Saturday, November 9, 2019

OBC recordings that should be wonderful, but in essence...suck

Nothing can kill the excitement of listening to a beautiful score of a musical quite as much as a bad recording of it.  It amazes me how, when you have brilliant material to work with, the outcome is awful.  Great theatre starts with what's on the page.  Great musicals start with what's in the score.  Why would you put effort into a recording that does not show off what the musical has to offer?  Since I don't produce musicals, I can't answer the question but I do think about it.  Here are a few of my pics for recordings that I think, for one reason or another, suck.

Fiddler On The Roof - Original Broadway Cast
What a ground breaking show this was.  A wonderful, poignant and joyous score.  So many great songs in this show.  And while I think it's great that Zero Mostel's performance was captured on recording, it's as if no one else in the show can sing.  And if they can't sing, they don't have the charisma that Mostel has to pull it off.  Maybe it was just a bad day in the recording studio!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8J5hNqELzI&list=PLQ_DwnwLPFEEjO5QyHihbVsNiH8GMc-ax&index=3&t=0s

She Loves Me
Even despite the amazing Barbara Cook in the cast, this recording falls flat.  For a show as charming as She Loves Me, something is missing that gives you the feel of this show.  For a jewel box of a musical, this recording is mechanical and unromantic...two things this show isn't!


Cabaret 1998 Revival
If you like sleeze and breathy vocals, than this is the album for you.  Kander & Ebb's deceivingly clever score is undermined by the theme of "look at how sexual and perverse we are".  Of course, if you enjoy seeing Alan Cumming being weird for the sake of being weird (which is a lot of the time), then you'll just love this!


A Little Night Music Revival
This is one of my favorite scores of all time.  It's lush and romantic, so how could they mess it up?  This recording is, in best terms, charm free.  Even Angela Lansbury, whom I adore, could not save it.

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