Wonderful Town in Concert

when was it in concert...??? i wanna see that...i have a little performance of brooke when she did the macy's parade...she was awesome...of course...=) and so was the rest of the cast.

---

I believe Laura Benanti was originally attached to Wonderful Town, playing opposite Donna Murphy... maybe?

It's the cast of the EMI studio recording of Wonderful Town ... Kim Criswell as Ruth, Audra McDonald as Eileen, Brent Barrett as Bob.

---

It's livelier than the recording, but there are also some weird aspects to it... like Barrett also playing the Tour Guide and Criswell also playing Violet in the opening number (as I believe they also do on the recording). There's also a general lack of context, with no set up for the numbers...I wonder what the audience watching it made of it all. Not much choreography or staging to speak of. Criswell seems a little too dependent on her script to get through "Conga!" but she's still pretty funny. It's conducted well, and the orchestra sounds lovely.

---

Laura Benanti played Eileen at the Encores production in 2000. She opted out of the revival because she felt she was too old for the role.

God, then whatever do you think of the joyless orchestra on the revival recording?

---

And you say the tempi are bad on the EMI recording? They sound more right to me than on the revival recording (and in the theatre), where almost everything was either too fast, too slow, or too sullen. Near perfection, though, is the orchestra for the Roz Russell TV soundtrack. They are just on fire.

---

Well, I must go with you there. I love the tempos on the Roz TV Soundtrack, I love that recording in general. The quality of the remastered CD is fabulous, it sounds more current than the EMI recording.

Laura Benanti played Eileen at the Encores production in 2000. She opted out of the revival because she felt she was too old for the role" well at least one of the leads felt that way....

but anyway, as i recall brent barrett didn't play bob, he was wreck and the tour guide

---