Show most poorly represented by the cast recording...- Page 3

[Liverpool]

Posted: 1/24/08 at 11:51am

Yeah the Spring Awakening recording definitely EXCEEDS live show.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/24/08 at 11:52am

Ragtime and Kiss of the Spider Woman. The CDs come off better than the original productions.

[nate2]

Posted: 1/24/08 at 11:54am

Legally Blonde. I love the show and the CD to death,but the CD just slows down the tempo in certain songs that are actually quite fast in the live version of the show...such as Positive, Whipped Into Shape, Bend and Snap and many more!

[philcrosby]

Posted: 1/24/08 at 12:11pm

Wicked. There is almost nothing about that recording that makes me want to see it.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 1/24/08 at 12:15pm

I have to agree with you on that one Phil Crosby (though I have seen the show). Wicked is much better live than its present recording. I only listened to the cast recording a couple of times and gave up.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 1/24/08 at 12:38pm

Xanadu, for sure. I LOVE that musical to death and the OBCR doesn't do the show justice. That musical was the most electric, fun, jubilant, and exhilatering show I have seen in a long time and the CD does not capture it. I almost feel as though they should have just recorded the live show. The live band seems lacking on the CD and many of the tunes fall flat. I'm not sure what happened in the studio. I am glad to have Mary and Jackie committed to CD, but I wish it were better.

I agree somewhat for Hairspray, especially regarding the final number. The orchestration in the live show was fierce and rocking and the CD did not have that version. I was disappointed.

[uncageg]

Posted: 1/24/08 at 12:43pm

I saw Brooklyn in Denver and loved the music but didn't care for the live OBCR and didn't buy it.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 1/24/08 at 12:52pm

Grand Hotel. It doesn't come anywhere near capturing the magic of the show, plus it doesn't have David Carroll.

[Brick]

Posted: 1/24/08 at 1:17pm

COMPANY 2006 BRCR
DREAMGIRL OBC
FOLLIES OBC
THE ACT

And I'm hoping XANADU is more exciting than the wedding-band CD.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 1/24/08 at 1:20pm

>plus it doesn't have David Carroll<

It wasn't for lack of trying... David Carroll dying at the recording studio had something to do with that.

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 1/24/08 at 1:31pm

The WICKED recording is in no way a fair representation of this show.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 1/24/08 at 2:01pm

So well I remember, Smaxie. The OBCR includes a "bonus" of his doing Love Won't Happen from a nightclub date he did shortly before he died. I ended up seeing the show 9 times, but DC was in it only when I saw the preview and one time shortly after that Christmas. I got Brent Barrett and Mark Jacoby as understudies from then on and Rex Smith later in the run. None of them began to compare. His is one of the great losses to musical theatre in this country. It was so sad that he couldn't appear in the We'll Take a Glass Together number on the Tony awards that season -- he was just too ill to do it. Fortunately, his performance was preserved on a house taping made during the early days of the run.

[Jade]

Posted: 1/24/08 at 2:17pm

I'm surprised at the number of people who've said Wicked. I actually think the cast recording sounds better than the live show, especially in the case of Defying Gravity.

The thing I don't like about the Rent cast recording is that it's slower than the live production. For a show that's so fantastic due to it's energy, that's a real problem.
Updated On: 1/24/08 at 02:17 PM

[obsessedjb]

Posted: 1/24/08 at 2:58pm

I completely disagree with Defying Gravity sounding better on the CD then live. For me, the intensity of that scene live will never come close to the CD.


but XANADU is also definitely better live

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 1/24/08 at 3:11pm

THE GOLDEN APPLE...it needs to be rerecorded in its entirety.

[Craww]

Posted: 1/24/08 at 4:22pm

That's the sad thing about Spring Awakening. I think Spring Awakening fits in this category, and also in the opposite. I sort of simultaneously feel the cast recording is better than the show, but that the music is better live than on the cast recording. Mostly, it's just a product of the changes made to the show after the cast recording was already done, and I'd feel if the changed score were on the CD it would definitely be stronger on CD than it is as a show.

Overall, most of the cast recordings I can think of that are underwhelming compared to the show are just that way naturally. Not a problem with the production or the performances on the CD, just a natural effect of the score itself. Like Grey Gardens. Or even something like Spelling Bee, where it's an enjoyable show but I honestly couldn't ever imagine listening to the cast recording.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/25/08 at 6:15pm

The WICKED recording is in no way a fair representation of this show.

Compared to most cast recordings, Wicked's recording is actually quite fair in representation.

The thing I don't like about the Rent cast recording is that it's slower than the live production.

Perhaps it is now, especially compared to what Rent has become, which was mostly sped up and phoned in so everyone can leave the theatre a bit more quickly. But if you compared the recording to the original production and cast, it is almost identical. The energy was still high, though it came through in the performances, not the tempos. The last time I saw Rent on Broadway, the quicker tempos had nothing whatsoever to do with energy. It was the amateur performances and sloppy management that brought down the entire show. Luckily, I had seen the show when it was still vibrant, but my poor boyfriend was seeing it for the first time and was hugely disappointed. He couldn't believe it was still running. I can't believe it was allowed to run in that condition. Awful.

As for Spring Awakening, I was mostly bored by the cast recording. Then I saw the show, which left me baffled. I agree that the CD does nothing to clue the listener in to the story or the concept of the musical, but I really don't think a complete or live recording is necessary either. The way the show is constructed is at odds with the idea of a representational cast recording. Regardless, I'm not a fan. Both the recording and the live performance left me cold, so in that sense, for me, the CD does represent the show pretty accurately.

Craww - Re: Spelling Bee, I get what you're saying, but I find that I love listening to the cast recording, which actually reminds me of some of the clever staging I enjoyed so much. And I could listen to The I Love You Song on repeat for days.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 1/25/08 at 9:27pm

Side Show. Why do Henry Krieger's shows always get a bum deal when they're recorded? Thank God I wasn't alive around the time that the original Broadway cast recording of Dreamgirls first came out otherwise I'd be waiting even longer for the Actors' Fund recording, which I love.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 1/25/08 at 9:54pm

My answer has always been THE WIZ. There's so much material missing on the recording and so little energy it sounds like one of the lame karaoke vocal cover recordings.