king david

[broadwaynut20]

king david#0

Posted: 1/20/05 at 12:46am

could anyone tell me where i could possibly purchase the cast recording for alen menken's king david. and if anyone has it could you give a short review of it

[Mr. Tuttle]

re: king david#1

Posted: 1/20/05 at 12:48am

Judy Kuhn was great in it.

It was between this and Aida for Disney to produce.

And the winner was...

Ignorance is temporary. Stupidity last forever. Watch out BWW... HE'S BACK.

[Razz77]

re: king david#2

Posted: 1/20/05 at 12:56am

I dont think a cast recording exists. At all...maybe a demo somewhere.

I dont understand what happened with this show -- didn't they do it at the New Amsterdam or Ford Center or something for like nine performances?

[VeuveClicquot]

re: king david#3

Posted: 1/20/05 at 1:46am

Yes, a cast recording exists. It is exceptionally rare.

It's become the holy grail for Original Cast CD collectors. The last time I saw it come up on Ebay, it sold for $227.00.

The other big rarities in OCR CDs ("Whoop-Up," "Mystery of Edwin Drood (the Polydor pressing), the Bernstein "Peter Pan," "Celebration") often fetch big prices. But nothing like KING DAVID.

I suspect it's the combination of Menken and Alice Ripley that makes this one so sought after.

For more info about rare OBC CDs, visit

http://www.castalbums.org/rare.html

There's a picture of the KING DAVID CD on that page. Updated On: 1/20/05 at 01:46 AM

[devonian.t]

re: king david#4

Posted: 1/20/05 at 5:11am

Ooh, I've got a cd and I didn't realize it was that rare- now I have to wrestle with the decision: do I like it enough to keep it? 'Psalm 8' is a lovely track... Hmm

[JBSinger]

re: king david#5

Posted: 1/20/05 at 8:21am

I figured it would be hard to find, but not as rare as everyone is saying. The CD is quite good with some marvelous, full-throated singing by the entire cast. It is some of Menken's most mature work and finds a good balance between Holy epic and Broadway sounds. The leads are a "who's who" and even though its not a complete recording, you can tell what's going on and get the flavor of the piece. I understand that a production is taking place in TX sometime soon. Good luck in finding it.

[Mother's Younger Brother]

re: king david#6

Posted: 1/20/05 at 11:56am

I would LOVE to see a full-blown production (not concert) of this show. It's a great score!

[chess12]

re: king david#7

Posted: 1/20/05 at 12:55pm

I bought this CD as soon as it was released because I'm a big Judy Kuhn fan. As far as I know, the show was commissioned by Disney to open the New Amsterdam. KING DAVID is performed as an oratorio, so there's no real stage production involved. Alice Ripley is thrilling and the closing gives me chills, but what's up with Marcus Lovett? His voice seems really over-emotive. I can barely listen to him at all on WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND. Heck, I can barely listen to WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND at all. There are some lousy choral songs on KING DAVID, but the solos and duets are pretty good.

[Menken Fan]

re: king david#8

Posted: 1/20/05 at 11:33pm

I have the CD and I saw the show, which reopened the New Amsterdam Theatre in 1997. I thought the show was great - not your typical Menken show. The score is nothing like his Disney shows or Little Shop. I know there was a production in Dallas last month, and I'm not sure why it's not produced more.

[Unknown User]

re: king david#9

Posted: 1/21/05 at 9:39am

I thought I remembered reading an article on Playbill about how they were considering making changes to the work and what sort of fixes they planned for a full-blown staging of it in the next few years, but I can't find it... anybody else remember seeing something like this recently??

[jczelyph]

re: king david#10

Posted: 7/16/05 at 6:55pm

Anyone know if this CD is for sale anywhere?

"Jane, I've been dealt a blow - I've been dealt a blow, Jane."

[Gothampc]

re: king david#11

Posted: 7/16/05 at 7:28pm

You might be able to get a used copy.


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000001M3W/002-5985791-0571265?v=glance

If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.

[zbigner]

re: king david#12

Posted: 7/16/05 at 10:35pm

Philip Chafin has several songs from King David on his recently released solo album. I don't think Philip is on the OCR, but he was involved at some point in the development of the show (reading, workshop, etc.).

I don't know how his solo version compare to the cast recording since i haven't heard it.

Pass it on - Take a kid to a show.

[JohnPopa]

re: king david#13

Posted: 7/16/05 at 10:50pm

It's got some of Menken's better songs and some of Rice's better lyrics but much of it is repetitive and uninteresting. It really feels like a middling Lloyd Webber show, overusing themes and putting forth way too much exposition in recitative that just becomes numbing after awhile.

The CD is a good representation of the parts that stood out. Unfortunately the rest of it just made those parts less interesting than they appear on the CD.

It could be retooled and steamlined, there's a lot of good material there. It just don't build to its big shots especially well.

[Unknown User]

re: king david#14

Posted: 7/16/05 at 10:58pm

cool site VeuveClicquot

[Liz_Bennet]

re: king david#15

Posted: 7/17/05 at 4:55pm

Huh, I checked out the Let 'Em Eat Cake recording listed as rare on the linked site out of my library last week, but I think they would notice if I tried to sell it on eBay, or they at least would notice when it dosen't come back.

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