Which cast recording could you listen to over and over again?- Page 2

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 11:26am

The ones I listen to most often:

Two Gentlemen of Verona
Tanz der Vampire
Legally Blonde (London)
Next to Normal

New obsession:

Matilda

[wonkit]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 11:50am

OBC Sweeney Todd
2006 Revival Company
1976 revival My Fair Lady (with the late, great Ian Richardson as Higgins)

[minicko88]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 12:27pm

Easy choice... Parade

[twinbelters]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 12:31pm

All cast recordings including Susan Johnson (Whoop-Up!, Donnybrook!, Oh! Captain, Most Happy...).

OBC Two Gentleman of Verona
OC The Baker's Wife
OBC House of Flowers
OBC Li'l Abner
NYCOC Regina
OBC Juno
OC In Trousers/Falsettos
OLC Isabel's a Jezebel

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 12:54pm

Wonkit: I saw the revival of MY FAIR LADY with Ian Richardson and George Rose and was very impressed with these two, less so with the actress who played Eliza. I did not realize that there was a recording of this 1976 production. I shall have to get it.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 1:26pm

Christine Andreas played Eliza in the '76 revival. I didn't see the production so can't comment on her performance.

But I heard her version of "Show Me" from the cast recording by pure chance on Pandora (I think on the Sutton Foster station) yesterday.

It was sensational!

[SondheimFan5]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 1:52pm

Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Kiss Me Kate, SITPWG, Guys & Dolls, The Producers, Company, Urinetown

[vf]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 1:52pm

Original cast recording of Kismet with Alfred Drake, Richard Kiley and the amazing Doretta Morrow. I bought a bunch of original cast recordings at Borders going out of business sale, but Kismet is the one I listen to the most. What voices!!! Some of the songs I skip, that musical must have one screwy plot, but some of them are so beautiful! The singing sounds really challenging but the cast pulls it off. Between the weird plot (set in Baghdad!) and the difficulty of the singing, I guess this is one musical that will never get a big revival, but I highly recommend this CD. (link is to Masterworks Broadway site, seems like you can listen to the whole thing on-line)

Also, the 2008 revival of South Pacific. O'Hara and Szot, sigh.

Masterworks Broadway-original cast recording Kismet

[Dollypop]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 2:12pm

<-----------------------

Never a day goes by!

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 4:50pm

KISMET does have a great score. It was basically revived in the 1980's under a different title, directed by Geoffrey Holder, I believe. People on here have posted negative comments about the revival, but I thought it was terrific. I think it played the Mark Hellinger, a fitting theatre for such an elaborate show.

[Lenexajones]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 5:05pm

My current favorite: Catch Me If You Can -- and I never got to see the show. The music is addictive.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 5:06pm

Gypsy9 - You must be thinking of Timbuktu! starring Eartha Kitt which opened in 1978. The story was relocated to Africa shifting more focus on Kitt's character with some score changes. I also read it was more minimalist in staging, but I don't know if that's true or not.

vf - The crazy plot was an adaptation of a play produced on Broadway in 1911 that ran about 6 months. The musical didn't receive much praise other than for its score, which is mostly set to the works of Borodin.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 5:11pm

I've always imagined -- though never actually conferred with anyone about it -- that musical-theater fans go through "periods" with different shows. When I was a teenager, I listened to LES MIZ so obsessively for about 3+ years straight that to this day I almost never put it on casually. It doesn't help that my opinion of the show has changed for the worse since then, but now when I revisit it, the most I get is a charge of nostalgia, especially with the "Dream Cast" recording. I'm very critical of it, but I do also think that I wore myself out on it. It's sort of like the first time you get sick on beer or liquor. For some time after that, even the smell makes you nauseous.

Then there have been other shows I've obsessed over for long periods, but didn't burn myself out on, and so now when I revisit them, it's like seeing an old friend, with all those old famliarities and appreciations flooding back. These are the shows that still make me emotional, especially after returning to them, having been a long time away. These are the scores I sometimes forget how much I love and then wonder how I ever forgot.

PARADE
THE PAJAMA GAME
RAGTIME
DAMN YANKEES
ANNIE GET YOUR GUN
PIPPIN
MAN OF LA MANCHA
KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN
MY FAIR LADY
THE MUSIC MAN
CHICAGO
JANE EYRE
EVITA et cetera


That's a huge list. Smaller is the roster of shows that never seem to go away long enough to ever warrant feelings of "rediscovery," and for me that's all of Sondheim's work.

And then there's the smallest handful of shows that, once discovered, have never really left me and still feel completely brand-new with every single spin. (I guess MP3s don't spin; music doesn't "spin" anymore.) Those are pretty special. I guess on some level that makes them my favorites. It seems like there are a couple others that I could maybe include in this list, but here are four that I'm absolutely sure about.

CAROLINE OR CHANGE
NINE
AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'
MOBY DICK

And of those, MD and CoC especially.

So I guess that was the really long way to name those two recordings.

Updated On: 10/3/11 at 05:11 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 5:45pm

Thanks for the Jane Eyre mention! I do love that score and found it even more beautiful on stage. Such an underrated score and production.

And I've always found Moby Dick curiously addictive. I guess because it was a show with balls. It really went out on a limb to be something unique and different and some of the music is quite catchy.

My biggest guilty pleasure listen is probably Heathcliff. I saw the video and it probably could have been something interesting if it wasn't so focused on being Cliff Richard's tribute to himself, but there are some melodies I actually enjoy.

[Shannon Bo Dannon]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 5:46pm

The two I could listen to for the rest of my life are the OBC of Into the Woods and the revival of Hair.

[broadwaybabywannabe]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 5:56pm

the ones i have on 'shuffle', on my IPHONE are:

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
ANYONE CAN WHISTLE
BOOK OF MORMAN
ROAD SHOW
YENTL...(ok i know it's not Broadway but it is a cast recording...:))

[dragonlp86]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 6:34pm

Currently I'd have to say "The Book of Mormon". I've had the CD in my car for what feels like forever, and I haven't tired of listening to it or singing along to it (badly, mind you) yet.

[lotiloti]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 6:39pm

I agree with 'Catch me if you can' I can't stop playing it.

[MermansMan]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 6:49pm

Sweeney Todd- OBC & Philharmonic
Hello, Dolly- OBC & Pearl Bailey Record
The Baker's Wife- W/ LuPone
Gypsy- OBC, 1974 Revival & 2008 Revival
La Cage- OBC & Revival
Follies- OBC & Paper-Mill
My Fair Lady- OLC & LRC
The King & I- 1996 Revival
Coco & Applause- OBCs (Guilty Pleasures)

Updated On: 10/3/11 at 06:49 PM

[Nettik]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 7:53pm

Next to Normal OBC
The Who's Tommy OBC
Hair OBC
Evita OBC
Legally Blonde: The Musical OBC (guilty pleasure, but hey!)
Songs for a New World

[luvcaroline]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 9:35pm

Sweeney Todd, OBC (the best CD I own of ANY kind, and I have a lot of CD's!)
Caroline, or Change
Next to Normal
Catch Me if You Can
Gypsy, 2008
New passion: Ghost the Musical

[twinbelters]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 9:40pm

OBC Promises, Promises.

[ChiChi]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 11:23pm

I couldn't possible pick just ONE.

So I'll pick as many as I want:

Carrie - Because I'm just that sick

Miss Saigon (an unofficial recording I have that I just love.)

I could listen to the original cast of NINE forever.

Company (I have to throw a Sondheim in.)

City of Angels - I listen to the L.P. a lot.

[pinoyidol2006]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 11:44pm

Drowsy Chaperone (OBC)
Follies (OBC)
Into the Woods (OBC)
Carousel (1994 Revival)
(Question: In the Lincoln Center revival with John Raitt, does he sing the end of Soliloquy really higher than written? I'm thinking about buying it if he sings it that way)
Side by Side by Sondheim(OLC)
Book of Mormon (OBC)

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 10/4/11 at 8:16am

Regarding the Lincoln Center 1965 revival of CAROUSEL with the terrific John Raitt, I don't know the answer to your question about "The Soliloquy". But I can say that the recording is excellent and has towards the end "The Highest Judge of All" which I had never heard before seeing this revival. The CD is worth getting. The entire cast is great.