Man of La Mancha (2002 Broadway Revival Cast)
|
List Price: Our Price: $6.78 You Save: $3.17 (32%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $5.84 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Man of La Mancha (2002 Broadway Revival Cast)
Free Music Review: Lackluster recording
Hit: 2 Stars
The only reason to own this new cast recording is to hear Brian Stokes Mitchell. His glorious voice services the score well. However, he alone can't carry this whole show. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is painful to hear. The heart wrenching dialogue when Don Quixote is dying towards the end is painfully embarrassing to hear. Joan Diener she ain't. Ernie Sabella sounds like every other actor who has ever played Sancho.A big disappointment. The production values are excellent but I recommend you buy something else.
Free Music Review: Another Disappointing La Mancha
Hit: 1 Stars
This version of La Mancha is another disappointment. I haven't seen this ensemble live, so I can't make that comparison. I am however assuming that the physical assumption of the roles by these performers is much more engaging in person, as they were probably picked for the way they look as much as how well they sing.Instead of the beautiful overture, they decided to have some woman moaning and screeching to a Spanish guitar accompaniment. It sounds vaguely "Spanish", and I assume it was to give the recording some exotic flavor, but this does not continue and the performers sound blatantly American from the beginning. Whatever possessed the producers to decide to throw out the marvelous overture and replace it with this oragasming woman is beyond me, but it sounds misplaced since there is nothing Spanish or exotic about the rest of the performance. In fact, the performers' pronunciation of the few Spanish names and words is unintentionally hilarious.
The orchestra sounds congested as recorded, with little detail revealed. The conducting is prosaic, dry, and with little feeling for shape and texture of the musical writing. It's all very "matter-of-fact" with almost no excitement.
Stokes Mitchell's voice doesn't have the amplitude, reach, or sense of mystery or madness that the role requires. He sings in a pop-gospel style that is totally inappropriate to the mood of the piece. His "Dream the Impossible Dream" is a travesty. He milks the ending with an unconvincing key change worthy of Barry Manilow in order to "wow" the audience, presumably with his one or two good high notes (or what, for him, are high notes). But he turns the piece into an "America The Beautiful" vocal showcase instead of trying to interpret the song for what it is. His baritenor simply doesn't fill out the music and his spoken dialogue verges on the inane. I refuse to believe Stokes Mitchell was the best person to audition for this role.
Mastrantonio is clearly overparted as Aldonza. She sounds whiney, bored, and diffident throughout most of the piece. Her technique isn't up to the job--she sings all the notes, but with no room to spare. Interpretation is not a word that can be applied to her performance, except in Don Quixote's death scene where she is more "alive" for the first time, and he adds a bit of power and emotion into her singing; she finally shows what she could have done with the role had she tried. She falls into all the vocal traps the composer sets for this role--traps set to show the desperation and vehemance of the character. Unfortunately, her desperation is her own and doesn't emerge by artistic choice.
Sabella is another miscast character in this dreadful production. The role sounds too high for him and he shouts for emphasis. He's unmusical and not funny at all.
The rest of the cast sounds small-scaled and amateurish. The Inn-keeper's voice sounds scarily damaged and the Padre sounds worn.
It's a shame the current emphasis in music theater is for the performers to be "triple-threats" (singer/actor/dancer), because this has apparently diluted the talent down to a minimum standard when it comes to vocal display. I can only assume these performers bring something more to their live performances that sadly does not come across on recording.
This CD set can easily be bypassed. Acquire the original cast recording to see how hypnotic and intriguing this music can sound with professionals.
Free Music Review: A Meager La Mancha
Hit: 1 Stars
It should have been a perfect revival, this "Man of La Mancha." All the elements of success are in place: a vocally-gifted, well-respected leading man, an attractive and established dramatic leading lady, and a funny character actor playing the lovable sidekick. But, as evidenced by this anemic recording, many things went terribly wrong in the execution of this show. Most of the blame belongs to the leads, however, there were miscues from the folks behind the scenes including a distractingly large set, sloppy choreography, and numerous instances where the only objective of the proceedings on stage seems to be to get as many standing ovations and prolonged sessions of zealous applause from the audience as possible. As an example, witness the bombastic "Impossible Dream" as performed by Brian Stokes Mitchell. The interpretation - as if Don Quixote is performing on "Star Search" - is totally out-of-character for the idealistic, delusional knight. Contrast this rendering to some of Mitchell's spoken dialogue and it is as if this revered leading man of the Great White Way cannot figure out which character he is playing. Is Quixote a pop-infused, sleek hero? A befuddled dreamer? Both? Neither? Who knows? Certainly not anyone listening to this recording, or, for that matter, anyone involved in its production. Worse still is the Aldonza of Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Her voice is ill-equipped to handle the demands of the role. Her acting is inconsistent, ranging from brassy and shrill to disconnected and bored to melodramatic and campy. Aside from the fact that Mastrantonio cannot competently utter the appropriate vocals for the role, at times she seems to think that she's auditioning for HBO's "The Sopranos." The central theme of the show, that being the realization of Quixote's cockeyed optimism through the transformation of Aldonza the whore into Dulcinea the Lady, is lost in this confusion. How can Aldonza transform if her character is never presented coherently in the first place? How can Quixote's message be clearly relayed if his character is presented in such an inconsistent manner? Ernie Sabella's vocals on the recording offer more disappointment. He is not a legitimate singer, and he offers nothing in the comedy department despite his Borsht-belt delivery rendering his casting in the role of Sancho a mistake. The minor characters are pleasant and get the job done when performing the score's less exceptional numbers like "I'm Only Thinking of Him" and a host of others. Nothing here ever rises above the level of satisfactory which is ironic considering the show's frequent reprise of the idea of "dreaming the impossible dream" and "reaching the unreachable star." This cast has a long way to go in realizing the dream of presenting a credible revival of this celebrated show.Free Music Review: This Recording [stinks!]
Hit: 1 Stars
Sorry to be so blunt, but this recording of Man of La Mancha just plain [stinks]! I have well over 150 cast recordings in my collection and this ranks in the bottom five. It is absolutely overblown and horrid. Brian Stokes Mitchell, my hero from Ragtime, completely misinterprets the title role here. He completely overacts and is entirely unemotional. My perception is that Mitchell is getting too big for his britches. Yes, he was great in Ragtime, but he seems to be saying "look at how dramatic I am." His performance here makes me throw the cd in the garbage. The major suckage has to go to Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Talk about over acting. She completely ruins every note she sings. In reality, she cannot sing. Horrible voice. She too tries to be so dramatic and it just comes off as plain bad. Aldonza is my favorite song from this great show, but I cannot even listen to it. It couldn't be any worse. The only thing I liked about this recording is Jami Torcellini. Stick with the original. How you could take one of the greatest musicals and make is comletely [stink] is beyond me, but this just [stinks]!
Free Music Review: Avoid this version like a plague
Hit: 1 Stars
This is the ugliest version of La Mancha I heard. I was excited when it was released by amazon.com, only to be disappointed by Mitchell's singing. He is so overacting, like an amateur has been who had seen better days. His impossible dream is so loud, not idealistic, but brash and loud. The duldinea in this version is all screetching. The orchestration is also pedestrian. It doesnt help differentiate the reality from the "dream". La Mancha should be a story within a story, i was expecting an orchestration with many levels, this is simply flat and boring. Save your money on something else. This is in the same league with another boring re-release, Denise van Outen's Tell Me on a Sunday. Dont be victimized by the press release, it is simply boring.