For me, First Date and Bridges are the best of this season.I also really like the Great Comet. Even though Bullets over Broadway contains no original music, the music is fantastic. I haven't heard Violet or Fun Home, but I'm not impressed by the other recordings.
The If/Then recording for me is a true masterpiece. The production quality is just exquisite, the entire cast sounds phenomenal.
I agree with those who said the Violet recording includes too much of the book. I love "On My Way" but literally fast forward through the first 45 seconds every time because I find that dialogue just excruciating.
I've said it elsewhere on here, but VIOLET cast recording is something I really love: a document of the show, not the songs. Since the score is so integrated into the book, preserving the experience of the show means it's become an album I usually put on and listen instead of simply of cueing up tracks. It's made me more likely to turn to that album than others this year, whereas the BRIDGES album I'll go to for one track at a time, but rarely leave it playing without getting restless.
Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.
I know that the NY Philharmonic SWEENEY TODD is scheduled to air on Live From Lincoln Center this fall -- would you expect that that means a DVD and/or CD would be available of it also?
I keep watching Amazon to pre-order it, but so far I'm not seeing it
You don't go to the dragon without a present - Mark Rylance