MOULIN ROUGE Cast Recording Out Today! - Thoughts- Page 2

[Philly Theater Girl]

Posted: 8/31/19 at 1:43pm

gray_area said: "I thought the album was a tad overproduced? Tried to go a little bit of everything and comes out a bit too much for my liking. I enjoyed the vocals better live, Tveit in particular sounds better live than in this recording. I'm still not a fan of Firework on the show but Olivo knocks that out of the park so I can't hate it as much.

But I agree, this is good music to listen to while at the gym."

I agree that some of the songs sounded overproduced. Roxanne is the one that comes to mind - I could have done without all the echoing (not sure what the technical term is), I think it takes something away from the song. Saw the show on Broadway and can attest that this song sound so much better live. Aaron Tveit sounds so much better live. There are some bootleg versions of Roxanne on the internet and they are so much better than what’s on the cast album.

havign said all that, I’m really enjoying the cast album. 

[Pose2]

Posted: 8/31/19 at 1:48pm

Incredible album, Aaron and Karen sounds so wonderful.  Everyone sounds better live, but this is a close second. 

[willep]

Posted: 8/31/19 at 2:14pm

Having not seen the show, Aaron sounds incredibly bland and terribly miscast as Christian on the album. Olive sounds terrific. I’m not sold on all the new music, and I will probably mostly stick to the movie album.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 8/31/19 at 2:30pm

Will this be eligible for this coming Grammy season? I sure hope it doesn’t steal Hadestown’s thunder.

[IHeartNY2]

Posted: 8/31/19 at 2:52pm

Call_me_jorge said: "Will this be eligible for this coming Grammy season? I sure hope it doesn’t steal Hadestown’s thunder."

Let's hope not, or it'll be WWIII over here.

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 8/31/19 at 2:54pm

The 2020 Grammys honor recordings released between Oct. 1, 2018 and Aug. 31, 2019. With its Aug. 30 release, I think ''Moulin Rouge!'' just made the deadline. (Grammy nominations come out Nov. 20; the Grammys will be given out Jan. 26.)

For the record, ''Moulin Rouge!'' has earned Tveit some of the best reviews of his career. Ben Brantley of the N.Y. Times has raved that Christian is a role that Tveit was ''born to play.''

Updated On: 8/31/19 at 02:54 PM

[dmwnc1959]

Posted: 8/31/19 at 3:28pm

Downloaded and listened to the new OBCR (available on Napster/Rhapsody with your subscription) and...

...it makes me want to see the show again.

Like, really badly.

Despite the bad acting, some of the music is just amazingly powerful and freaking FUN when it’s being performed.

Having just seen the show this past Wednesday, and it still relatively fresh in my mind’s eye, here are a couple of notes:

I think the Elephant Love Medley comes across MUCH better on stage. Just seeing them moving around in Satine’s room and singing the bits is soooo much better than just listening to the song by itself with no visuals. However, I think the opposite for Crazy Rolling, which actually sounds better on the OBCR.

Aaron does come across weak on the OBCR in parts, but it seems to me in those soft sounding moments he comes across much stronger in person, for that scene, or at least he was in my show compared to what I just listened to. Even in Come What May it works better on stage than through my earbuds sitting in my living room.

And I still love The Sparking Diamond, Firework, Backstage Romance (just, oh my goodness, and WOW!), and Chandelier. And the finale More More More (Encore) - dayum! I wish I had been able to listen to this before seeing the show. I think it would have made ALL of the difference in the world. And I think I actually enjoyed the show more than I want to admit.

Despite the bad acting, and that atrocious death scene, I think that I need to book this show again for early next year before the OBC leave.

Updated On: 8/31/19 at 03:28 PM

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 8/31/19 at 4:01pm

After listening to the OBCR again today, I’d like to at least subdue some of my earlier criticisms in my longer post in the MR! professional reviews thread. I think it helped that today I started with Come What May which is my favorite song from MR! Listening to the OBCR from Come What May to the end then looping around to the beginning makes it clear (to me at least) the strongest part of the OBCR is the last half. In fact, the album doesn’t start to grab me until Firework. Part of that is because some of the earlier songs are either not my favorites (Single Girls, Shut Up and Dance, Raise Your Glass and gasp...Lady Marmalade) or don’t easily lend themselves to theatricality (this is true of the latter use of What’s Love Got To Do With It which I love but does nothing for me here - I hope it fares better in Tina - I do like it on the Tina London Cast Recording where it’s not relegated to just a snippet).

The album starts to build steam (for me) at Firework although loses some steam again with So Exciting! (The Pitch Sing) then gains some steam gain with Sympathy for The Duke and Nature Boy then Elephant Love Medley which either succeeds or fails depending on which songs snippets I love, like or feel meh about. But then the album really hits the ground running from Backstage Romance going forward which makes me think I’ll like Act 2 much better than Act 1 when I see it on September 28th (4 weeks from today!). Of course, seeing it live may totally invert my expectations. The only song from the second half that still leaves me perplexed is More More More! (Encore) because the choice snippet choices seem more designed for a high energy ending (odd after the death of a lead character) rather than any sort of any coherence. It really does nothing for me.

[dmwnc1959]

Posted: 8/31/19 at 4:25pm

Miles2Go2 said: "The only song from the second half that still leaves me perplexed is More More More! (Encore) because the choice snippet choices seem more designed for a high energy ending (odd after the death of a lead character) rather than any sort of any coherence. It really does nothing for me."

 

I think that’s when the show lost me. I was sort of taking everything (at least the crappy acting parts) so seriously, and you just had THE lead character DIE (horrible, ending #1), and then the Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love bit with Come What May (mediocre, ending #2), and then the show EXPLODES (totally in your face, ending #3, the real finale) with More More More! (Encore), which is a TREMENDOUS high to go out on...after the lead character just died. It just didn’t work well, at first, but putting any logic behind you, it’s really a huge party at that point and a fun way to exit the show without it feeling like such a Debbie Downer. 

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 8/31/19 at 4:42pm

To help put ''More More More!'' in context, it's the show's celebratory Encore and Curtain Call. It was considered OK to film (which is why you can find more than a few versions on YouTube), but Equity recently enforced a new policy to put the kibosh on that. Here's one while it still lasts ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QAAXjzT3zE

Updated On: 8/31/19 at 04:42 PM

[EllieRose2]

Posted: 8/31/19 at 5:33pm

For the record, ''Moulin Rouge!'' has earned Tveit some of the best reviews of his career. Ben Brantley of the N.Y. Times has raved that Christian is a role that Tveit was ''born to play.''

Exactly. People who are complaining about one of the most beautiful voices on Broadway clearly are people who haven't seen the show or have terrible seats for sound lines when they see it. 

[willep]

Posted: 8/31/19 at 5:48pm

EllieRose2 said: "For the record, ''Moulin Rouge!'' has earned Tveit some of the best reviews of his career. Ben Brantley of the N.Y. Times has raved that Christian is a role that Tveit was ''born to play.''

Exactly. People who are complainingabout one of the most beautiful voices on Broadway clearly are people who haven't seen the show or have terrible seats for sound lines when they see it."

Clearly I haven’t seen it, as I said in my post I was just going off the album, but Aaron Tveit just doesn’t do it for me as Christian. All of his tracks seem to lack any emotional oomph for me. I will take the McGregor versions any day.

Updated On: 8/31/19 at 05:48 PM

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 8/31/19 at 6:26pm

Speaking of the movie's original cast, here's what Nicole Kidman posted on Instagram after catching the Broadway version recently: ''What a joy to see MoulinRougeBway! It blew my mind! Get a ticket as soon as you can! And Karen and Aaron as Satine and Christian were superb.''

Here's a link to some backstage photos she took with the cast.

https://www.people.com/movies/nicole-kidman-keith-urban-moulin-rouge-the-musical/

Updated On: 8/31/19 at 06:26 PM

[thedrybandit]

Posted: 8/31/19 at 7:26pm

EllieRose2 said: "For the record, ''Moulin Rouge!'' has earned Tveit some of the best reviews of his career. Ben Brantley of the N.Y. Times has raved that Christian is a role that Tveit was ''born to play.''

Exactly. People who are complainingabout one of the most beautiful voices on Broadway clearly are people who haven't seen the show or have terrible seats for sound lines when they see it."

Or, they saw the show, had great seats, and think Brantley is completely wrong about this one.

Everyone is going to have their own personal tastes, but I saw it, had great seats, and thought he was dreadful (and that Brantley was completely wrong on this one). Tveit is terribly bland in this. No emotion or power in his voice, no chemistry with other actors, no meaning to anything he's doing on stage. He looked lost. I saw him years ago in Catch Me If You Can and loved him there. Whatever he was doing in that show worked, but he's just not right for this part.

[IHeartNY2]

Posted: 8/31/19 at 7:35pm

All we need now is for someone to complain about the ice at the bar and this show will have been officially scrutinized to death.

[EllieRose2]

Posted: 8/31/19 at 7:51pm

The negative opinions don't matter anyways, it's a huge financial hit, Aaron got rave reviews, and it is the show to see. So....move along haters!

[Huss417]

Posted: 8/31/19 at 8:15pm

IHeartNY2 said: "All we need now is for someone to complain about the ice at the bar and this show will have been officially scrutinized to death."

Yes the ice in those damn sippy cups during the show. Annoying!

 

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 8/31/19 at 8:35pm

Miles2Go2 said: "After listening to the OBCR again today, I’d like to at least subdue some of my earlier criticisms in my longer post in the MR! professional reviews thread. I think it helped that today I started with Come What May which is my favorite song from MR! Listening to the OBCR from Come What May to the end then looping around to the beginning makes it clear (to me at least) the strongest part of the OBCR is the last half. In fact, the album doesn’t start to grab me until Firework. Part of that is because some of the earlier songs are either not my favorites (Single Girls, Shut Up and Dance, Raise Your Glass and gasp...Lady Marmalade) or don’t easily lend themselves to theatricality (this is true of the latter use of What’s Love Got To Do With It which I love but does nothing for me here - I hope it fares better in Tina - I do like it on the Tina London Cast Recording where it’s not relegated to just a snippet).

The album starts to build steam (for me) at Firework although loses some steam again with So Exciting! (The Pitch Sing) then gains some steam gain with Sympathy for The Duke and Nature Boy then Elephant Love Medley which either succeeds or fails depending on which songs snippets I love, like or feel meh about. But then the album really hits the ground running from Backstage Romance going forward which makes me think I’ll like Act 2 much better than Act 1 when I see it on September 28th (4 weeks from today!). Of course, seeing it live may totally invert my expectations. The only song from the second half that still leaves me perplexed is More More More! (Encore) because the choice snippet choices seem more designed for a high energy ending (odd after the death of a lead character) rather than any sort of any coherence. It really does nothing for me. "


I forgot to mention “Your Song.”  This song has special meaning to me. Back when there was a tribute album to John/Taupin, Rod Stewart did a great version of it. One day when I picked my best friend at the time up from his job, I played it for him on my car stereo and told him it was basically from me to him. It made him cry. I believe he was already HIV+ by then.  It kinda became our song. He died many years ago (from a combination of AIDS and drug use) a few years after his drug use created a distance between us. At the time he died, we hadn’t spoken for at least a couple years. I admit it was almost a relief when he quit seeking contact as by that time we had little in common and he appeared to have possibly stolen from me (borrowed a bunch of CDs he never returned, possibly to sell for money for drugs...seems meaningless now). I found out he died by reading the death notices in the newspaper one morning. I didn’t even get to attend his funeral.This song never fails to produce the bittersweet brew of grief and regret and guilt and love and gratitude. Doesn’t have anything to do with the plot of the show, but I suppose we all bring our own personal histories to the shows we see. I know I do. 

Updated On: 8/31/19 at 08:35 PM

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 9/1/19 at 2:09pm

I have to say after repeated listens, I’m liking the first three songs better.

I miss the film’s (watched again last night and loved it perhaps more than any other viewing) beginning mashup of Lady Marmalade and Smells Like Teen Spirit (it added some needed grittiness to Lady Marmalade, seemed to embody the Bohemian doctrine, and gave a blueprint of what to expect going forward - glitzy plus Bohemia), but I do love the use of Let’s Dance and Burning Down The House (two great songs) in place of Smells Like Teen Spirit.

I like everything about “Truth Beauty Freedom Love (Lorde’s Royals, Children of the Revolution) except that damn song by “fun.”

And I love everything about “The Sparkling Diamond” except the inclusion of “Single Ladies”, but I’m guessing maybe it works better in the actual show.

“Shut Up and Raise Your Glass” is still meh to me. Never was a fan of “Shut Up and Dance” and “Raise Your Glass” only works for me if P!nk is selling it.

[nycward]

Posted: 9/1/19 at 5:05pm

BEST WORKOUT PLAYLIST EVER!!!!! I just finished my 4 mile jog and every track  works for me....not so much in the theatre when I saw it last month. I think one just has to give in to the excess and go along for the ride. That’s what all those civilians are doing who have been selling it out each night. It’s over-baked but a great recipe if you just leave your critical eye home. In the words of one of the few pop musical legends not represented onstage. LET IT BE!!!!!

[Bill Snibson]

Posted: 9/1/19 at 9:15pm

I gotta say I think this album is incredible and makes me super excited to see the show. Also, am I the only one on this board that thinks Aaron is quite possibly the best male broadway vocalist we have...he is SOARING....😍👍🏻👍🏻

[Pose2]

Posted: 9/1/19 at 9:30pm

He is in the top five of the best on Broadway. He was BRILLIANT in Company, CMIYC, Assassins, and his rendition of "Maria" on New Year Eves at Lincoln Center a few years ago was the best version I have ever seen. He soars, above and beyond!

[uncageg]

Posted: 9/1/19 at 10:04pm

I found the quality of the recording to be outstanding. With that said, it won't get much play on my devices. I didn't buy the movie soundtrack but find it more fun than this cast recording.  But I guess I can see younger people enjoying it with the updated music. I do love a lot of the songs they have included and know them all. Just not crazy about the recording. 

I saw the movie twice. Was not as crazy about it as a lot of people were. At the time the whole concept was different. That original Elephant Medley drove me crazy but there I was at the bar singing along to it every weekend!

I just can't justify spending a lot of money to see this. I will admit that I do want to see the set, inside of the theater and the choreography. I will wait until tickets are not as much in demand. May be years!  JMO

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 9/1/19 at 11:51pm

nycward said: “In the words of one of the few pop musical legendsnot represented onstage. LET IT BE!!!!!"

Actually, I believe “Money (That’s What I Want)” by The Beatles is referenced in the first song and “Silly Love Songs” by McCartney’s Wings is referenced elsewhere. 

Update: I may be wrong about “Silly Love Songs.”  It is included in Elephant Love Medley in the movie, but appears to be missing from the OBCR. 

Updated On: 9/2/19 at 11:51 PM

[Erin V]

Posted: 9/2/19 at 12:28am

YES, thank you! Completely agree, took the words out of my mouth. They overproduced some parts of the album, especially Roxanne, which is a shame!