WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording- Page 4
WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
#75WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/25/17 at 12:11pm
ljay889 said: "As I predicted with Women on the Verge, I believe this score will grow on listeners with the advantage of listening to the cast recording. It's an intricate score with unfamiliar yet rewarding melodies. The majority of the lyrics are smartly crafted, and the orchestrations are lovely. I hear an amalgamation of Cy Coleman and Sondheim influences in the score, several of the upbeat "jazzy" numbers remind me of City of Angels."
I didn't read what you originally predicted for Women on the Verge BUT I saw the show and thought "What a mess" and almost left at intermission but for some reason I still bought the music. It is one of the best records I like to listen to.
So when when I listen to a show that I've never seen but like the music and the show bombed, I think of Women on the Verge.
#76WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/25/17 at 12:14pm
Sounds great! Ebersole used a bit more chest voice in the theater...but I'll still be replaying it all day.
"Oh look at the time, three more intelligent plays just closed and THE ADDAMS FAMILY made another million dollars" -Jackie Hoffman, Broadway.com Audience Awards
#77WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/25/17 at 12:23pm
Unworkable shows with greatly enjoyable scores/cast recordings are far from rare...
#78WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/25/17 at 6:25pm
Due to timezone differences I've listened to the whole recording - it's a great recording. To my ears the orchestrations sound sublime (have they been expanded?) and we do seem to be moving further and further away from the years between 2004-2010 (approx). where cast recordings sounded so flat and sterile.
I don't know if it will win any new fans, but there are definitely a bunch of great songs in my opinion that will make for some repeat listening: "Behind the Red Door", "Back on Top", "If I'd Been a Man", "Face to Face", :"Now you Know", "Pink", "Forever Beautiful" and "Beauty in the World" (in particular). That's quite a lot! I've said this before but Grey Gardens, while might having higher highs - actually has a similar problem to War Paint in the sense that there are a bunch of throw away songs and only a collection of great ones. I suppose I'm leading to making a claim that I actually don't think the Grey Gardens score is that much better than War Paint if we start 'counting' all the good songs in each. Or rather, I should say as a whole I almost like War Paint as much as Grey Gardens.
"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
Updated On: 5/25/17 at 06:25 PM
#79WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/25/17 at 11:21pm
Available now on iTunes - just downloaded and am currently listening. It sounds GORGEOUS.
"Sticks and stones, sister. Here, have a Valium." - Patti LuPone, a Memoir
#80WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/26/17 at 1:13am
Sally Durant Plummer said: "Available now on iTunes - just downloaded and am currently listening. It sounds GORGEOUS.
"yes it does...rich orchestrations. Listening now on Spotify.
"Anything you do, let it it come from you--then it will be new."
Sunday in the Park with George
#81WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/26/17 at 2:03am
how does a song like A Woman's Face get removed but Dinosaurs doesn't?? i much preferred the original Chicago opening. enjoying the recording so far!
"Contentment, it seems, simply happens. It appears accompanied by no bravos and no tears."
broadwayboy223
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/2/14
#82WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/26/17 at 9:38am
I have to agree this album sounds amazing, but A Woman's Face is a much better song. I know they wanted to save the entrances for Patti and Christine separately. I just think they could have had the female ensemble sing it without Patti and Christine. It was a very catchy melody that set the tone of the show.
#83WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/26/17 at 9:51am
As I predicted with Women on the Verge, I believe this score will grow on listeners with the advantage of listening to the cast recording. It's an intricate score with unfamiliar yet rewarding melodies.
When I saw Women on the Verge, I was immediately taken with the score. I actually had a couple of the melodies stuck in my head for weeks and I also really enjoyed the show. When I saw War Paint, Pink was the only memorable number and I only remember what some of the other songs were about, but what did strike me at the time was how similar and generic most of the music was. Women on the Verge had me jonesing for a cast recording. War Paint doesn't. I'm curious to hear the recording to see if I feel I can enjoy the score more out of context than I did within the show, which I found tedious and flat. But then, I haven't found their previous scores to be much more than...pleasant. Like Pasek & Paul, I find the music pleasant, but not really remarkable and I usually can't recall a single tune or they don't inspire repetitive listenings. The reason I mostly remember the song Pink is purely from Ebersole singing the lyric again and again "PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINK...PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINK..." That's it. That's all I recall from the song.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
broadwayboy223
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/2/14
#84WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/26/17 at 9:54am
When did they cut the song that Arden sings about her husband? I thought it was cute. Also Patti and Christine are doing some amazing vocal work.
#85WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/26/17 at 9:57am
With that comparison I meant this score will grow on listeners with the advantage of the cast recording, like Verge. Verge is much catchier score, I wasn't comparing the two sounds.
#86WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/26/17 at 11:17am
The album is currently number 34 on the iTunes top 200. Not bad!
#87WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/26/17 at 11:17am
Well, the orchestra sounds lovely and both women are definitely at peak vocal performance, but boy, what a dud of a score. I thought maybe it'd leave a better impression after seeing it and being disappointed. Alas. A couple nice melodies and songs, but the lyrics are so clunky and the melodrama of it isn't much fun.
#88WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/26/17 at 12:12pm
Patti, Christine & the score sound exquisite. If Bette wasn't such a sure bet this year, I'd love to see which of these two could take the Tony.
"Oh look at the time, three more intelligent plays just closed and THE ADDAMS FAMILY made another million dollars" -Jackie Hoffman, Broadway.com Audience Awards
JaglinSays
Stand-by Joined: 5/22/14
#89WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/26/17 at 12:59pm
I would love to see a Patti upset & take the award from lazy, limp Bette, whose singing & acting are--to put it politely--wan by comparison.
#90WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/26/17 at 1:01pm
These are the best orchestrations that I've heard on a cast recording in years; I downloaded from iTunes, so there are no liner notes, but I assume that there are extra personnel added for the recording?
I mean, I enjoyed the orchestrations in the theatre, but they sound more full on the recording.
#91WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/26/17 at 1:39pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXaqOOuiCMc
So happy they posted this video! I love seeing the clips of them in the show!!
#92WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/26/17 at 2:42pm
Yeah the score can be a bit clunky. I find it to be Frankel and Korie's weakest score, but I still enjoy it more than Come From Away and even parts of Groundhog Day. I'm a bit puzzled as to why the show seems to be played as camp. I just think that, that was a poor choice. The men's roles should be greatly reduced and their songs removed. As bad as they were in the theatre, they are even worse on the recording. Patti sounds so youthful, even if her accent and the wordy lyrics sometimes get the best of her, and Christine sounds lovely, as usual.
The orchestrations are phenomenal on this recording. They were great in the theatre, but it sounds as if they have been fleshed out and expanded for the album. The only problem that I have with the orchestrations is that completely historically inappropriate synth at the beginning of Step on Out. It's a bit jarring.
I love Ghostlight's albums because they are always wonderfully theatrical and they always sound so warm and lush.
RW3
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/13
#93WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/26/17 at 6:07pm
Dinosaurs is...really...um....something.
#94WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/26/17 at 7:09pm
Dinosaurs is pretty terrible, but it's still a better song than Welcome to the Rock................
Honestly at least Dinosaurs is a pretty entertaining song, even if we aren't necessarily laughing with the entertainers, Come From Away literally sounds and looks like an SNL skit about musical theatre (especially with that choreography).
#95WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/26/17 at 7:18pm
I'm not a fan of the music of Dinosaurs but it does have a clear dramatic purpose. Do we think even the message is a bit too heavy-handed? (Trying to understand if the criticism is about the message or execution, or both). The idea that they are from another era/haven't caught up with the times is a pretty clear theme with or without the song.
"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
Updated On: 5/26/17 at 07:18 PM
#96WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/26/17 at 7:27pm
I think the dinosaur impressions are a tad bit much.
RW3
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/13
#97WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/26/17 at 7:40pm
icecreambenjamin said: "I think the dinosaur impressions are a tad bit much.
Agreed.
#98WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/26/17 at 7:45pm
DINOSAURS received an enthusiastic response from the audience both times I've seen the show. I don't think it's THAT bad, it's a short song anyway.
Fordham2015
Broadway Star Joined: 4/3/17
#99WAR PAINT - The Original Broadway Cast Recording
Posted: 5/26/17 at 10:25pm
There are two great songs on this album: Face to Face and Forever Beautiful. Pink is really overrated, Dinosaurs is a little annoying but inoffensive and the rest is pretty forgettable.
Those two songs and Patti's great zingers will be my only real lasting memories from this show.
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