Love Never Dies cast recording
Love Never Dies cast recording
#1Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/2/10 at 11:40pm
I just got mine today. Anyone else have one? I haven't listened to the entire thing yet, so I'm going to reserve my judgement until I do.
Anyone who has listened to it have any thoughts?
"Somethin's comin', I don't know what it is but it is gonna be great!"
#2Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 12:17amWhere did you order your copy? (I ordered mine on Amazon and it hasn't shipped yet)
#2Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 12:21amIt is simply crazy, but I love it! Beauty Underneath is so creepy. LOL.
broadwayboy987
Stand-by Joined: 2/15/10
#3Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 12:37amI ordered mine off the website, still waiting...
#4Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 12:40amGot mine yesterday...still yet to listen....!
Well I didn't want to get into it, but he's a Satanist.
Every full moon he sacrifices 4 puppies to the Dark Lord and smears their blood on his paino.
This should help you understand the score for Wicked a little bit more.
Tazber's: Reply to
Is Stephen Schwartz a Practicing Christian
#5Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 1:04am
I think it's ALW's best score in many years (minus a few songs).
TheatreFan4 - my favorite part of that song is when Gustav sings, "It's so beautiful." And yes, that part really is beautiful
"They're eating her and then they're going to eat me. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!" -Troll 2
Updated On: 3/3/10 at 01:04 AM
#6Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 1:09amOrdered it from the main site, and I have not gotten my yet...man I want to hear it so bad...
#7Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 1:20am
To tie you over until you get your copies, you can watch/listen to this :)
"Till I Hear You Sing" music video
"They're eating her and then they're going to eat me. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!" -Troll 2
#8Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 1:23am
I posted my full thoughts on it in the West End board, but that thread has seemed to disappear.
In short, after a first listen I was left with a "what the hell just happened" feeling, mostly due to the insane plotline. But after probably my tenth or eleventh listen, I've discovered that much of the score is beautiful, and one of Webber's best in recent years.
Standouts include:
Till I Hear You Sing
Beneath a Moonless Sky
Love Never Dies
Dear Old Friend
Devil Take the Hindmost
Once Upon Another Time
He has the Coney Island style music down, but it's annoying beyond belief. "Bathing Beauty" and "Only For Him/Only for You" are two great examples. Some of Slater's lyrics are also a little bland.
The performances, mainly from Karimloo and Boggess, really lift some of the more mediocre material.
"Oh look at the time, three more intelligent plays just closed and THE ADDAMS FAMILY made another million dollars" -Jackie Hoffman, Broadway.com Audience Awards
#9Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 1:26am
I also love the "Devil Take the Hindmost (Quartet)" with Gustave doing that beautiful underlying music behind the principles.
My favorite songs (not in any particular order):
"Till I Hear You Sing"
"Look With Your Heart"
"Beneath a Moonless Sky"
"Dear Old Friend"
"Devil Take The Hindmost"
"Devil Take The Hindmost (Quartet)"
"Love Never Dies"
"The Beauty Underneath" <---I can't help it. I love the middle part so much with the "It seems so beautiful"
"They're eating her and then they're going to eat me. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!" -Troll 2
Updated On: 3/3/10 at 01:26 AM
#10Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 2:13amWebber finally works with a decent lyricist, and he seems to have completely beaten the wit out of him. I swear to God. He WANTS bad lyrics. He really does. He assumes the audience is too stupid to watch a show that doesn't beat you over the head with exactly what is going on and what the characters are feeling without any subtlety. That, or he just wants everyone to focus on the music.
#11Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 2:36am
I agree about the lyrics. Webber and Rice need to settle whatever crap they have between them and get back to writing stuff as good as JCS and EVITA.
"They're eating her and then they're going to eat me. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!" -Troll 2
Updated On: 3/3/10 at 02:36 AM
jacobsnchz14
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/13/06
#12Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 7:24am
I just got mine yesterday and I've listened to the whole thing, straight, only once. I am going to listen to it again today. And I like most of what I am hearing. I did notice some elements of other ALW scores (Phantom, being one of course) mixed in Love Never Dies, but I like it because you can still tell that it is a continuation of the original story by its score. If you get what I mean. I also do have to say that "Bathing Beauty" and "Only For Him/You" are not as strong as the rest of the score. They are catchy (sort of)... but just not right for Love Never Dies. I love the album and can't wait to listen to it again today! My standouts are pretty much the same as Spiderdj82's. lol.
Rating (after first listen): 7.5 or 8/10
^Probably will go up after a few more listens
#13Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 10:24am
These are my thoughts.....
And I am not one of those Phantom fans who thinks the Sequel is a bad idea and ALW should be tared and feathered just at the thought of it. However I am not one that thinks everything the lord touches turns to gold.
More or less the music to me is great. Very lush and emotional. I can't comment on lyrics because unless something stands out as terrible, I usually just accept it and move on.
My main grudge is what I would call "connective music" I appreciate that he still tries to do sung through shows and I've always lamented the fact that most cast recordings nowadays fit on one CD. But I just dont like the connecting music in this. It just is not enjoying to listen to, particulary whenever Meg or Mme Giry are on. Therefore most of the in between bits I think can be spoken, like what they did when Woman in WHite came to Broadway.
Maybe it is because it is a studio cast but some of the songs just don't transition well at all from one song to another, at one time I had to check to see that I had the files in the correct order.
Standout songs for me are all of the ones stated earlier.
I hate the "Ah Christine" bits, another example of something that could be nice but the melody is just unpleasing. But here is the other big problem. Everyone basked ALW because he writes nice melodies, easy to listen to, they stick with you. When he writes parts like this they sound terrible. SO it is a dam if you do dam if you dont situation.
The start needs work. Phantom starts off with an auction but it is assumed that the opera house is there and fine, just between shows or something, not distroyed, so the prologue does not need to be referenced again. In this prologue Mme Giry mentions a fire and Coney Island in ruins, then during the show there is no other mention of this. I think this should be either cut or modified. Why even have Giry and FLeck at the start, why not start the show with the 3 freaks or even just some carnival guy trying to entertain the Coney Island audience 6 or so years later with this story about how things were "way back when" then you can keep the whole opening sequence of projections and all that.
I do not like the phantom's few lines before his big number, He should sing practically nothing before "Till I HEar You Sing" the scene should open with him in his Aerie and bam into the song, if not, speak or softly sing the lines explaining that it is 10 years on and he has lost his muse, you can even do it over an obscure melody from part one.
Gustave's music box when it starts to play PhantomMusic should play something more iconic from part one, not the masquerade tune but maybe Angel of Music as the moment that follows is very similar to the Angel of Music scene.
Beneath a moonlit shy is brethtaking and I feel it plausibly explains Gustave's origins, and I even like that they did it AGAIN and AGAIN, lol.
Once Upon another time, is quite nice but the melody takes time to get used to, It is risky to put two love songs back to back, but this one is shorter that Mooonless Sky so it kind of works
Something ALW does that pisses me off is he would find a very small piece of music that is totally breathtaking and not expand on it, an example of this is the first 2 lines of "Look with your heart" so beautiful yet he does not use that little tune ever again.
"Beauty Underneath" this is the big "out of place number" but it does not have to be, it all comes back to TRANSITIONS
In part one the transition from Angel of Music to the title song was handeled well. Here is my solution
POSSIBLE SPOILER
Gustave is in the new lair with the Phantom, he starts to play the piano "Beautiful" during this the Phantom realises he is his father, then bam, Beauty Underneath. Why not have GUstave play the organ, just one notes, the Phantom joins in and adds chords, the melody builds on the organ plus orchestra, The Phantom realises he is the daddy, then when Beauty underneath starts, Gustave suddenly bursts into playing the organ full blast and that would transition into the song with less rock guirat rifts in the begining.
The inclusion of "Beautiful" in this song gives me chills. This musically is probably the best working part of the show.
ACT one ends off with a nice booming of Moonless Sky (the best part of the movie was this tune used in the graveyard journey)
Act 2 starts off well, Why Does She Love Me is an abstract version of Part 1's title song melody and you somewhat start to feel sory for Raoul.
Devil take the hindmost is an interesting piece
Bathing Beauty may look out of place, but it is totally nessessary to the plot, If Meg has no song to perform on closing night, then she has no reason to go over the edge at the end. Perhaps, since they are using a revolve onstage, that song can be extended to include some more instrumental/dance breaks and while this is going on, the stage can rotate and you see some backstage drama of aoultrying to oconvince CHristine not to perform and them argueing.
Reprise of Hind most is interesting also, Cant wait to see how this number is staged.
The ending is the bigest problem.
I don't think it drags on to omuch, more that it ends anticlimatic musically. Opera is full of stretching out death ecenes so I dont have a problem with that, but they need to pick a song to blow up to a big musical finish, like Act 1, not just fizzle out.
the problem I said elswhere is they need to make 2 key moments happen close together, moments that would be hard to do in real life. 1: Phantom and CHristine finally declaring their love as she dies. 2: Gustave touching the phantom's face and accepting him, if not as father, but seeing him for the "beauty underneath" (the phantom gets unmasked infront of Gustave in act 1 and Gustave freaks out)
those 2 moments are hard to accomlish realistically when your mother dies and you find out your father is not who you thought he is.
Perhaps this can be done by having all other people leave the scene with just the 3 of them alone on the pear as CHristine dies.
I even think Meg could as well get pushed off the pear and drown in a scuffle as Christine gets shot.
I hope this makes it to Broadway when I visit in January
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27199361@N08/ Phantom at the Royal Empire Theatre
#14Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 10:25amIs the show sung-through and presented in its entirety on the recording, or do you need to see the show or read the script to get where the plot is going?
#15Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 10:33am
you can follow with out the liner notes.
But I am sure lot of the material will change shomewhat before it opens.
It has a Woman in White CD ending and needs a Woman in White broadway ending.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27199361@N08/ Phantom at the Royal Empire Theatre
#16Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 10:33am
Webber finally works with a decent lyricist, and he seems to have completely beaten the wit out of him.
That's how I felt about Woman in White. I couldn't believe those lyrics were the work of Zippel.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
Mattbrain
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/23/05
#17Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 11:26amI completely agree with you, Mister Matt!
Butters, go buy World of Warcraft, install it on your computer, and join the online sensation before we all murder you.
--Cartman: South Park
ATTENTION FANS: I will be played by James Barbour in the upcoming musical, "BroadwayWorld: The Musical."
redmanrun621
Swing Joined: 3/3/10
#18Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 11:44amI want a copy so bad!!!! where did you buy it from?
TheatreDiva90016
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
#20Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 2:24pmI ordered mine off the web site last October and I haven't received it yet.
"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>>
“I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>>
-whatever2
#22Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 2:48pm
Well, my take on the sung dialogue is that in a legit Opera, everything is sung through, including lines like, "can you hand me my brush." Since "Phantom of the Opera" has that operatic format, it is done the same way in the show. Now, a lot of others shows don't have this excuse.
Also, I would like to add, that I love hearing lush orchestrations instead of the usual "rock band" sound that almost all musicals today have. I mean, I love those musicals as much as anyone else, but it's nice to hear the strings and trumpets, too!
Ps. nealb1 - That makes me happy that you love it. I don't know why, but it does. lol
"They're eating her and then they're going to eat me. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!" -Troll 2
Updated On: 3/3/10 at 02:48 PM
#24Love Never Dies cast recording
Posted: 3/3/10 at 4:48pm
I've listened to MOST of it (I have it in my car and haven't gotten to the last track yet) and so far am really enjoying it. I'm a little ticked that he couldn't write a new song for Love Never Dies -- why recycle the melody from another show??
There seems to be a lack of actual SONGS though -- it's a LOT of recitative, especially in the first act. I do love Til I Hear You Sing and Beneath a Moonless Sky though.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the use of Twisted Every Way in the second act. It's VERY clever and absolutely perfect in that scene (of course, I'm only going based on the album, but it gave me chills).
The orchestrations and performances are great -- all around I'm VERY pleased.
Hi, Shirley Temple Pudding.
