Alain Boublil - Martin Guerre (1999 UK Tour Cast)

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Free Music Notes for Martin Guerre (1999 UK Tour Cast)

Free Music Review: Listen carefully
Hit: 5 Stars

I've noticed that people have critisized the quality of the CD, and in particular the performances on it. I would suggest that part of the problem is that, as with nearly all musicals, not all of the score has been preserved. I was impressed by the choice of cuts - this is not an album of singles, but a true reflection of the sung-through score - but nonetheless cuts have been made, and the story races along without much pause for thought. If you've seen the show, this is a near-flawless recording to refresh your memory of the key melodies and orchestrations, with vocals as emotional as you'd expect from such a heart-renching tale. If you havn't had the pleasure, listen very, very carefully. The beauty of this show is the intimacy it brings to the theatre, which can sound unpleasantly like a comprimise in quality or price if you're listening to it while you're reading the paper. Treat the CD with the respect that you'd allow it if you were in the theatre, and you'll be very, very rewarded.

Martin Guerre (1999 UK Tour Cast) Poster

Best known from a 1982 French film (as well as an Americanized remake, Sommersby), the story is based on a documented court case from 16th-century France in which a man claiming to be Martin Guerre apparently returned to the village and wife he had left years earlier, but no one was sure if he was the same man they remembered. This musical version bypasses the mysterious elements of that plot in favor of a passionate story of love, friendship, and religious persecution, reinforced by three powerful new songs--"Live with Somebody You Love," "Without You as a Friend," and "How Many Tears." Veteran Les Mis patrons will enjoy the familiar soaring melodies and rousing choruses, but the show's passions often become overheated, and because it's sometimes difficult to totally sympathize with these variously flawed characters, ultimately Martin Guerre is not as emotionally involving as Boublil and Schönberg's earlier works. Still, this recording is notably superior to the original version, and with the show's immediate future in limbo, this might be the last word on Martin Guerre for a while. Accordingly, those interested in the current state of musical theater--and of course Boublil and Schönberg fans--will want this album. --David Horiuchi

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