| A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" | |
| Last Edit: DanielVincent 11:30 pm EST 11/19/22 | |
| Posted by: DanielVincent 11:19 pm EST 11/19/22 | |
| In reply to: Favorite Flop recordings you play a lot (that haven't had many revival "second chances") - PlayWiz 01:02 pm EST 11/19/22 | |
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| Add me to those who've sung the praises of the recordings of The Life, The Visit, High Fidelity, Taboo, and Steel Pier. But here are a few more that, at least in a cursory scan, I didn't notice being singled out. If/Then: This manipulative mess was a guilty pleasure of mine while it was still on Broadway, but its recording makes an especially compelling case for it as more than just an Idina vehicle--though she has never sounded better. The score is incredibly melodic, moving and memorable (#unintentionalillteration). Without having to muddle their way through the misbegotten book, the performers truly shine. Anthony Rapp, James Synder, Jason Tam, Jen Colella, and Jerry Dixon all sound flawless. Rapp, Synder, and Tam all have genuinely tender moments that, despite the stereotypical bluster of musical theatre, succeed because they seem so intimate. Marie Christine was mostly dismissed as pretentious, atonal, and only valuable as a starring vehicle for Audra, but, DEAR LORD, I think the album showcases it as having one of musical theatre's most thought-provoking, complex, and dramatic scores. "Before the Morning" and "Paradise Is Burning Down" accelerate my heart rate like a rigorous workout! Audra's rendition of "Beautiful" is as exciting to me as I think Marvel movies are to the general public. Triumph of Love: I truly believe that one of the major reasons why this musical didn't work on Broadway is because Susan Egan is not a natural enough comedienne to be at the center of a farce; had the show come along just a few years later, it could have been the perfect vehicle for Sutton Foster. Nevertheless, most of Egan's shortcomings don't come through on the record and it's easy to enjoy her smooth vocals. And it's hard to imagine a more impressive supporting cast. Nancy Opel is one of the very few people who can deliver equally on vocal gymnastics and campy humor. Roger Bart and Kevin Chamberlain are both delightful. Though F. Murray Abraham obviously isn't a singer, the mixture of vulnerability and authority he brought to his performance onstage is still captivating on record. And there just aren't enough superlatives for Betty Buckley's performance. Her rendition of Serenity is a master class in stopping a show. She has more of an arc in that one song than most performers discover in their entire shows. It's musical theatre perfection. And speaking of Betty Buckley, it was through her semi-recent London revival that I discovered... Dear World: The bizarro book makes it hard to imagine a production that would work, but, dear lord, the music is fantastic. "And I Was Beautiful", "I Don't Want To Know", and "Each Tomorrow Morning" are as good as any standard from Jerry Herman's better known musicals. And Angela Lansbury's performance on the recording is so specific, so bold, so thoroughly imagined, it's easy to understand how she won a Tony despite the show's very short run. (That being said, I do wish Buckley had gotten the chance to record hers as well.) |
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