Listen to the new Evita Cast Recording on AOL Music

[jdtp12]

Maybe this is old news, but I looked and didn't find anything. AOL Music is streaming the entire album.




Listen Here

[jacobsnchz14]

Didn't see this before... thanks!

[castlestreet]

Thanks for posting! Sounds great!

[californiasnow]

To my ear, Elena sounds a lot better here than on the recording from London. Looking forward to getting my hard copy in the mail this week.

[quizking101]

The main attraction of the album is Ricky Martin, and he does a great job with some songs ("Goodnight & Thank You"), middleground with others ("High Flying, Adored"), and lousy with some ("Oh What A Circus"...Ouch!). The thing that bothers me is that, for a show that is touted as authentically Latin, Ricky Martin neglects to use any sort of Spanish flair in his voice, other than accenting his "R"'s.

Elena Roger is the same way. In comparing her to the 2006 London Album, she sounds better on some songs ("High Flying, Adored", "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina") and considerably worse on others ("Buenos Aires"...especially toward the end). I will give her the fact her English diction has improved greatly.

Michael Cerveris is just...gold.

All that being said, I do think I'll make the investment in purchasing it, since it'll make a great companion to the 2006 London Album. (I'm not a fan of the OBC, LuPone and Patinkin drive me up a wall in the lead roles.)

[Mildred Plotka]

" (I'm not a fan of the OBC, LuPone and Patinkin drive me up a wall in the lead roles.)"

While you're certainly entitled to your opinion, I just rolled my eyes so far back I got a little headache.

[dave1606]

Ricky Martin was in NO WAY the main attraction for me.

He sounds as wooden and as bland as he was in the show. (Plus you don't get to look at him, so more of the appeal is lost.)I REALLY want to see Max Von Essen do the role.

He isn't necessary bad, just nothing to warrant a purchase of the CD unless you are a die hard fan.

I think Elena sounds fantastic, as does the orchestra. Such a great score!

[smallworld]

I've been listening to this all morning. Although I don't like Ricky much, Elena and Michael are both absolutely phenomenal. I cannot wait to get my CD this week!

[swmwithsharks]

I'm finding her very tough to listen to at times...very shrill, especially in New Argentina. I also noticed the lack of Latin "flair" in Ricky Martin's performance. He sounds like a Boy Scout singing O What A Circus.

[Esswei]

Thanks for linking to this, it's making my precal homework more bearable. I cringe whenever Ricky Martin opens his mouth though. With Elena's voice is very 50/50 for me. She's so shrill on the high notes but I love her accent. I've actually been finding her extremely easy to understand. Some lyrics I didn't catch on the original recording I completely understand here.

[wickedfan]

Max Von Essen and Rachel Potter both sound fantastic, per usual. Elena sounds good. MUCH better than she sounded 3 weeks ago in the theatre. Ricky Martin sounds just as wooden and bland as he did in the theatre.

Still hate those orchestrations. And those tempos.

[JasonM12480]

I think the whole thing sounds hollow and flat to me. There is no richness to the singing, except perhaps for Von Essen and Cerveris. Other then that, the only reason some of these people sound better is because the album is auto-tuned. Broadway doesn't sound much like Broadway anymore.

[finebydesign]

I'm a huge Ricky Martin fan.... but this is almost painful to listen. Is he 'acting' or just reading terribly? Elena sounds wonderful. It's nice to hear to "Buenos Aires" pronounced correctly.

I'm assuming the quality of this stream is the distortion I'm hearing and not auto-tune.

[everythingtaboo]

Severely disappointed, but so very happy I forgot to pre-order the CD. Ricky's voice reminds me of just how nuance-free his live performance was, and the tempos. Oh lord, the tempos!

[LALALand]

Thank you for posting this prior to the release! Yikes, will not be purchasing this one. Other than the new orchestrations, there is very little to recommend this recording. Ricky is just flat and hollow, Elena can't sing it (her fire and brimstone performance clearly must be seen rather than heard), and Cerveris sounds like he's playing Dracula (all he needs is the proper accent).

[finebydesign]

Rachel Potter sounds really wonderful!

[finebydesign]

Rachel Potter sounds really wonderful!

[finebydesign]

Rachel Potter sounds really wonderful!

[Rainbowhigh23]

^I'm sure Rachel would love this comment three times!

The tempos are way too fast. Are they trying to run away from something?

[GlindatheGood22]

Listening to it now. I'm up to A New Argentina, and so far Ricky's accent has been going in and out.

Rachel Potter's Another Suitcase is too belty for my taste.

[Rainbowhigh23]

"Rainbow High" sounds better than on the London cast album, but is nowhere near as breathtaking as Patti's version.

[My Oh My]

"The tempos are way too fast. Are they trying to run away from something?"

Yes.

The reduced orchestra and the "new orchestrations" designed to make the best of it.

Everyone else thinks they are a sort of gift, LOL.

True, they inevitably inject the work with 'newness.'

Unfortunately, it takes more than distraction for me to perceive something as truly new. Or at least newer AND better, with the fact it's better having nothing to do with it being new.

Hell, I'm willing to accept "as good as" as long as it's interesting.

Distractions, cliches, and reduction. Newness! For most, that's enough, even as they can't form a basic statement as to WHY they like it and find it necessary. They'll say it's necessary because newness (distraction) is wanted. Er, I mean, needed. Why? They have no clue. Never mind the soul and character of a work and its embedded message. That's expendable when belting is the main attraction and accents get more scrutiny than music.

Oh, the tempi are dynamic NEW insights into the mind and world of Eva.

I'm sure someone will eventually pop up to confirm that. Meanwhile, excuse me while I go finish listening to that tangoey arrangement for the upteenth time.

[Rainbowhigh23]

I don't think I can listen to this cast album for upteen times. Glad I can listen for free but I already pre-ordered my CD at the theater with the free poster, would feel rude to cancel it.

[CATSNYrevival]

This is a total mixed bag. It’s a complete improvement over the London revival recording, but that’s not saying much. It’s obviously more complete, but I hate how this production cuts the movie at the beginning. Opening abruptly with the announcement from the press secretary is very strange. To me, it doesn’t work well on stage and it doesn’t fare any better on the recording either.

The audio quality is a little strange too. It’s difficult to describe. I’m not sure if it’s just the stream, but something is up with the ensemble for the entire album, and mostly during “Requiem for Evita.” They sound so distant and muffled compared to the soloists. Maybe they wanted it to sound like that, but it all sounds like it was adjusted so that everything is relatively the same volume. There’s no difference from a soloist singing quietly and the moments that are supposed to be louder when the music builds or the ensemble is chanting. It’s all the same manufactured volume which sounds muted to my ear.

It’s also a shame that they didn’t record it the way it’s performed live. In this production there’s a brief tag at the end of “Buenos Aires” that connects it with “Goodnight and Thank You” along with a drum roll that connects “Goodnight and Thank You” with “Art of the Possible” and so on. It would have been neat to hear those bits of music on the recording too, so it doesn’t just sound like a collection of singles. They do go ahead later on and connect “Eva’s Final Broadcast,” “Montage” and “Lament” just like they do in the show, so why they didn’t do that for the first act is a bit of an annoyance. Those are the little things that make this production different from previous ones. Why not record it? The tempos are all over the place compared to the original, but I didn’t notice anything played differently on the recording from the way they do it live. I guess this is just how Webber wants the tempos now? I have no idea. It’s funny how it’s faster in some places and ridiculously slower in others. “She really brightened up your out of town engagement...” and the rest of that section is deadly slow.

Overall, I think Ricky Martin is a major improvement over Matt Rawle. I love Matt as Martin Guerre and Zorro, but his accent on the London cast recording of Evita is so ridiculously pedestrian that Ricky is a welcomed addition in spite of his flaws. Elena Roger sounds mostly the same to me. As someone said earlier, if you didn’t like her before you’re not going to like her now. “Rainbow High” will never be the same without Patti, but Elena is clearly giving it her all and it shows. I’m certain that this recording won’t replace Patti’s on my ipod. If I ever want to listen to Evita it’s usually because I want to listen to Patti LuPone belt her face off, and this recording certainly does not compare, but it’s nice to have a new complete recording after all these years.

[GlindatheGood22]

"They sound so distant and muffled compared to the soloists."

I thought so too. During Peron's Latest Flame they just sound so far away and weak.