Cheyenne Jackson WEST SIDE STORY

[morosco]

Posted: 8/11/14 at 10:48am

I listened to this new recording several times over the weekend and found it to be less than satisfying. My humble opinions:

1) Alexandra Silber's voice reads way too mature to be Maria. Especially against Cheyenne Jackson's Tony.

2) Cheyenne Jackson sounds wonderful as Tony.

3) The voices often are drowned out by the orchestra.

4) Some of Michael Tilson Thomas' tempos are a little too slow.

5) Still it's worth repeated listening's and the Amazon download is only $8.99 right now.

PS- I bought the hard copy because it is hybrid SACD. Both my CD player and my AV Receiver are SACD capable. They are connected to one another with digital coax. When I play the disc my receiver displays LPCM. Is that an indication that it is reading the SACD content?

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 8/11/14 at 3:15pm

I just listened to this the other day. While some of the tempos were DEADLY ("Something's Coming" has never ben slower) but the orchestra sounds really great. Silber definitely wasn't the best choice for Maria.

[morosco]

Posted: 8/11/14 at 4:44pm

6) oh, I forgot.. I hate the way the sound effect of the gunshot that kills Tony is placed at the end of the "Jukebox, Taunting" track. Makes it sound as if Anita pulled out a gun and shot one of The Jets. They may have done this to avoid having the gunshot at the beginning of the final track but I don't think it was a good choice. Just cut the sound effect altogether.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 8/12/14 at 5:49am

I just listened to it the other day, and I thought the orchestra was stunning (despite the tempos being sometimes painful). The thing is, I've heard so many recordings of WSS by now they all kind of run together, and the fact that Cheyenne Jackson is rapidly approaching 40, no matter how youthful he sounds, made some of it a little ludicrous. Spirited effort, though.