What cast recordings are you currently listening to?

Not Sunset Boulevard as it hasn't been released yet.

When, may I ask!?

I've been listening to the 1989 recording of Candide which I absolutely love but I noticed that during the choral section of Make Our Garden Grow you can hear someone cough! Does anyone else have any favourite mistakes left on cast recordings?

42 balloons studio cast recording

The Drowsy Chaperone, 42 Balloons, and the Baker's Wife OLC have been on rotation for the last week - I sincerely hope the potential London revival of Baker's Wife brings a new recording along with it, it's a terrific score with a very questionable cast recording!

I've been listening to it and love it. I think there are some moments that you could almost call songs - Waiter's Song, It Is What It Is, The Soldier's Dream, The Road 4 (Part 2), Bishop's Song, and Shine - but pretty much every piece of music is interjected with dialogue. Still there are lots of great musical moments and because, as with all his shows, Sondheim uses motif extensively so themes and melodies crop up again and again throughout, I find that I come away humming lots of little bits despite the lack of any traditionally structured songs. The orchestrations are also brilliant - some of Tunick's best - and all the performances are spot-on. Really hoping it makes its way here in the not too distant future.

I too have been listening to Here We Are and while I’ve been able to appreciate Sondheim’s touch, I am in the camp of struggling to connect with the material so far. However, that may change with further listens although I suspect I will need to see it performed on stage to truly ‘get it’. It is true though that it is lacking in genuine setpiece numbers, despite sounding so tonally similar to some of his other works, particularly Merrily.

I’ve also been listening to Pippin, Operation Mincemeat, Jesus Christ Superstar and 42 Balloons, I suppose as a result of seeing them over the past month or so.

However, curiously, I have found myself drawn to the Matilda original cast recording in recent weeks and, even though I’ve seen it twice, I feel I’m only now truly appreciating how well scored that show is. Even the opening number Miracle is so layered and beautifully crafted.

Over the last few weeks, I have been listening to SUFFS (loved it), and THE WIZ (didn't love it as much - I'm not a fan of some of the new arrangements).

I've been listening to THE CONNECTOR this weekend. I love the score - very JRB! 'Cassandra' and 'The Western Wall' are particularly good, and have been on repeat outside of the full cast recording. BRIDGES is still Jason's best score for me, but THE CONNECTOR will still be getting more air-time from me tomorrow. Here's hoping this is also staged over here in the not-so-distant future (I'm still waiting for HONEYMOON IN VEGAS too).

I've also listened to some of the pre-release tracks from THE GREAT GATSBY cast recording that is out next week. I understand that this didn't get very good reviews, but the songs released so far are really rather lovely and the orchestrations are great and full. Based off of this, I don't understand why it didn't get some Tony nominations.

I second THE CONNECTOR - been listening to it religiously since it released on Friday

Does anyone know if this will be available in the UK? (CD release rather than streaming?)

I’m currently listening and singing along to the 1993 Starlight Express recording.

Schwartz Songs out now. Only in track so far but loving it.
Jamie Muscato singing Corner of the Sky deom Pippin is phenomenal.

I've been listening to the full cast recording almost on a loop today.  Absolutely love it - THIS is what MT music should be for me - a mix of classic Broadway tunes promising big show numbers and overwrought power ballads (even though my usual bugbear is out in full force - the lyrics are terrible at times).

After all the negativity around the Paper Mill production it seemed to be a sure-fire flop on Broadway, hurried in only to be faster than the anticipated ART Gatsby from Boston. But now I'm grateful that the producers believed in this show and the fact that it's selling very well proves they were right.  

It seems to be another disconnect between critics and general audience as was the case with other musicals that were initially not well-received but turned out to be critic-proof (Les Miserables anyone?). 

I'm more surprised that it was also negatively received by many American musical lovers. There really does seem to be a rift between the older generation who likes this kind of music and the new generation who's all into the modern pop scores which I find mostly unbearably bland. Luckily the older generation still buys the majority of tickets  


PS: I think most of the new cast recordings have only been digitally released so far. I'm sure that once they actually appear in CD form, the usual outlets will carry them on this side of the Atlantic.