
Updated On: 6/2/05 at 10:24 AM

[Avigdor]

Posted: 6/2/05 at 2:08pm

i think for a matter of history and particularly education all shows should be recorded not everyone gets to go to the theatre or lives near a metropolitan area..the cd is great source of education. thats how i learned.........

[LaCageAuxFollesFan2]

Posted: 6/2/05 at 2:26pm

Avigdor - AMEN! Thats all Ive been preaching since the producers have been so wishy washy marketing this entire production. But to slight it in this way should be some kind of breach.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 6/2/05 at 4:37pm

I would love for this production to be recorded.
I really wanted to have the recording with Daniel Davis but I think the material is so good that this cast and Mr. Goulet merit a cd.