Soft Power cast recording to be released April 17th

[raddersons]

Posted: 4/8/20 at 2:29pm

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/SOFT-POWER-Original-Cast-Recording-to-be-Released-The-Public-Theater-to-Host-Virtual-Listening-Party-20200408

One of my favorite shows of 2019 is getting it's cast recording released next Friday. Wild, crazy, messy, and endearing, with a phenomenal score by Jeanine Tesori... this was a total love it or hate it show. The clip of the finale sounds gorgeous.

Updated On: 4/8/20 at 02:29 PM

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 4/8/20 at 6:08pm

I was so excited to see that this was coming out and already preordered it (which I rarely do).  While I'll admit I wasn't the biggest fan of the music itself, I loved the concept of what this show was trying to do and I'm interested to see how much of that will translate on the album alone.  That finale is definitely a great one though.

[raddersons]

Posted: 4/17/20 at 9:40am

Listening to this now, I forgot how much this show pastiches classic musical styles. Hillary Clinton coming out and having a "We Got Trouble" moment is definitely bizarre, but it also just fits perfectly. 

[Kad]

Posted: 4/17/20 at 10:08am

I’m curious to see how people will respond to this score without the rather elaborate context.

[raddersons]

Posted: 4/17/20 at 10:18am

Kad said: "I’m curious to see how people will respond to this score without the rather elaborate context."

Yes I agree -- I just sent a song to a friend and realized I had to type a whole paragraph for them to understand the ironic context of it all.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/17/20 at 1:31pm

I didn’t get to see the show. I don’t know what to make of this album at all but I can’t say I’m not enjoying it.

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 4/17/20 at 1:42pm

I think liner notes could've helped a lot with this one, but I'm realizing so much of the irony and satire also comes from the visuals and book scenes, and we also miss out on all the choreography homages.  Like raddersons, I basically had to walk my friend through each song, though even without context she was pretty intrigued already just by being a Chinese-American.

Gotta say, Election Night is a great bop but also comes with a huge dose of oof

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/17/20 at 4:19pm

A digital booklet would have helped a great deal.

[Fan123]

Posted: 4/17/20 at 4:55pm

It's possible that the listening party mentioned on another thread, being held 8pm tonight (New York time), might provide more context? I won't be able to tune in myself. Otherwise, hopefully one of those Playbill track-by-track cast album articles will be done, and/or maybe some Genius annotations by the creators.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/SOFT-POWER-Original-Cast-Recording-Out-Today-With-Benefit-Listening-Party-at-8pm-20200417

After one listen, I'm pretty confused myself! I can't figure out when, if ever, the songs are meant to be sincere. This album illustrates so clearly to me how musical theatre is often on that edge between heart-rending and ridiculous - which is one of the things I love about it. Am I meant to be laughing all the way through 'I Am', or taking parts of it sincerely? (And... am I just an insensitive white so-and-so for wondering if I should be laughing??) And I think I've read previously that 'Democracy' comes across as sincere within the show, but it came across as pretty satirical to me on the album. So. Well, I'm not sure yet if I like it, but it ain't boring, anyway.

[Kad]

Posted: 4/17/20 at 5:22pm

That's sort of the thing- the score is very much ironic, from top to bottom, except for the reprise of "Democracy." Describing it as a "show within a show" doesn't even fully explain it. The conceit is that a fictionalized David Henry Hwang is working on a play for a Chinese producer, but is brutally attacked shortly after the 2016 election (which did happen!) and fantasizes this musical written in a future in which China is the dominant cultural force in the world, not America. There is even a scene following intermission of a panel of Chinese academics discussing the legacy of the work and musical theater and the depiction of America.

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 4/17/20 at 5:37pm

To add on to that, it's kind of a reversal of King and I, which incorporates sweeping generalizations about a society and has a bit of a white savior complex.  In this show-within-a-show, it demonstrates the kind of generalized idea of Americans who are all gun-toting redneck brutes that all hate China.  There's some subtext (that's made pretty plain) about saving face vs. following your heart as well (where Chinese values would be to save face while American values would be to follow your heart).  It's also worth noting that besides Alyse Alan Louis, the entire cast is Asian, and would perform in blonde wigs as a reversal of yellowface, while sporting names like Bobby Bob and Randy Ray.  The musical numbers are also supposed to be a mishmash of common musical theater tropes, along with a lot of direct allusions, since the idea is that China took this "crude" art form that America created and improved on it.

I think there are bits of sincerity in there that are definitely hammed up and treated clumsily (on purpose) like the idea of face vs heart and the experience of a Chinese-American feeling like they don't belong completely to either culture.  The Democracy reprise is the only song that's meant to not be ironic, and probably speaks pretty directly to the experience that David Henry Hwang had during and after his attack/the 2016 election.

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 4/17/20 at 11:42pm

''The Democracy reprise is the only song that's meant to not be ironic''

''Soft Power'' has plenty of satirical and ironic numbers, like ''I'm With Her,'' ''Election Night'' and ''Good Guy With a Gun,'' but it's not all tongue-in-cheek. I find ''Fuxing Park'' and ''I Am,'' in particular, quite beautiful and sincere sentiments, set to soaring melodies.

By the way, the live listening party was fun, and it was great to see so many of the creatives and cast members take part: David Henry Hwang, Jeanine Tesori, Leigh Silverman, Sam Pinkleton, Conrad Ricamora, Francis Jue, Raymond J. Lee, etc. Listening to this cast album only deepened my appreciation of this wonderful, one-of-a-kind score and Danny Troob's expert orchestrations.