What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
WiCkEDrOcKS
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/13/04
#1What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/13/12 at 12:57amWhich album is the best, in your opinions? I have just a few songs but want to download a whole album and was wondering which you all thought was the strongest. Thanks in advance! :)
#2What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/13/12 at 1:02am
I'd rank them
1. 1994 Off-Broadway (Small orchestra with a lot of synth, but easily the most accessible recording of the piece)
2. OBCR (Very different from the current revised/licensed version of the show. But it should be heard)
3. Lleicester recording (Most complete recording. Full orchestrations, but sound quality and performances are not always the best)
Updated On: 2/13/12 at 01:02 AM
#2What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/13/12 at 1:41am
I agree with ljay. I like the 1994 Off-Broadway cast recording the best and it is definitely accessible. That's a good word to describe it. The sound quality is great and the performances are good.
The 2 disc Leicester recording is the most complete so if you like more dialogue then that's a plus, but I don't like the way the orchestra sounds on this recording. It's a problem I have with most Jay Records cast recordings. Everything sounds distant and under tempo.
The OBC is interesting to compare the changes, and I suppose to some the performances are more definitive, but I wouldn't hold it in such high regard as other Sondheim OBC recordings.
#3What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/13/12 at 2:34am
1. The Original Broadway Cast Recording - OK, so it's not quite the show we have today, but it has some amazing performances, the sound quality is perfect and it has the best orchestra Merrily has ever had.
2. The Leicester Haymarket Recording - So, this is the show, complete, as we know it today. Some good performances (Maria Friedman is probably the best Mary) and they are an example of the new orchestrations and overall feel/structure of the show. Misses the brassiness and edginess of the original.
3. Off-Broadway cast recording - Sounds a little bit pants IMO. The orchestra just sound too tiny and tinny and it's not big and bold enough for Merrily despite some nice performances.
Just a few thoughts of mine! :)
pinoyidol2006
Broadway Star Joined: 5/3/11
#4What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/13/12 at 3:02am
I really enjoy the OBC. I am in love the richness of Lonny Price's interpretation of Charley. I just wish the tracks were separated better. Plus, I'm obsessed with how Lonny reading of "Inc" in "Franklin Shepherd, Inc."
I'd recommend the 1994 recording if you want individual tracks. The voices are really good, too. The singers in this recording have "prettier" voices than the original cast, in my humble opinion.
I like your imperturbable perspicacity.
#5What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/13/12 at 3:03am
Didn't we have a long thread on this last week? Anyway, no matter...
The OBCR is just one of the most energized cast albums of all time. It really is great. I disagree with Clap Yo Hands--the sound quality isn't fab (they rushed the recording session,partly due to it not being a hit from what I've read, and so there are a few bum notes in the orchestra and questionable miking--like check out Mary's bit in Now You Know which suddenly gets "too hot" like a microphone jumped in her face even with a touch of feedback, though the recent reamster does fix some of these problems). But it can't be beat. Of course it doesn't show the show as it is now.
Off Broadway is my second choice, great cast and basically has everything you need from the current version. The small orchestra really does pale compared to the original, and like many Varese Sarabande cast albums of its time it sounds a bit too |clean" and studio based, but still. It's out of print but very easy to find cheap.
I'd stay away from the Leicester recording, though I understand it played much better live. I like all of the actors, but none come off too well here, the tempi are really dragged out and it lacks energy. Obviously some disagree. There are two versions of this I believe--one's two disc and one's one disc. I don't know what was cut but seem to remember it was something minor (similar to how they reissued the London Follies on one disc cutting the minor Party Chatter or whatever number which isn't really a number). Louise Gold plays Gussie as less a seductress vampa nd more an Ethel Merman style Broadway star. I believe you can now only get this in print in N America as an expensive import. Without looking at my copy of the two disc one, I think the only extra music you get is a brief Entr'acte, one very brief title song transition reprise that was cut later, and a fair amount more dialogue (with some truly awful fake American accents).
#6What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/13/12 at 3:43am
How awesome would it be if the Encores! production got a cast recording? I would love a new recording of this score, and this production has some nice changes that would be great to preserve on disc.
Updated On: 2/13/12 at 03:43 AM
ILuv2shop531
Broadway Star Joined: 7/12/07
#7What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/13/12 at 10:05amI know right? I was talking to one of the ensemble members after the show yesterday and she was saying it has been talked about, and with the great ticket sales and amazing reviews, it could happen. It would be amazing!
#8What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/13/12 at 11:52amthe OBC of course...i like the original plan for this musical, and this recording captures that...hind-sight is always 20-20...but original means just that...it was orginal...flaws and all, and i agree the orchestra sounds awesome ,especially in the overture...
#9What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/13/12 at 12:06pm
I was just thinking yesterday how perfect it would be to even record the show live. Encores used to record their shows all the time! That's why we have great gems, like Do-Re-Mi for example. I hope it works out!
Although, Merrily is one of my top 5 faves, I'll admit that I've only listened to the OBCR once. I need to go back and check that out.
The album I listen to the most is the 1994 Off-Broadway recording. It's a great recording, Malcolm Gets is SUCH a great Frank. I'm not really familiar with many of the other performers - I really hate the Charlie on this, and Charlie is my favorite character. So, that's the only thing that ruins it in any way for me. The orchestra is definitely smaller, but nothing really takes away from the songs. Except "Franklin Shepherd Inc." which is done mostly with synth.
#10What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/14/12 at 5:12am
Maybe I'm wrong but I feel like it would be extremely and easy and cheap to record shows live...I don't know why they don't do it more often.
How close is the off-broadway recording to what is currently on stage at the NY City Center? I've listened to all the MERRILY recordings but not extensively, I wouldn't really say I'm familiar with the show.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
#11What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/14/12 at 10:27am
The York recording is basically the same song list, but with much smaller arrangements. The Entr'acte at Encores is totally new.
The Act II Opening is also a mostly new animal. After the opening verse, Gussie now goes into a "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" style dance with the boys, and sings a different part of "Good Thing Going" than she once did, and she has a big applause ending. It used to dovetail right into "It's A Hit" (with a bit of dialogue).
Other strange changes - Frank now sings at least 1/2 of "Good Thing Going," instead of it being a solo for Charley, and Beth sings along in the reprise of "Not A Day Goes By." There are also some small lyric changes in "Our Time," since Charley & Frank are no longer long-time friends when that scene begins in this version.
None of the changes are improvements, they're just... different.
#12What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/14/12 at 11:22am
and Beth sings along in the reprise of "Not A Day Goes By."
That's not new for this production.
Smaxie
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/26/05
#13What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/14/12 at 11:43amThe orchestra for the York recording numbered 16, I think, and I think the (expanded) orchestra and orchestration for Encores was around 23. Several posters on this thread have mentioned the "synthesized" orchestra on the York recording, but apart from the synthesizer/keyboard that is in the orchestration, it's a largely acoustic orchestra, with a full compliment of reeds and brass. The synthesizer is heard in the original orchestration and recording too, but the sound quality of that recording is so muffled (even in the remastered version) that it is not as prominent. But you can hear it buzzing away on tracks like "Rich and Happy" and "Franklin Shepard Inc." The York recording basically features what is now the standard licensed playing version of Merrily and is, as others have noted, the closest recorded version to what is onstage at Encores.
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
#14What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/14/12 at 11:44amljay, it was new to me (I thought) - in what other productions has Beth sung in the reprise?
#15What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/14/12 at 12:15pm
I'm seeing this tomorrow night, and I'm very excited. But I am concerned about Good Thing Going becoming a duet. I always thought the entire point of the song was that Charlie realizes that what he wrote is where he's headed. I could be very, very wrong about that, but that's what that moment always seemed to me. And I'd rather hear it imperfectly sung, but deeply felt, instead of helped along vocally while diminishing the moment.
But...my mind (like my legs) is open.
NYadgal
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/04
#16What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/14/12 at 12:24pmI'm looking forward to seeing this tomorrow, also!
"Two drifters off to see the world. There's such a lot of world to see. . ."
#17What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/14/12 at 12:28pmShut UP! Look for me! Row A of the mezz!
#18What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/14/12 at 12:38pm
ljay, it was new to me (I thought) - in what other productions has Beth sung in the reprise?
Beth sings it with them on the York and Leicester recordings.
And the official MTI synopsis almost makes it sound like Frank doesn't sing with them!
The ceremony begins with Beth singing "Not A Day Goes By" as Mary alone at a tiny cocktail table sings with her--twin soliloquies--expressing her own secret love for Frank.
#19What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/14/12 at 2:32pmMake your own mix, and put it backwards if you really want to appreciate the damn thing. Yes, I said it. Not the first, won't be the last.
"There is no problem so big that it cannot be run away from."
~ Charles M. Schulz
#20What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/14/12 at 2:51pm
So your track listing would be
1. Our Time
2. Opening Doors
3. Bobby and Jackie and Jack
4. Not A Day Goes By (not part II or reprise, if in this order?)
5. The Blob
6. Growing Up
7. Good Thing Going
8. The Blob reprise
9. Musical Husbands number (Good Thing Going reprise?)
10. It's a Hit
INTERMISSION
11. Not A Day Goes By (reprise?)
12. Now You Know
13. Old Friends
14. Growing Up
15. Old Friends (reprise)/Like It Was
16. Franklin Shepard Inc.
17. That Frank
18. Merrily We Roll Along
I leave out the transitions because they wouldn't make sense if you perform the show in this direction (all the years mentioned roll backwards...)
#21What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/14/12 at 3:27pmMy vote is for the OBC. It's the only recording of the show I enjoy.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#22What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/16/12 at 9:37pmSmaxie--wow you're right, the York recording mentions an orchestra of 16. I had no idea. It really does sound smaller, and the synths seem to replace more real instruments, but maybe it's just me hearing things (I do LOVE the sniggly synth line that roles under the music in so much of the OBCR but it is often pretty subtle). I think part of it is the way Varse Sarabande cast albums of the mid 90s were recorded (listen to the Company revival recording too)--and I hope a certain member here doesn't take offence as I know he produced them, and I'm grateful we have them. But they have a vight tihgt, "studio" sound--almost maybe a bit too clinical--to them, which is completely the opposite of the old school Broadway sound--echoes and mushy bits included of the OBCR.
#23What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/17/12 at 11:08amThe York recording had a lot of extra musicians who weren't at the theatre - I'd need to haul out my old Playbill (or whatever) and see if they were listed, but, knowing that space, I can't imagine that Rafter had more than 7 or 8 players there.
#25What MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG recording do you all suggest?
Posted: 2/21/12 at 3:51am
I am listening to the OBCR for the first time in a while. Normally I don't listen to this recording often because I'm not a fan of having Frank sing NOT A DAY GOES BY - and I miss Gussie's presence.
I am noticing that the orchestrations have this really full and bombastic quality. I have not heard this sound on the other recordings or live at City Center. The Leicester recording comes the closest to having this bombastic quality. I am loving this sound, but I do prefer the final/licensed version of the score.
Updated On: 2/21/12 at 03:51 AM
