We all know that replacement casts rarely get recorded (has that ever even happened?), but if you could rewind time and have a certain replacement get in the recording studio and sing all of your favorite songs, who would it be?
I really wish that the Cabaret cast with Raul and Gina had been recorded. Raul sang the crap out of that part and Gina was shockingly good. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Alan and Natasha, but I wish I could (legally) listen to Raul and Gina sing that score.
I wish the RENT final cast had gotten in the studio (I know there's a DVD, but I would love to have a CD to go along with it) mainly because A) They were awesome B) There really isn't a RENT recording that 'works' for me. The OBCR sounds insanely cheap and Daphne Rubin-Vega's slower numbers came out to be extremely awkward. The Soundtrack sounds very well recorded, but it is incomplete...and Rosario's singing is nothing spectacular.
"There's nothing good on. The media hates Christmas. The media loves vampires, though. Maybe they will show a Twilight Christmas." -Danmeg's 10 year old son.
But in this day and age, it's not all that difficult to "procure" an amateur version. Or so I'm told.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
I'm vaguely curious about Leslie Uggams in Anything Goes. Patti got such good reviews and I love her on the recording, but I also know Leslie Uggams were really well received.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
I agree that replacements should be recorded because the first time people see the show, they love the voices! If I wanted to choose a album, it would be Spring Awakening! The tour cast though. The tour cast is better than the original cast in my perspective.
I would have liked a professional recording of Jonathan Pryce in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Though I love John Lithgow, Pryce was incredible!
<--- the set of A Midsummer Night's Dream that I was assistant stage manager for during the 2007 season at the STNJ outdoor stage.
-Dre-
You must remember all the same that at the crux of every game is knowing when it's time to leave the table... And it's important to be artful in your exit. No turning back, you must accept the con is done... It was a ball, it was a blast. And it's a shame it couldn't last. But every chapter has to end, you must agree. ~Dirty Rotten Scoundrels~
There's a special kind of people known as show people. We live in a world full of dreams. Sometimes we're not too certain what's false and what's real. But we're seldom in doubt about what we feel. ~Curtains~
It is a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest I go to, than I have ever known. ~A Tale of Two Cities ~
I kinda hate, even though I am a fan, that Amy Spanger is the one on the Rock of Ages OBCR since she was in the show for such a short period of time (and I prefer Savannah's Sherrie anyway!).
I agree about RENT as well.
"If we don't live happily ever after at least we survive until the end of the week!"
-Kermit the frog"I need the money... it costs a lot to look this cheap!" -Dolly P."Oh please, Over at 'Gypsy' Patti LuPone hasn't even alienated her first daughter yet!" Mary Testa in "Xanadu""...Like a drunk Chita Rivera!" Robin de Jesus in "In the Heights"
"B*tch, I don't know your life." -Xanadu
After that if he still doesn't understand why you were uncomfortable and are now infuriated, kick him again but this time with Jazz Hands!!! -KillerTofu
I always thought it was a little strange that we got a replacement cast recording of Brooke Shields in Grease! and Brooke Shields in Wonderful Town, but we didn't get any Brooke Shields in Cabaret or Brooke Shields in Chicago. I guess it was just too late after the original cast had left to supplement her vocals on the other two? Although I understand it may have been a little sacrilege to replace Natasha Richardson's vocals with Brooke's.
Reba McEntire in ANNIE GET YOUR GUN. (She does have the promo tracks but that don't count, if anything prove they should have re-recorded :P).
I would have liked to hear Raul in CABARET (I can't stand bootleg audio recordings so while I know I could have 'heard' him I couldn't 'listen' to it more than once or twice)..though I think Alan Cumming was perfection so I'm not too hurt.
Some replacement card CDs have been recorded (Spider woman with Vanessa Williams).
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
Dorothy Loudon's Lovette in Sweeney Todd Pearl Bailey's Dolly Levi in Hello, DOlly! (tho this may exist??) Carolee Carmello's Donna in Mamma Mia and her Pennywise in Urinetown.
I would like to see some London cast recordings of shows that originally opened up here, such as Wicked, Hairspray and, because I am a Mille fan, Thoroughly Modern Millie.
I wish they would tape more of the London cast recordings even if the show transferred from America and vice versa. Even if it isn't really necessary, but it still would be nice (like how they have Chicago London cast in addition to the recordings from Broadway).
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
I agree with the comment about Carolee Carmello in Mamma Mia...she was fantastic in the role. Also, Colm Wilkinson's performance as the Phantom in the Canadian debut was incredible and I would love to hear that on a recording. Also, Ashley Brown in Beauty and the Beast.
I completely agree. I recently discovered the youtube clips of the Canadian production as they prepared for their debut and fell in love with Colm and Rebecca. I much prefer her sound to Sarah Brightman.
The 1965 London Cast album of HELLO DOLLY, starring Mary Martin as Dolly was also recorded by RCA, mainly because Martin also was the star of the touring production of the show in the US which generated a demand for the alternate cast album. The Mary Martin is quite possibly the finest recording of "Hello Dolly" ever, certainly the best sung. It is also available on CD through Arkiv.
Larry Kert, who replaced Dean Jones as Bobby in the original 1970 run of Sondheim's Company less than a week after it opened and received rave reviews and a Tony nomination (a first for a lead actor who did not originate a role), also got to record his vocals for an alternate Cast Recording which was called the London Cast ( Kert and the rest of the original Broadway Cast transferred intact except for Susan Browning to the London production) but in actuality Kert recorded his vocals to the same pre-existing orchestral tracks that Dean Jones had sung to on the official Broadway Cast album, except for Barcelona, which was newly recorded for this album. Although Larry Kert is still considered by Sondheim to be the definitive Bobby, the London Cast with Kert has never been released complete in any format in the US but Kert's electrifying vocal of Being Alive is included on the currently available Broadway Cast CD as an extra track.
My Avatar is the amazing young singer, James Anest
Also, Ashley Brown in Beauty and the Beast I know this is not the whole show, but you can hear her sing A Change in Me (quite stunningly) on the On the Record recording. Since the song was originally written for the limited range of Toni Braxton, it's pretty cool to hear this revised arrangement, particularly the beltier ending. When Brown took over the role on Broadway, they used this version of the song, not the original version.
is the bonus track of "Being Alive" representative of the entire Kert cast album? I have heard complaints about this (saying you can even hear Dean Jones' voice echoing lol, and that the quality is bad), but I don't hear it in the bonus track, and wonder if it has been 'touched up'.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000