Martin Guerre 96 cast recording
Posted by broadwayangel 2005-03-16 22:03:37.0

Does anyone know where to get this for under $40?(and not backordered) I have been looking for it everywhere! And why didn't Martin ever make it to bw? Did something happen there? I love this show dearly...I really wish it was on tour or something, I would kill to see it live.

Wow, it's funny you said that because I went to Future Legend on 9th Ave two weeks ago, and I found the Martin Guerre 1996 recording for $14.00. You should check to see if they have another. It's not my favorite music though.

Yeah I agree. I bought it before I went to see it in 2000 in Los Angeles, and I didn't particularly like it. That was five years ago though, so I don't really know where to look for it. eBay? Haha

Man I really wish I lived in NYC to buy it...but I sadly live in Ohio.

I have both the 1996 and 1998 cast recordings. I prefer the 1996 one. If it's hard to find in your local record stores, you can always order it online.

There were a lot of reasons why MARTIN GUERRE never made it to Broadway. In a nutshell, there just wasn't the momentum for the show: it flopped in the West End, and the American out-of-town tryout didn't receive very good reviews. By the time the show was supposed to reach Broadway, it still hadn't found an available theatre, so Cameron Mackintosh decided to just close the show when it reached its last stop in LA.

I saw Martin Guerre in L.A. a few years ago (the last stop Bluewizard is talking about) and though I'm not a tough critic when it comes to musicals, this one I didn't like. It wasn't the music. I have the 99 cast and enjoy it. But the key to the movie Martin Guerre was the mystery. Was Martin really Martin, or not? As I recall, the musical gives away the answer right away and spoils any suspense and therefore any real involvement in the show. Interesting, I save my playbills and the night I saw it Martin Guerre was played by the understudy--Hunter Foster! Of course this was before either he or Sutton became famous. He was very miscast, is what I recall. Short, round-faced, not at all the dynamic leading man the part required. I'm sure he's been great in Producers and Little Shop, parts he was right for, but not as Martin Guerre. Sorry, Hunter.

i saw Martin Guerre at the Ahmanson... it was OK... not horrible... what i heard from the ushers were that the show was doing very poorly... in fact when i was at the show... lots of people walked out at intermission... and not many people clapped at the end... but moving onto the show...

i actually have both recordings and I liked both... i loved the music... but it's the original london recording that i love... and haven't seen the show... but i felt the music was so much better as well as the lyrics... and the newer version was not that good to me... the orchestra was more smaller and not as grand sounding in the new production... by all means it wasn't bad but it was OK...

as for the show....

I liked that we knew that he wasn't Martin Guerre and it became more about a story about the lies that we tell and how far we go to keep them and the ramifications it can have on our lives and the lives of people around us... it was also a good story about religion and how that affects people... i mean you have some really great stuff... but it's the book that suffered because they didn't quite know how to make this musical truly work... the first act was slow and dragged for what seemed like HOURS... i've always felt that act II was just solid and more focused as most of the time was spent on the trial of "martin guerre"... i hope they really rework this show and bring it to broadway... but they need to really rework it

I don't think they will be retooling it. From what I've heard (and this is hearsay), Alain Boublil and Claude-Michael Schonberg are no longer on speaking terms.

Which is a pity -- the two of them wrote two of the most successful and well-loved musicals in West End/Broadway history. And somewhere in all the material and rewrites of MARTIN GUERRE is a good show. I hope they collaborate again, because I find their work sublime.

Always impressed by people who can REMEMBER shows better than I can. Perhaps my having seen the movie spoiled this different interpretation for me. It was as if they decided to do The Crying Game: The Musical and started with a scene of Dil getting undressed. It might be a different way of looking at the story, but it would probably bum out anyone who'd seen the movie.

I never saw it, but I have the '96 recording and enjoy it. It has some great material.

BlueWizard - I didn't hear that about Boublil & Schonberg. If that's true, it's very sad.

I have the 1996 OCR and I find the score is not a patch on the earlier scores by the team.

There is another musical of the same story that premiered in Toronto as a workshop production in 1992 and was given a full stage production by the Canstage company in 1997. THE HOUSE OF MARTIN GUERRE has a score by Leslie Arden and it is truly outstanding. Sadly no recording was made (although one song can be found on Charlotte Moore's CD of songs from Canadian musicals) but I saw the productiuon a couple of times and still vividly recall many of the songs. This musical was done in a few regional theatres in the U.S. but was never taken to Broadway. Has anyone else seen it?

I have the 1996 CD. I love it. I dunno. lol. I just do.

I have both recordings also. I remember first hearing the 96 recording directly after it was released in London - my uncle brought home the CD and I was quickly smitten by the story and the music. I heard about how poorly it was doing and that they were gonna tool with the show. 2 years later an apparently better show was in the making - but the reviews in the US led us all to believe otherwise. The newer MG garnered at least some positive reviews, but not nearly the push they were hoping for, thus giving Mr. Mackintosh no real reason to give the NY reviewers a field day.
I assume when you ask about the recordings, you wanna know about the songs themselves. I believe the songs are superior in the original: Louison, Someone, I Will Make You Proud, Bethlehem, etc. Many of the songs are the same musically but with different lyrics. In those cases, I usually prefer the lyrics the' first time. I do like Live With Somebody You Love as far as the 99 recording goes, but that's about it. Arnaud's voice in the '96 recording is also rather irritating, but I think his material is better.
If you can get a copy of the '96 one, I would say do it. If you like the '99 a lot, you will get your money's worth in the '96 - 40 bucks or not.

I saw the show in London in 1997 and I liked it. It was a re-worked version of it. The show wasn't a big hit when it opened in London and they ended up re-working it about 9 months or so after the opening night. The changes were not that big but the later version (uk-tour ) which the US-version was based on was significantly different: the part of Martin was much bigger, they focused on Martin and Arnaud's friendship more, the role of Benoit was almost totally cut, the villagers' attitude towards Bertrande was re-written, songs were cut and added etc.

If anything about the show, the song "Bethlehem" is the should've been Christmas Carol of the 90s.

I love the original recording.. in fact it is the cast album I play most on my Ipod.

The show went through so many major revisions in London, the first didn't flow very well, the second (when they introduced Working on the Land as the first big number) was much better, the third major rewrite got it completely right I thought. It became such a fantastic piece of theatre by turns thrilling, funny and sad and I loved the songs... It was supposed to be a mystery piece but a touching love story and it certainly worked for me !!

I didn't like the completely rewritten show that toured the UK and went to the USA... they lost the spectacular dancing, the beautiful Overture, the moving lyrics and the whole show didn't work quite as well in my opinion

There is also a CD available for Schoenberg's music for the ballet of Wuthering Heights. I recently read somewhere that Boublil and Schoenberg were indeed working on a new musical, but for the life of me, I cannot remember what it was.

Something about a Pirate Queen . . .

Try here

Thanks Eastwickian for advertising my Pirate Queen thread. :)

I also have both copies of MG. Love it. Not as good as Miz or Siagon but it is a hell of a lot better than a lot of other musicals that are more popular.

Hey:) I don't want to sound dumb, but I have a Martin Guerre recording and have no idea which one it is. It's the one where Bertrand is played by the understudy...? I actually really love the recording, especially "I will make you proud."

"Look, its Martin Guerre
Look what they did
They've gotten rid
of what made you care..." - Forbidden Broadway.

I majorly love that parody, also.

I really liked the original recording, then found I preferred the newer one. When I saw the show in L.A., and really realized exactly what kind of show they were doing (orchestrations, intimacy, etc.), I totally fell in love with it. It's a shame the American cast didn't get recorded. Stephen Buntrock and Hugh Panaro were fantastic.

Hugh Panaro would be excellent singing a grocery list:)

The red & black cover is the 96 recording, the black cover is the 99 recording.

Ironically, the show (after its second or third West End rewrite, as Lee described) did win the Olivier Award for Best Musical that year.

OK, I have the 96 recording. Sweet, thanks!

yeah you do have the original... and Bertrande is played by Rebecca Locke... the alternate Bertrande... they thought she had a better voice then the original... forgot her name

I used to have it! And then my brother played Frisbee with it, and it died. Now I miss it...

haha... that made me laugh, littlefish

"I used to have it! And then my brother played Frisbee with it, and it died. Now I miss it... "

Maybe another similar CD will return in 7 years! :)

I have been fortunate enough to have seen the original version, the revised West End, and then the US Tour. While I love the music (despite some sometimes pedestiran lyrics), I wholly agree with elsgr8, in that the main problem with the show is that it lacks any and all suspense and mystery which so dominates the movie (which I highly recommend seeing if you have not). In watching the film, you had no idea that Martin was not Martin when he returned. So when the real Martin comes back, it was a great twist... because you still didn't know who was who. In addition, it gave such great nuance to the Bertrande character, for we are surprised to learn that she knew all along... but she was happy that the "new" Martin was kind, caring and compassionate. It breaks your heart. In the musical, all that is lost and instead it devolves into a protestant v christian musical which lacks any heart or soul.

As for the recordings, go for the original version - 1996.

One option is to buy from the UK direct... try amazon.co.uk (price I found was 19 pounds, or about $30).

UK Amazon.com

Never mind.

Thanks LA Guy for that analysis of the film and also for letting me know that I was not the only one disturbed by the changes made from the original screenplay. In my own case, I think I was so angry that they'd given away "the secret" that I kind of turned off to the show, that and the fact that Hunter Foster was, as I've said earlier, not the right person to play this particular part.

I like the 96 version cause it includes the best part of the show that was later taken out..... The louison song. Where one of the characters sings with a scarecrow. Hey did everyone know that Jose llana from the spelling be was one of the original touring leads.

Louison was still in the revised show, though not on the new 1999 recording. However, I was quite upset that they cut 'Welcome Home', one of the few upbeat numbers in the entire show. And the beautiful prologue.

As for the plot - OK, so we know that it's not Martin, but is it entirely clear whether Bertrande did? Even with the lack of suspense, I acutally found it quite moving that no matter how hard Bertrande tries to have a second chance at her marriage (even if it's not the original husband!), it still gets torn apart because of petty religious hatred. I liked it

As for the plot - OK, so we know that it's not Martin, but is it entirely clear whether Bertrande did?

In which version? In the original one, she knew right away the the man who returned was not Martin, right? They had the song where he wanted to go, but she asked him to stay with her.

I wish they had kept "Working On The Land" which was a brilliant opening number for the show. It's there in the '99 version as "Welcome to the land" but it's not even half as good as it was as the opening number.

But they did add the beautiful "How Many Tears" to the score for the '99 version - which is my favorite numbers of the new score.

Generally I prefer the '96 recording - much better, though the later recording does have the lovely Joanna Riding as Bertrande.

I have the 99 cast recording and I absolutly love the song Why. Especially when all three characters sing in counterpoint. It gives me chills. I would love to get the '96 recording. I also saw on the cast album database that there's a spanish cast recording. I'd be interested in getting that. Anyone know where one could get it??

Cast Album Database

go to the library and check it out. than burn on computer. than return.

amasis - you're completly right, I'd forgotten that song! However, in the 're-imagined' UK tour I thought that it was much less clear-cut (though I could be mis-remembering!). I suppose that the difficulty is that if he is consciously tricking her, the character of Arnaud becomes unsympathetic.

And in response to the original request, the Original London Cast recording (red cover) has been deleted, so the only place you are able to get them now is Ebay