THE WIZ: 2015 NBC LIVE MUSICAL- Page 73

[smallvillefan16]

Posted: 12/11/15 at 11:16am

I'm so confused with what they did to Shanice's voice on "We Got It".... it has this bizarre echo and she sounds so faded into the background...

[seaweedjstubbs]

Posted: 12/11/15 at 11:17am

^The only people "getting there feelings out about race" are the racists.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 12/11/15 at 11:19am

I think the way this show sorted out the racists was extremely helpful.

[Brick]

Posted: 12/11/15 at 11:27am

I don't notice much over-processed auto-tune on the vocals, especially on Stephanie Mills. There is a lot of color to her voice, as well as much sliding around in pitch. Is there a part you are particularly noticing it?

[Showface]

Posted: 12/11/15 at 12:02pm

Danster said: "Unfortunately I came to hate this show with a vengeance. All it did was cause everyone to get his feelings out about race. A musical that simply does not have place for people from a different race, and nowadays almost every show can be interracial including Les Miserables and The Sound of Music. Pity it went this way.

 

 

 

"

Ummm....

 

This post makes zero sense

 

 

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 12/11/15 at 2:26pm

The most obvious auto-tune to my ears was Shanice on "Ease On Down The Road." Even Uzo sounded a little bit distorted, though maybe that was just the quality of the Spotify Stream.

[teddy1996]

Posted: 12/11/15 at 3:45pm

I don't like the way brand new day sounds. Imo, this would have been better if it were a live album. Some of the songs sound better live 

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 12/11/15 at 3:59pm

So, teddy, now that THE WIZ has ended... What ever will you do with your time?!

[teddy1996]

Posted: 12/11/15 at 5:47pm

Liza's Headband said: "So, teddy, now that THE WIZ has ended... What ever will you do with your time?!

 

"I am still going to post on here and many other threads

 

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 12/11/15 at 6:25pm

I think the orchestrations and arrangements are fine. I'd like them I to be more soulful. I think what hurts the album is the processed cold sound. Part of what makes this show and its score work is the emotion and soul that the performers put in. You don't get much of that on the recording. 

[MikeInTheDistrict]

Posted: 12/11/15 at 6:40pm

I don't know if just that the Spotify version has been overly compressed or something, but the soundtrack sounds really poorly mixed/mastered. The band sounds way too forward/loud and overpowers the vocals. And the vocals, although I thankfully don't hear any obvious autotune, sound... odd? processed? Each individual track seems to have a different issue. Stephanie Mills' vocals sound really compressed on "The Feeling We Once Had." Shanice sounds like they added too much reverb to "Soon As I Get Home." Same with Uzo Aduba's voice on "Believe In Yourself."

 

The male voices fare better, though.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/11/15 at 6:50pm

Did anybody buy the CD? I can't stand mp3 compression anyway. Everything sounds like it's mastered in a tin can.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 12/12/15 at 1:45am

Besty, you have stated that T Wizard of Oz was in no way political. I  do respect your opinion on the fact .However I question it when Mr Baum did in fact opine on political issues of the time. http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2010/10/27/130862391/l-frank-baum-advocated-extermination-of-native-americans

[gypsy101]

Posted: 12/12/15 at 2:42am

I just finished listening to the album. While some of the vocals I thought were better than the live show (just because it was recorded in a studio), the production of this album is abysmal. I agree with MikeInTheDistrict, every track seems to have a different problem. In "We Got It," Ne-Yo's performance basically disappeared. I agree with scarywarhol, Uzo's performance was better live (despite a bad note towards the end). What a disappointment. I remember liking last year's Peter Pan album much more than the live performance. This was the opposite unfortunately.

Updated On: 12/12/15 at 02:42 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/12/15 at 7:25am

"Besty, you have stated that T Wizard of Oz was in no way political. I  do respect your opinion on the fact .However I question it when Mr Baum did in fact opine on political issues of the time."

 

First of all, I never stated that the Wizard of Oz was in no way political. Quite the opposite. I said he was absolutely influenced by the people and places around him, including his mother-in-law who was a famous suffragette. Please re-read my post before you misquote me or misrepresent my opinion.

 

And it is just that, an opinion. I added that I discussed the recent editorials claiming all of these hidden political and economic meanings in The Wizard of Oz with two of his great-grandsons, and they refuted it as well, saying basically what I said. He was more influenced by the people and places around him than any hidden political agendas about the Emerald City representing capitalism and the Yellow Brick Road representing the gold standard, etc.

 

As far as his editorial while he was running a newspaper out in the "wild west," this was years before he moved to Chicago and wrote The Wizard of Oz. He held the unfortunate opinion of many white men who sought to repress and even "eliminate" the Native Americans to preserve their own race. I don't approve of that at all, but I also don't mix it up with his later writings in a children's book. Baum spoke plainly. His writing was always direct and economical. He said what was on his mind. If he wanted to write a political piece, he did so, and if he wanted to write a children's book, he did so. And yes, sometimes his political thoughts and opinions entered into this children's stories, but they did so in a direct way. No hidden meanings. He had an army of women attack and take over the Emerald City in his second Oz book ("The Marvelous Land of Oz" armed with knitting needles as weapons. Of course, this "amusing" plot device was influenced by the strong women in his own household.

 

He also showed another ugly trait of his era: racism. Check out "Rinkitink in Oz" where he depicts the "Tottenhots" (clearly lampooning the Hottentots of Africa) and although they are savages with scarlet hair, he refers to them as a "lower form of man."

 

Baum was human, a man, and very definitely a product if his time, influenced by the people and places around him. My comments in the other post addressed him hiding subliminal meanings in everything from the Yellow Brick Road to the poppy field, etc. I don't believe that to be true. I do believe his writing was influenced in a far more direct way by the people, places, and events of his era.

Updated On: 12/12/15 at 07:25 AM

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 12/12/15 at 11:42am

So let down by this recording.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/12/15 at 12:17pm

I thought it was supposed to be the live vocals from the telecast? Someone said that's the reason they didn't release it before the telecast. 

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 12/12/15 at 12:43pm

This soundtrack is really a huge let down, it doesn't manage to capture the energy and the magic of the live telecast at all. Once I get the DVD, I will be taking it to a friend of mine who can "rip" the audio and make me a CD from it. I prefer the vocals from the actual telecast.

 

The Original Broadway Cast Album remains for me, even with the exclusions of several musical numbers, the definitive version of this score, with the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack coming in a distant second and this new Soundtrack Recording a very, very distant third.

 

 

[broadway86]

Posted: 12/12/15 at 2:16pm

Interesting that people are commenting on how they prefer the live vocals. At least according to the producer, most of the vocals are from the telecast, with some takes used from the dress rehearsal.

[teddy1996]

Posted: 12/12/15 at 5:44pm

This is my fourth time watching this and i was just wondering, how come NBC never releases their live musicals on blu ray? They only made them available on dvd

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 12/13/15 at 1:33am

The truth is Blu-ray never caught on. It has beter picture quality, but it came about at the same time that streaming video began to pick up steam, and streaming video is so easy to use. you never have to leave the couch to turn one on. On top of that, Blu-ray movies are typically more expensive than DVDs, people are not interested in paying the extra cost. Because of thsee factors, many people never made the switch from DVD to Blu-ray, and many probably never will. That also means it makes less economic sense to release The Wiz for three different mediums. Since DVDs are backward compatible in Blu-ray players, they know that those wishing to have a hard copy will settle for a DVD, and the rest will buy an Internet based copy. Sadly, I think all hard copies are on their way out, which will have a negative affect on our culture when people in the future are trying to look back on our society. There won't be any hard copies of anything left to study.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/13/15 at 7:47am

A lot of inaccuracies in that post above. Blu-ray sales are doing quite well, thank you. Check out this chart for 2015. The top seller of the year, Big Hero made $56 million in Blu-ray sales alone, and $39 million in DVD sales.

 

What the studios are finding is that there are loyal fans of both formats who keep buying discs. And with money like that coming in, disc media isn't going away soon.

 

Not to mention that Blu-ray quality far exceeds even the best streaming service. No comparison in fact.

 

Since Blu-ray sales exceed DVD sales, again, with loyal fans supporting both formats, there is no good reason not to release The Wiz in both formats. And yes, there is a huge difference in picture and audio quality from DVD.

[smallvillefan16]

Posted: 12/13/15 at 11:23am

Yeah, Blu-rays are a huge industry. I too wish the WIZ was on blu-ray.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 12/13/15 at 12:10pm

Since Blu-ray sales exceed DVD sales, again, with loyal fans supporting both formats, there is no good reason not to release The Wiz in both formats. And yes, there is a huge difference in picture and audio quality from DVD."

I'm not sure that's accurate. For at least the last two months, DVD has outsold Blu-ray (at least according to the weekly sales reports from Home Media Magazine). I Do some Blu-Ray titles outsell the same DVD title. Sure. But it appears that DVD still does better in general. I agree with the above poster, that the price difference (and lack of availability of certain titles) are still the driving force of DVD over Blu-Ray. The best thing that ever happened to Blu-Ray was its inclusion in the Sony PlayStation. Blu-Ray still isn't even standard in PC or laptops. However, for him to say it never caught on is a bit disingenuous. While the sales trend appeared to be around 65/35, there were weeks were they were 55/45 or 51/49. But I think it's a safe bet that DVD won't be going away any time soon. 

[skies]

Posted: 12/13/15 at 1:21pm

I think Its hard to overemphasize the superior picture and audio quality of Blu Ray.  Most titles within months have comparable pricing versus DVDs so it makes sense to put the Wiz on Blu Ray.  It's not that expensive to produce anymore and music theatre fans would enjoy the quantum leap in quality.