As a child of the 80’s, the scandal surrounding Michael Jackson in the past 15 or so years is a high publicity decimation of a pop culture icon. I was never a huge fan (I can quote you the Weird Al parodies for “Bad” and “Beat it” far more easily than the original) but I don’t deny the man’s talent and like a number of the big hits.
Unfortunately, the truly big “everybody knows these songs backwards, forwards, and sideways” hits are about an hour of music. Thriller Live is two and a half hours and four of the songs everybody expects (Thriller/Bad/Billie Jean/Black or White) and wants to hear are the finale/encore. That leaves quite a bit of time for second and third tear material from the Jackson disco catalogue and the ballads nobody remembers or cares about.
Again, I’m finding myself saying “nice cast, shame about the play.” Ben Forster is simply amazing as one of the show’s many singers, and if there’s any justice in the world will be playing Galileo in WWRY. Denise Pearson is also a standout singer, as are Ricko Baird and Earl Perkins. Ashton Russell was on as young Michael when I saw the show and stood out in the opposite direction, failing to stay in key and looking as bored as I often felt. The dance ensemble were universally talented and genuinely hard workers performing the brutal choreography associated with Jackson’s videos and stage shows.
And then there’s the design. While Jonathan Park’s set is passably functional and Adrian Gwilliam’s costumes appropriately fun, Nigel Catmur’s lighting is an abomination worthy of the pits of theatrical hell. I get that no, this is not traditional theatre (well, it is in a way...) but more a concert and as such will rely on more concert styled lighting. Get it, got it, no problem with it. But it’s bad concert lighting (ya know?) with an overhead ring throwing LED everywhere but on the stage and the production relies heavily on lightboard animations (including one during “The Man in the Mirror” that takes us through MJ’s many faces before showing John Lennon, JFK, a host of other historical figures, and finally Barack Obama) which are bright, constantly moving, and in many cases look like primitive GIF files. There’s also an excessive use of oversized flashbulb (painful if you’re off to the sides and therefore find yourself angled towards where they pop) and enough driving, unrelenting fast colour changes to rival Priscilla for most painful visuals in the West End.
And before anybody asks, no, I’m not epleptic, and no, I’m not generally photosensitive. I can go clubbing, watch strobe heavy 80’s anime, and stare at monitors all day and still not suffer eyestrain or headache, but I found myself closing my eyes for minutes of respite at Thriller. If they JUST had the latter aspects of the lighting, it would have gotten a sentence here and I’d have moved on, but the sheer in your face quantity of LED bothers me not just for its physical effect, but also its artistic one: this is a concert full of hit tunes sung by talented singers with legendary choreography. So why try to distract everybody by showing all kinds of flashy crap in the background? Have some faith in your material and performers let them speak for themselves. You know, like in Shout (which I also revisited yesterday and still enjoyed.)
Where: Lyric Theatre Shaftesbury
When: Tu-Fr, Su @ 19:30, Sa @ 16:00 & 20:00, Su @ 15:30
How Much: £23.50-£54.50
Concessions: Best available for £20
-------------------------
RZ Unofficial “Worth Paying”: £10. Add £5 for every MJ CD you have that isn’t Bad or Thriller.
RZ Other Notes: First and foremost, this was my first visit to the Lyric Shaftesbury and it’s a truly beautiful theatre, both architecturally and in its decor. Second, the balcony and upper circle were closed last night so MJ fans may wish to consider buying cheap and aiming for a bump. Third, I recommend staying for the first 15 minutes and then bolting to the bar until the second half when all of the songs that matter are played.
Thursday, 14 May 2009
Monday, 11 May 2009
Revisit: "La Cage Aux Folles"
(Quick post #2...on a roll.)
Once again offered tickets and once again back to the West End run of La Cage. With Graham Norton's departure, the principles of nightclub owner Georges and diva drag queen Albin are now played by Philip Quast (who played Georges at the Menier itself) and Roger Allam. Hodge is excellent in the role, warm and affectionate, torn between the love of his life and the happiness of his child. Allam is a butchy queen, looking quite masculinely built from my seat in the circle, but gets into the motions and sings better than Norton (not saying much). he's not QUITE there yet, but I suspect he'll be in fine form after a few more performances. Memory may also be playing tricks on me, but I want to say a few new visual gags were also directed in with this cast change and despite two prior visits, the production feels fresh enough to warrant revisiting.
Previous worth paying and notes stand.
Once again offered tickets and once again back to the West End run of La Cage. With Graham Norton's departure, the principles of nightclub owner Georges and diva drag queen Albin are now played by Philip Quast (who played Georges at the Menier itself) and Roger Allam. Hodge is excellent in the role, warm and affectionate, torn between the love of his life and the happiness of his child. Allam is a butchy queen, looking quite masculinely built from my seat in the circle, but gets into the motions and sings better than Norton (not saying much). he's not QUITE there yet, but I suspect he'll be in fine form after a few more performances. Memory may also be playing tricks on me, but I want to say a few new visual gags were also directed in with this cast change and despite two prior visits, the production feels fresh enough to warrant revisiting.
Previous worth paying and notes stand.
REVIEW: Dimetos/Madame de Sade
(A very quick one to be followed by two more very quick ones.)
“Nice cast, shame about the play.”
There isn’t much more to be said about either of the Donmar’s current productions: both of which boast the standard celebrity and established actors one would come to expect from the venue, both feature some amusing design (the red pool in Dimetos and the huge mother of pearl sitting room and gigantic frocks in Madame) but both are excruciatingly dull texts with the former boasting a nonsensical second act - even the director didn’t know what it was about - and the latter making the man who gave us some of the most infamous S&M pornography ever made tame and quite matter of fact.
I guess go if you want to see some people from the telly doing high-brow theatre (the snooty French accent doesn't come through online on that), but otherwise wait for the season to progress...
“Nice cast, shame about the play.”
There isn’t much more to be said about either of the Donmar’s current productions: both of which boast the standard celebrity and established actors one would come to expect from the venue, both feature some amusing design (the red pool in Dimetos and the huge mother of pearl sitting room and gigantic frocks in Madame) but both are excruciatingly dull texts with the former boasting a nonsensical second act - even the director didn’t know what it was about - and the latter making the man who gave us some of the most infamous S&M pornography ever made tame and quite matter of fact.
I guess go if you want to see some people from the telly doing high-brow theatre (the snooty French accent doesn't come through online on that), but otherwise wait for the season to progress...
Saturday, 2 May 2009
REVIEW: “Shout!”
I felt a bit of trepidation as I headed to the Arts Theatre (of death!) before seeing Shout! last night. Here we had another jukebox musical, and one with less than impressive word of mouth as well. Things weren’t improved when I snuck a glance at a neighbour’s programme and saw it opening with the same Petula Clark song as that damn bus (the song being “Downtown” for those keeping track.)
Fortunately it was all uphill from there. Not far uphill, but up enough that I was happy enough to sit back and enjoy the ride. I suspect this is because of adjusting expectations: the descriptions of Shout revolve largely around the flimsiness of its unattributed book. No, the book’s not as clever as, say, Return to the Forbidden Planet, but it does the minimum of creating excuses or introducing songs and doing so without ever saying “Let’s have a song!” And, to be honest, given the amount of time the book requires out of the runtime, I’m content to write it off and reconsider Shout as a revue a la Tomfoolery rather than as a proper book musical.
But nobody knows what a revue *is* these days, let alone sees them, so it’s easy to understand why everything gets promoted as an event or a musical when the truth is that revue may be a more appropriate term (even if this satirises the 60’s instead of today, but that in itself reflects our current changes in attitude.)
Meanwhile, it would be useful to talk about the show itself.
*ahem*
The year is 1960. Georgina (Tiffany Graves) is a modern young woman who heads down to London in search of love and the high life. On the train she meets Ruby (Marissa Dunlop), an actress in training, and shy wallflower Betty (normally played by ex-Wickeder Shona White but understudied by Francesca Newitt when I went). The trio end up renting a flat in Peckham above Best Cuts, a hair salon owned by Georgina’s aunt Yvonne (Su Pollard). The four women become fast friends and we spend the next decade as they marry, divorce, and belt through the tunes of the time as bridged by Tony T (John Jack), editor of Shout Magazine.
As I stated before, the book is largely irrelevant, though it has some laughs in the Carry On vein, and Jack’s editor speaks Public School English with the condescending tone of early television adverts which lends both a tongue in cheek to the proceedings as well as a reminder of how far we’ve come. The main thrust of the show is a decade of classic pop from Petula to Dusty, bubblegum to psychedelia, and the four main ladies (in addition to Jessica Kirton as a dialogue-free shop assistant/trophy girl) do an excellent job of belting to the rafters and reminding us all that the 60’s really were a golden age of music. Yes, that includes Su Pollard.
Also praise-worthy are Morgan Large’s designs, both simple and evocative of pop art, bright clean colours, and the rise in trippy patterns while functional and (short of some overdone strobing by colour-smart lighting designer Ben Cracknell) tasteful. Come to think of it, “tasteful” is probably the best way to describe the whole affair though “obvious cash-in” comes second.
I digress.
Another groovy point was Large’s costume designs for the girls, but I was rather confused by the costumes for Tony T: much of Shout’s promotion on tour (and the CD cover) refer to it as a mod musical, but the lack of a sharp suit and skinny tie, anorak, or other iconic mod images stood out though they could be a logistical necessity for some extremely rapid costume changes.
Anyways, to sum it up: your enjoyment of Shout will be directly proportional to how much you like 60’s pop music and whether or not you can get past the fluffy book in lieu of something more intellectual.
Where: Arts Theatre
When: Until 28 June, Tu-Sa @ 19:30, W/Sa @ 15:00, Su @ 16:00
How Much: £20-£42.50
Concessions: £25 excluding Fri/Sat nights, book one hour before the show
-------------------
RZ Unofficial “Worth Paying”: £20. Maybe a few more if you’re a big Su Pollard fan.
RZ Other Notes: I guess it just shows that whoever composed most of Petula Clark’s music is all too happy to let the tracks out as long as they get their royalty cheque. Too bad they wanted an impractical amount for an official release of the brilliant short film “Animato” by creator Mike Jittlov. Jittlov created the film in 1969 and it’s a breathtaking work of stop motion and hand worked animation but the music was never cleared so you’ll have to do some digging to find a copy of the piece. A reworked version with new music was included in Jittlov’s feature film The Wizard of Speed and Time.
Fortunately it was all uphill from there. Not far uphill, but up enough that I was happy enough to sit back and enjoy the ride. I suspect this is because of adjusting expectations: the descriptions of Shout revolve largely around the flimsiness of its unattributed book. No, the book’s not as clever as, say, Return to the Forbidden Planet, but it does the minimum of creating excuses or introducing songs and doing so without ever saying “Let’s have a song!” And, to be honest, given the amount of time the book requires out of the runtime, I’m content to write it off and reconsider Shout as a revue a la Tomfoolery rather than as a proper book musical.
But nobody knows what a revue *is* these days, let alone sees them, so it’s easy to understand why everything gets promoted as an event or a musical when the truth is that revue may be a more appropriate term (even if this satirises the 60’s instead of today, but that in itself reflects our current changes in attitude.)
Meanwhile, it would be useful to talk about the show itself.
*ahem*
The year is 1960. Georgina (Tiffany Graves) is a modern young woman who heads down to London in search of love and the high life. On the train she meets Ruby (Marissa Dunlop), an actress in training, and shy wallflower Betty (normally played by ex-Wickeder Shona White but understudied by Francesca Newitt when I went). The trio end up renting a flat in Peckham above Best Cuts, a hair salon owned by Georgina’s aunt Yvonne (Su Pollard). The four women become fast friends and we spend the next decade as they marry, divorce, and belt through the tunes of the time as bridged by Tony T (John Jack), editor of Shout Magazine.
As I stated before, the book is largely irrelevant, though it has some laughs in the Carry On vein, and Jack’s editor speaks Public School English with the condescending tone of early television adverts which lends both a tongue in cheek to the proceedings as well as a reminder of how far we’ve come. The main thrust of the show is a decade of classic pop from Petula to Dusty, bubblegum to psychedelia, and the four main ladies (in addition to Jessica Kirton as a dialogue-free shop assistant/trophy girl) do an excellent job of belting to the rafters and reminding us all that the 60’s really were a golden age of music. Yes, that includes Su Pollard.
Also praise-worthy are Morgan Large’s designs, both simple and evocative of pop art, bright clean colours, and the rise in trippy patterns while functional and (short of some overdone strobing by colour-smart lighting designer Ben Cracknell) tasteful. Come to think of it, “tasteful” is probably the best way to describe the whole affair though “obvious cash-in” comes second.
I digress.
Another groovy point was Large’s costume designs for the girls, but I was rather confused by the costumes for Tony T: much of Shout’s promotion on tour (and the CD cover) refer to it as a mod musical, but the lack of a sharp suit and skinny tie, anorak, or other iconic mod images stood out though they could be a logistical necessity for some extremely rapid costume changes.
Anyways, to sum it up: your enjoyment of Shout will be directly proportional to how much you like 60’s pop music and whether or not you can get past the fluffy book in lieu of something more intellectual.
Where: Arts Theatre
When: Until 28 June, Tu-Sa @ 19:30, W/Sa @ 15:00, Su @ 16:00
How Much: £20-£42.50
Concessions: £25 excluding Fri/Sat nights, book one hour before the show
-------------------
RZ Unofficial “Worth Paying”: £20. Maybe a few more if you’re a big Su Pollard fan.
RZ Other Notes: I guess it just shows that whoever composed most of Petula Clark’s music is all too happy to let the tracks out as long as they get their royalty cheque. Too bad they wanted an impractical amount for an official release of the brilliant short film “Animato” by creator Mike Jittlov. Jittlov created the film in 1969 and it’s a breathtaking work of stop motion and hand worked animation but the music was never cleared so you’ll have to do some digging to find a copy of the piece. A reworked version with new music was included in Jittlov’s feature film The Wizard of Speed and Time.
Monday, 27 April 2009
REVIEW: “Rookery Nook”
I like farce. When done well it provides an entertaining night out with lots of laughs and a canny look at the peculiarities of social norms and morals. It’s a comforting form of entertainment where the entire piece is dictated by rules and form (like panto) and the creativity comes in exploiting these and finding something new to say within.
Unfortunately, it’s particularly easy to screw this up. All it takes is a slip in the timing, an inferior round of wordplay, or a bad mood in the audience to ruin everything.
Rookery Nook, now playing at the Chocolate Factory, is closer to the latter than the former. Looking at the sexual mores of the educated class, the play revolves around a trio of chaps trying to avoid the image of impropriety when a girl runs away from home in the heat of an argument. Of course, the girl’s reputation is already in tatters as one of the fellows’ wives took it upon herself to spread false rumours about her relation to her foreign stepfather.
Eagle eyed readers will notice that there is no actual misconduct here (though one of the men, who resembles Cary Elwes is clearly a rogue on his best behaviour). The fun in farce comes from the cover-up: keeping the three stewardesses apart in Boeing-Boeing, making sure the play runs in Noises Off, but so much of the actual “keep away” is absent here: there are only brief moments of threat at the end of the first act and the start and of course end of the second. Secondary characters take much of the time (a crusty admiral in the second act, a second girl added to make things worse in the third) and it keeps the pressure and the tension from achieving a properly tightened torque.
That’s not to say that everything about the show is awful: I quite liked the cast, and the costumes will please anybody who reads The Chap. There was some slightly clever lighting, and the play almost managed to keep my attention focused enough to ignore how uncomfortable the benches were (yes, my arse was numb at the interval. Fortunately there was spare room and I was able to shift around a bit during the second and third acts as revenge for the loudly crinkling people behind me.)
Is it amusing throughout? I guess. I was never bored, but the first act was distinctly underwhelming and the play only reaches top gear in two or three brief moments despite the dialogue flying past. The Whingers attribute this to the set being too big and taking energy from the jokes, and I’m likely to agree: despite being the Menier being a small venue, farce needs to be in cramped or expanded settings so that action can be concentrated (or distracted from). I think the ultimate weakness, however, lies with the script by Ben Travers: It’s a bit too by-the-book and lacks the oomph needed to really reel in the laughs.
But the Menier’s next show is Forbidden Broadway and all is therefore forgiven.
Where: Menier Chocolate Factory
When: Until 20 June. Tu-Sa @ 20:00, Sa/Su @ 15:30
How Much: £25/£34 (the latter being a meal deal with the venue’s restaurant.)
Concessions: £20
------------------------
RZ Unofficial “Worth Paying”: £10. Safe, take your mum theatre with nice costumes.
RZ Other Notes: The assigned seating policy remains! I’ve never been on the black benches, but the red ones are desperately in need of some padding. Hopefully the money coming in from La Cage can help fund some decent seats!
Unfortunately, it’s particularly easy to screw this up. All it takes is a slip in the timing, an inferior round of wordplay, or a bad mood in the audience to ruin everything.
Rookery Nook, now playing at the Chocolate Factory, is closer to the latter than the former. Looking at the sexual mores of the educated class, the play revolves around a trio of chaps trying to avoid the image of impropriety when a girl runs away from home in the heat of an argument. Of course, the girl’s reputation is already in tatters as one of the fellows’ wives took it upon herself to spread false rumours about her relation to her foreign stepfather.
Eagle eyed readers will notice that there is no actual misconduct here (though one of the men, who resembles Cary Elwes is clearly a rogue on his best behaviour). The fun in farce comes from the cover-up: keeping the three stewardesses apart in Boeing-Boeing, making sure the play runs in Noises Off, but so much of the actual “keep away” is absent here: there are only brief moments of threat at the end of the first act and the start and of course end of the second. Secondary characters take much of the time (a crusty admiral in the second act, a second girl added to make things worse in the third) and it keeps the pressure and the tension from achieving a properly tightened torque.
That’s not to say that everything about the show is awful: I quite liked the cast, and the costumes will please anybody who reads The Chap. There was some slightly clever lighting, and the play almost managed to keep my attention focused enough to ignore how uncomfortable the benches were (yes, my arse was numb at the interval. Fortunately there was spare room and I was able to shift around a bit during the second and third acts as revenge for the loudly crinkling people behind me.)
Is it amusing throughout? I guess. I was never bored, but the first act was distinctly underwhelming and the play only reaches top gear in two or three brief moments despite the dialogue flying past. The Whingers attribute this to the set being too big and taking energy from the jokes, and I’m likely to agree: despite being the Menier being a small venue, farce needs to be in cramped or expanded settings so that action can be concentrated (or distracted from). I think the ultimate weakness, however, lies with the script by Ben Travers: It’s a bit too by-the-book and lacks the oomph needed to really reel in the laughs.
But the Menier’s next show is Forbidden Broadway and all is therefore forgiven.
Where: Menier Chocolate Factory
When: Until 20 June. Tu-Sa @ 20:00, Sa/Su @ 15:30
How Much: £25/£34 (the latter being a meal deal with the venue’s restaurant.)
Concessions: £20
------------------------
RZ Unofficial “Worth Paying”: £10. Safe, take your mum theatre with nice costumes.
RZ Other Notes: The assigned seating policy remains! I’ve never been on the black benches, but the red ones are desperately in need of some padding. Hopefully the money coming in from La Cage can help fund some decent seats!
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
REVISIT: "Sunset Blvd."
I don't really have much to add after December's review. I honestly wasn't even planning to go again, but given the opportunity for free tickets and a chance to meet up with a friend before he left for an extended holiday did the job of getting me out of the house.
So what's there to say? Well, I saw the show from the stalls this time, and I don't think it really helped. Normally I prefer to either sit in the mid-stalls or front of the first circle, but I think the latter is very much the place to sit here: being able to literally look down at rather contemptible people is more satisfying than tilting your head upwards, especially with the poor rake in the stalls at the Comedy. Despite being off to the sides, our views (minus heads in front) were unencumbered, so props to those who actually check their sightlines.
As far as the cast go, something seemed to be on autopilot, though whether it was the cast or myself is hard to tell, though my companion suggested it was the former. Kathryn Evans provides the light which creates the shadows of this production and I find that Ben Goddard has calmed down enough to remain unlikeable but not in-yer-face.
Though it was only a Monday night, the stalls had notable pockets of emptiness, and I couldn't say whether the upper circle was open or not (the Dress was.) Word is that the production is breaking even but not selling gangbusters, so book now before the tourists arrive and the end-of-summer closing shortly follows. Worth Paying and notes are the same as before - £25 is about right.
So what's there to say? Well, I saw the show from the stalls this time, and I don't think it really helped. Normally I prefer to either sit in the mid-stalls or front of the first circle, but I think the latter is very much the place to sit here: being able to literally look down at rather contemptible people is more satisfying than tilting your head upwards, especially with the poor rake in the stalls at the Comedy. Despite being off to the sides, our views (minus heads in front) were unencumbered, so props to those who actually check their sightlines.
As far as the cast go, something seemed to be on autopilot, though whether it was the cast or myself is hard to tell, though my companion suggested it was the former. Kathryn Evans provides the light which creates the shadows of this production and I find that Ben Goddard has calmed down enough to remain unlikeable but not in-yer-face.
Though it was only a Monday night, the stalls had notable pockets of emptiness, and I couldn't say whether the upper circle was open or not (the Dress was.) Word is that the production is breaking even but not selling gangbusters, so book now before the tourists arrive and the end-of-summer closing shortly follows. Worth Paying and notes are the same as before - £25 is about right.
Monday, 20 April 2009
No Updates and Cast Recordings...
Yeah. It's been a while since I've gone to the theatre.
Well, that's not entirely true. I saw a friend's cabaret on Easter Sunday (shockingly bad) and caught Calendar Girls (amusingly mediocre) for a commission, but no independent theatre-going to speak of.
I have, however, gotten ahold of the cast recording for next to normal, which just opened on Broadway. I adore the score for this show, and have since receiving a *cough* of the 2005 Festival production, back when it was still called Feeling Electric. So I should love the cast recording right?
Yeah, I do. But that doesn't mean I don't have a lot of quibbles with it. Some of the cuts are awkward because the snipped dialogue covers transitional underscoring, breaking up what should be two flowing pieces. The mixing is also off - the guitars, especially the electric guitars, are too low, and the harmonies are overly slick. The whole thing reminds me of the Broadway cast recording for RENT in a way - I find that recording to be far too sterile and while it does a decent job of presenting the score, it's just not right. (For the record, I prefer the German cast recording, iffy translation aside, which uses the original arrangements but was recorded live. The mix is slightly edgier and there's more energy than the rushed New York edition.)
The N2N CD suffers in the same way. Part of a soundboard was leaked from last year's off-Broadway production, and on the tracks where comparison is possible, the soundboard blows away the CD: there's the right amount of roughness, the arrangements shine, and the cast are surfing on the waves of the band and not floating ten feet above. But clearly someone was happy with it because it got released. And, to be honest, I'm listening to it all the time. There are a tonne of brilliant tracks here, and even with the flaws it's an amazing piece.
But I still prefer the Festival Version of "A Light in the Dark."
The album also brings up a good question: what is the point of cast recordings? The inclusion (and exclusion) of dialogue on the N2N disc really makes me wonder. The cast album for Hedwig plays like a rock CD, whereas Avenue Q's includes just enough to provide context to the music. RENT cut a couple of small dialogue pieces, mostly to ensure that the first act fit onto a 74 minute disc (80 minute discs existed then but were uncommon) and comes off more as an archive. Most classic cast recordings are both preservational (key songs) and promotional (sell the big song.) I'm more tempted to put N2N into the latter - a (relatively) cheap way to try the music before committing to expensive show tickets. Of course, given that the physical CD is pushing $25 depending on where you buy it, only the iTunes release really counts in that sense. I'd forgive so much more to have the full dialogue on "Just Another Day" and "Catch Me I'm Falling."
But it's not there. Alas. Fortunately we live in enterprising times and somebody can/will/has supply/ied.
Well, that's not entirely true. I saw a friend's cabaret on Easter Sunday (shockingly bad) and caught Calendar Girls (amusingly mediocre) for a commission, but no independent theatre-going to speak of.
I have, however, gotten ahold of the cast recording for next to normal, which just opened on Broadway. I adore the score for this show, and have since receiving a *cough* of the 2005 Festival production, back when it was still called Feeling Electric. So I should love the cast recording right?
Yeah, I do. But that doesn't mean I don't have a lot of quibbles with it. Some of the cuts are awkward because the snipped dialogue covers transitional underscoring, breaking up what should be two flowing pieces. The mixing is also off - the guitars, especially the electric guitars, are too low, and the harmonies are overly slick. The whole thing reminds me of the Broadway cast recording for RENT in a way - I find that recording to be far too sterile and while it does a decent job of presenting the score, it's just not right. (For the record, I prefer the German cast recording, iffy translation aside, which uses the original arrangements but was recorded live. The mix is slightly edgier and there's more energy than the rushed New York edition.)
The N2N CD suffers in the same way. Part of a soundboard was leaked from last year's off-Broadway production, and on the tracks where comparison is possible, the soundboard blows away the CD: there's the right amount of roughness, the arrangements shine, and the cast are surfing on the waves of the band and not floating ten feet above. But clearly someone was happy with it because it got released. And, to be honest, I'm listening to it all the time. There are a tonne of brilliant tracks here, and even with the flaws it's an amazing piece.
But I still prefer the Festival Version of "A Light in the Dark."
The album also brings up a good question: what is the point of cast recordings? The inclusion (and exclusion) of dialogue on the N2N disc really makes me wonder. The cast album for Hedwig plays like a rock CD, whereas Avenue Q's includes just enough to provide context to the music. RENT cut a couple of small dialogue pieces, mostly to ensure that the first act fit onto a 74 minute disc (80 minute discs existed then but were uncommon) and comes off more as an archive. Most classic cast recordings are both preservational (key songs) and promotional (sell the big song.) I'm more tempted to put N2N into the latter - a (relatively) cheap way to try the music before committing to expensive show tickets. Of course, given that the physical CD is pushing $25 depending on where you buy it, only the iTunes release really counts in that sense. I'd forgive so much more to have the full dialogue on "Just Another Day" and "Catch Me I'm Falling."
But it's not there. Alas. Fortunately we live in enterprising times and somebody can/will/has supply/ied.
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