Favorite Company Cast Recording
Favorite Company Cast Recording
macbeth
Broadway Star Joined: 5/7/03
#1Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/10/20 at 4:20pm
As I get more excited for the revival (I've got tickets to the 3rd preview!), I'm wondering what everyone's previous cast recording is?
Personally, I'm partial to the 1995 Cast with Boyd Gaines, Debra Monk & Jane Krakowski - a production that I regret not seeing when I had the chance to do so.
#3Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/10/20 at 4:31pm
My favorite cast recording is probably the original, followed closely by 2006 revival starring Raúl Esparza (minus alll the dialogue - this is one cast recording where I genuinely don't like the dialogue).
Caption: Every so often there was a rare moment of perfect balance when I soared above him.
#4Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/10/20 at 5:33pm
The original, obviously, but pretty much all of them. Even the new London cast recording grew on me.
Bigserver1
Understudy Joined: 6/24/19
#6Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/10/20 at 6:11pm
My favorite is the 2006 revival cast, followed by the original.
#7Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/10/20 at 7:06pm
The original.
Raúl Esparza is absolutely awful as Bobby (don't @ me).
#8Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/10/20 at 7:07pm
oh please...THE ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST recording of course!!
#9Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/10/20 at 7:56pm
For sure the Original. I do like some of the revised notes(chords?) in the 2018 London production though. Some songs like the opening feel a little more pleasing to hear than the original(@ Elaine Stritch).
Jarethan
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/10/11
#11Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/10/20 at 8:00pm
I agree with the "Oh, please" above. The original, of course.
Nobody comes near Dean Jones' pain as Bobby. Nobody touches Pam Myers as Marta.
I do, however, like the latest arrangement of "You Could Drive..." for a male trio and I love the fact that Patti LuPone noticed "Ladies Who Lunch" has a Latin beat!
wiggum2
Broadway Star Joined: 9/21/03
#12Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/10/20 at 8:55pm
Jarethan said: "The original, with no close #2."
YEP
#13Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/11/20 at 2:01pm
Absolutely nothing will come close to the original. Tunick's reductions of his own work heard on the 95 and 96 recordings are disappointing, although I love the pop sounding ending of Adrian Lester's "Being Alive."
I enjoy the 2006 recording for Raul, and I've always found the complete re-orchestration of the title song to be fascinating.
I enjoy the 2018 London recording because I find Cullen's orchestrations better than Tunick's reductions (95 and 96) and I like how he came up with with some new ideas while maintaining the original spirit and sound of the score.
Can't wait for the new Broadway recording!
#14Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/11/20 at 3:42pm
Definitely the original. I liked the production with Raul very much...but not the album.
The DVD and Blu-ray releases of the Raul version are great to have and watch.
woeisme3
Featured Actor Joined: 9/14/15
#15Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/11/20 at 4:21pmThe 2006 revival is pretty much go to for me. I love Raul’s performance and generally appreciate the less broad performance style, although the original probably had better orchestrations.
#16Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/11/20 at 4:29pm
ljay889 said: "Can't wait for the new Broadway recording!"
Has that been officially announced?
#17Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/11/20 at 4:36pm
CATSNYrevival said: "ljay889 said: "Can't wait for the new Broadway recording!"
Has that been officially announced?"
Not yet, but I strongly doubt the production will sell an album with Rosalie’s face on it and Patti being the only repeat cast member to represent this major revival.
Falsettolands
Featured Actor Joined: 11/18/13
#18Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/11/20 at 4:39pm
Love the 2006 revival on film, but the cast recording doesn't capture it for me. The original is the way to go.
#19Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/12/20 at 9:50am
I think the original recording is the only one that does the score justice. The 1995 recording barely registered for me and the 2006 one with Raul Esparza is as flaccid as the production was.
#20Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/12/20 at 7:41pm
Agee. Partly it's the full orchestrations and also the pit singers, which give a weight to the sound that revivals don't have. Wish they'd make the London version with Larry Kurt tracked in completely available. You can hear his "Being Alive" as a bonus track, but it would be nice to hear all of it. I don't expect he will compare to Dean Jones--he doesn't seem to catch Jones's torment in the part--but he has a gorgeous voice.
#21Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/12/20 at 8:01pm
joevitus said: "Agee. Partly it's the full orchestrations and also the pit singers, which give a weight to the sound that revivals don't have. Wish they'd make the London version with Larry Kurt tracked in completely available. You can hear his "Being Alive" as a bonus track, but it would be nice to hear all of it. I don't expect he will compare to Dean Jones--he doesn't seem to catch Jones's torment in the part--but he has a gorgeous voice.
"
joe, I studied opera history under composer Jack Beeson (CAPTAIN JINKS OF THE HORSE MARINES, LIZZIE BORDEN, et al.) and he once spoke of the problem when Yma Sumac appeared in roles such as Aida: her range was so large, there wasn't the same tension on the high notes (which are written where they are to provide that tension) because you knew she had another octave or more in her throat. When Maria Callas sang the same roles, one didn't know whether for sure that she could get to the top notes and that only increased the drama of the performance.
COMPANY was the first Broadway show I saw as a teen and Larry Kert had been playing Bobby for almost a year. I wouldn't hear Beeson's lecture for another 10 years, but even as a kid I could tell that Larry--as gorgeous as his voice was--sang the role without the same effort as Dean Jones. Today, I still feel like maybe Jones won't actually get through "Being Alive" when I play the recording.
(FWIW and not to speak ill of the dead, I later worked with Larry and he had no problem tackling keys that were demanding for him. His "Serenade" (from THE STUDENT PRINCE) had me on the edge of my seat! But Bobby's keys were relatively easy for him. He sounded great singing over Tunick's orchestrations, but I never thought Bobby, the character, was in serious trouble.)
rattleNwoolypenguin
Broadway Star Joined: 10/11/11
#22Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/12/20 at 10:00pm
Original and Revival are wonderful and my faves for different reasons.
I loved the Raul revival. Loved loved loved it. I sobbed hysterically at the end of Being Alive.
It also doesn’t recognition for putting the show squarely in an almost anachronistic cyberspace. Not quite modern not completely set in the past. It felt both fresh and dated at the same time
#23Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/12/20 at 10:40pm
Nothing compares to the OBC recording. And I LOVED the '06 revival. If only I was alive to see the original cast.
A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.
#24Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/13/20 at 4:43am
Thanks, Gaveston! Your comments about the professor reminds me of your comment about Prince liking actresses for Evita who were not quite as secure in the notes so as to create a certain amount of tension in performance. The point of view makes quite a bit of sense.
#25Favorite Company Cast Recording
Posted: 1/13/20 at 12:23pm
The original Company is beautifully of its time: you don't hear openly and unapologetically middle-aged or even unapologetically Jewish-American voices anymore. There's a whiskey-and-cigarettes "stoutness" to the sound of the men, and a very New York, probably started in the chorus line sound to the women's voices. Barreling ahead, just barely on key some of them, but in the most endearing way: listen to the way Elaine Stritch never even tries to land the intervals on "telephone calls," and just shouts out the word "TELEPHONE!"
I'm also fond of the 2006: it's neurotic, chilly, sophisticated and quirky in a totally different way. It's like the difference between a Mike Nichols production and a Wes Anderson production.
