Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
I can't wait until it comes out!
I thought they would just put her "live" clip on the CD...guess not. Which is good.
Random mooing...and a cell phone ringing!
Where did we hear that the OTM on the soundtrack isn't the one in the movie? It sounds like it was the "live recording" if you listen to it carefully...
I love the new take on OTM, besides the whimpy "Then Elsie whispered to me: A Leap of faith." I feel like some of that toning down is a directorial choice. Idina doesn't seem like the type to think "Hmm. Let me NOT belt this."
Well, everything is "toned" down on the soundtrack recording. It's called being natural for the intimacy of film :)
That's not what I'm referring to though. Obviously you have to adapt to the space that you're acting in. The vocals in that one particular part are unecessarily toned down. There's something awkward about the transition into the next part now. It's...anticlimatic?
Featured Actor Joined: 5/29/05
Honestly I thought OTM was TERRIBLE. The soundtrack is good, nice to jam to. I'll keep the details secret as to not ruin the surprise. But I think it should be precieved well overall.
*BTW my copy is legal, FoF
Hmmm I didn't think Idina of all people would get mixed to bad reviews. I found Take Me or Leave Me disappointing.
I think TMOLM came out best of all the songs on the soundtrack.
I dont like TMOLM much either. But I think OTM sounds appopriately droll and absurd.
Oh, and is it just me or does Idina sound like she's QUACKING(?!?) at the end of OTM? I don't know WHAT that was, but it didn't sound like a cow to me. In general, OTM disapoints me.
Yep, that's my 2 cents.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
Yes...but Idina said she did OTM 25 or somehting times?
She probably was dying by the end.
I think the orchestral music of Tango Maureen is great!
I really think Over the Moon (on that soundtrack) is something akin to movie magic, if not that, and probably what will usher Idina to any critical acclaim she gets for her work on this film. I hope she's consistently good.
When I said TMOLM was disappointing, I didn't mean it was "bad." The line readings just weren't on the mark throughout the song as in the OBCR. It didn't always flow.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
And this has nothing to do with the OBC, but what's up with where they started LA VIE BOHEME?
It seems they should have just started with "Dearly Beloved..."
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/18/04
I was QUITE pleased with Rosario, but upset with the fact that Anthony Rapp uses no vibrato--I like his vibrato!
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
Rosario was amazing! I really was smitten!
And Jesse was awesome - he just went all out ghetto-style...
"Which she ain't never studied!" <---Best part of CD
Tracie is officially the new love of my life!
Wilson - honestly, it doesn't get any better.
Adam was good - Anthony definitely wipes him out...as does Rosario...and anyone else. But OSG is good.
Idina was a bit disappointing. Though I do love her chemistry with Tracie...and the new bits in TMoLM (and Tracie speaking while Idina sings). Her mooning better be good.
I love all the new orchestrations...I'm sure people will complain about them. W/E
I gotta mention Tracie again because she is just awesome.
Idina and Tracie rocked "Love Heals"...as did Jesse.
The sound seems very off. I'm getting used to it. That's not even comparing to the OBC, but to any CD. I can't tell what it is, but something isn't right. Who knows?
Oh, I'LL COVER YOU (REPRISE) is amazing!
What's nice is that so many people didn't see the OBC...and of course people don't sound the same live as on the OBC...so this is like another way they "sound."
Updated On: 9/20/05 at 10:34 PM
Right, if the waiter was still going to sing in the middle of La Vie Boheme A anyway, they might as well have opened with "No please, no, not tonight please..." rather than cutting all of that out.
It's not like there aren't other moments on the soundtrack in which people sing lines that could've just as easily been spoken.
Rapp seems to have turned to singing very harshly--almost yelling a lot of his lines. Works at some parts EXTREMELY well, at others, it makes me feel as though his voice has gone a little...
I was pleased with Rosario. I enjoyed her "Out Tonight," but it's a little..whimpy, for the lack of a better word. She hits all the notes, her voice just doesn't seem to have the power to be fierce enough at some points. Otherwise she's got a great quality to her voice for the character and gets feeling across in the music very well without ever overdoing it.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
Another thing - the music is very loud and at time engulfs the vocals like the blob did to that poor guy trapped in the telephone booth. I always check the newspapers to make sure there's not blob attack before stepping in one of them.
Anyway, Out Tonight and OSG, Rosario and Adam get eaten by the music. Shame - since they both rock.
Remember - from the very beginning, Mimi is supposed to be weaker than normal...so...
"Remember - from the very beginning, Mimi is supposed to be weaker than normal...so..."
I understand this argument, but I generally disagree with it. Randomly breaking into song and dance defies reality, so why not take a step further by singing and dancing REALLY WELL?
I don't know. I feel that Adam's failure to take care of his voice and Rosario's lack of... fierceness... is responsible for the (occasional) poor quality. They aren't in character. They're just great at times and mediocre at others.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
Yeah, true.
Oh well....you would think they would make her stronger...
But I enjoy her a lot!
For once we can call it a SOUNDTRACK without some diva jumping down our throats! Praise da Lord for dat, kiddies. Yo. :)
I'm gonna get SO BLASTED for this, but I need to get it out there:
Idina Menzel just sounds tired during OTM. She like sighs at the beginning and sometime in the middle of it, and then talks in an angry-bored voice, and then yells (just my opinion; I know lots of other people disagree) and goes back and forth between the angry monotone and the angry yelling. IMO, it is the worst song on the soundtrack (and, honestly, the only thing I don't like about it is Idina). I think the version we're hearing on the CD IS the live-recording; I heard that they didn't record it AT ALL in the studio, and they just took her live performance and put it on the CD. If you guys remember her one blog where she said, "I feel likejust going *pretends to take a drag of a cigarrette and drawls boredly and casually* 'last night i had a dream' ", in all honestly, to me it sounds like she did just that.
And, to address "the poor thing had to do it twenty-five times"- every actor had to perform each scene multiple times. They spent almost a week straight working long hours filming La Vie Boheme. They spent like three days doing the I'll Cover You: Reprise; that couldn't have been easy for Jesse. NOW, TO BE FAIR, Jesse didn't have to SOUND good while filming that scene because it was prerecorded, whereas Idina had to act and sing FOR REAL multiple times, so it is very, very possible that that got to her. Perhaps recording her voice life WASN'T such a great idea after all. Hopefully, her acting will be able to override it.
I was initially disappointed with TMOLM (Idina does weird stuff with her voice in this- not bad stuff, but weird stuff), but have really grown to love it a lot. *shrugs* It just sounds really cool, and I really do like Idina's voice.
To me, Rosario- though obviously not as vocally strong as the rest of the cast- DOES seem in character, and does have a nice, smooth voice that will work on film. I don't see lack of fierceness as being out of character, I see it as a different less-fierce take on the character. Adam, however... I really miss his OBC voice. He's still very talented, but his voice is different, and it sounds a lot more whiny (and that's not good, b/c Roger gets too whiny too easily for me without having an almost whiny voice). I'm actually having more issues with Adam than Rosario. :-/
Yes, the music DOES overpower at times- probably the biggest flaw quality-wise with this CD. Did anyone notice the difference in Rosario and Adam's volume at the beginning of I Should Tell You (which I loved)? Adam's like whispering- which is fine and in character and all- and Rosario is like talking normally, and somehow (I'm guessing it's the way it's mixed?) she sounds like she's screaming over him. Perhaps I just have my volume up too much? :-/
I will end the rant now, saying that I loved Anthony, Wilson, TRACIE (yay for her), Taye, and Jesse gets a gold star for rocking every line he says in one way or another. Overall, I loved the CD, I just needed a place to whine.
Also, I really am not a big fan of love heals. Would rather have something less sentimental and with more attitude *cough* *Boho Days* *cough*, but whaetver. Cast did a nice job with it; I guess it is beautiful in its own way. Just really sentimental, that's all.
Like I said, I've not heard it all yet, but -- Adam's failure to take care of his voice? I know he's not been the best of voice-carers, specifics aside, but he's certainly done more of late to take care of it than he did when he was doing Rent on stage. I think he's done naught but improve.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
I am pretty sure the sigh at the beginning was meant to be ther.
But why a telephone ring?
Yeah, it probably was. I don't understand what it added though. It really just sounded like "Ugh, I don't want to do this again...." when it was probably supposed to convey "I'm gonna take a deep breath to prepare myself and then TOTALLY ROCK THIS PERFORMANCE!"
I didn't hear the ring (only listened to the whole thing twice, though- I keep saying "I'll give it another shot" and just getting to bored to continue), but I would guess it's Benny's cell phone.
I think Adam is great for most of the CD's "Act 2" but sounds like hell for parts of Act 1 (though there are strokes of the old great Adam in Rent, Another Day, etc).
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