Your thoughts about the A Little Night Music Revival Cast Recording- Page 3

[anotherhundredpeople2]

Posted: 4/10/10 at 3:03pm

I don't like anything about CZJ's performace...her phrasing in Glamorous Life is far too forced, as is her approach to You Must Meet My Wife.
Also, I thought the quintet just wasn't classical-sounding enough... I know that it *is* 2010, but they're supposed to be basic operatic voices. At times they sound too contemporary, in my opinion.
I loved Aaron Lazar though, as well as Erin Davie and Leigh Ann. I thought it was interesting how Erin sang Everyday a Little Death more... "sing"-y on the recording than in the show. she really "lament"-sings it in the show (like speaksinging...but not? hah), which I actually like, but it would sound awkward on the recording. so I'm glad she sang it at a normal pace/tempo/etc. for the song.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:11pm

I think the first disc is pretty much heaven. I had some issues with the second one (Track 6 being the biggest one).

Lansbury - Perfection.

Zeta-Jones - I wouldn't call her one of the most skilled actresses in the world, but I like the way she was directed on the recording. She's a bit hammy, yes, but the character is an actress, after all. It comes off like she's just trying to amuse her daughter a lot of the time. I think she sings the role very well. "The Glamorous Life" and "You Must Meet My Wife" are a couple of my favorite tracks on this recording, partly because of her performance.

Hanson - I find his voice to be incredibly sexy. (Particularly when he sings the lines "That might be effective, my body's all right. But not in perspective, and not in the light." and "She loves my voice, my walk, my mustache. The cigar, in fact, that I'm smoking.") He's good in the comic moments and solid in the dramatic ones.

Mallory - Hilarious. I'm so glad that she brings out the comedic elements in the role of Anne instead of just playing her as a bland ingenue.

Davie - Completely serviceable, if unremarkable. Some nice touches here and there.

Lazar - I had no issue with him at all, but Carl-Magnus is possibly my least favorite character in the piece.

Larkin - I didn't mind her at all until The Miller's Son. The thing that bothered me the most was the pronounciation of "Meanwhile". Just irksome.

Updated On: 4/15/10 at 05:11 PM

[EarthLuau]

Posted: 5/14/10 at 8:00am

Does anyone have a scanned album art of the CD that doesn't have the names of the performers? ie, the one used on the booklet and the jewel case? I've been looking all over because this is what I prefer to place in my iTunes album art. (dork!)

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 5/18/10 at 7:22pm

I went back and listened to the London recording with Jean Simmons again recently after I'd been listening to the new recording constantly. Almost everyone on the London cd sounds sooooo old compared to the cast on the new one! Even Frederika! That's not to say that I don't still enjoy it (Diane Langton's Miller's Son is my favorite version of the song), but it was just interesting how my perspective on it had changed after becoming so enamored with the new recording.

Updated On: 5/18/10 at 07:22 PM

[Larcen26]

Posted: 5/19/10 at 11:07am

I join the ranks of teh underwhelmed...

My biggest issue is that it just seems "over-acted".
Not that the performances are bad, but they seem far more suited for a production than a recording. Almost every song involves them speaking the lyrics, and when it is such a light-operetta score, I just can't get into it as well...again, I am sure it reads a LOT better on stage.
For example, I think that the almost completely spoken performance in "It Would Have Been Wonderful" sort of kills the overlap...especially in lines like "Or a little less skillful; Insulted, insisting; In bed", which is one of my favorites.
Frederik and Carl Magnus are the biggest "offenders" I think overall.

I texted my friend that it seems that CZJ desperately wants Desiree to be a singing role so she just tries too hard...and her dialogue during "A Weekend in the Country" seems overwrought or something "DEAR CHILD YOU"RE UNCANNY! MUAHAHAHA"

I also agree with the poster that wished the dialogue were its own track...I like "Remember" too much to sit there and wait for the dialogue to end...or to have the flow of the song interrupted in the middle. Or to have to fast forward like 2 minutes to get to a really lovely version of "Send in the Clowns"

And "The Miller's Son" is one of my favorite musical theatre pieces in history...and can't stand this version...again, she "acts" it too much...especailly on "Meanwhile" and "Bed"
I hold the Susan Terry performance as the Gold Standard, just for reference...(and if you havent seen or heard it, there is a clip of it on Youtube. Her voice cracks for a second on the clip, and even with that, I like it far more than Larkin's recording.)

And am I mistaken or did they edit out one of Henrik's lines in "Weekend in the Country"?
Right when he finishes his solo section, he usually has the "Bees in their Hive" line with a beautiful high note sitting above and cutting through the jumble of voices that come in for the crecendo into the end of the song...but it is conspicuously absent here...I can't even hear it in the background where they may have balanced it out in editing or something.

But I love how they do the Overture...and the Quintet is very nice and Angela steals the show as I think everyone knew she would.