Spring Awakening (2006 Original Broadway Cast)
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Free Music Notes for Spring Awakening (2006 Original Broadway Cast)
Free Music Review: Indescribable Theatrical Experience
Hit: 5 Stars
I have lived my entire life on the West Coast, but have an affinity and addiction to live theatre which has only been sated by repeat visits to New York City. I returned home Sunday (Opening Night of "Spring Awakening") from my 21st annual Broadway trip, a week which will remain one of my most memorable as I had the opportunity to not only see this brilliant new musical twice, but to actually experience the thrill of viewing the production from the stage. There are three rows of seats stage left and two rows stage right which have a select number of seats sold to the public alternating with seats designated for cast members who leap from their seats on cue. The musical's score is breathtaking on its own, but to have experienced it from that stage will always remain the most exhilarating theatrical experience of my lifetime and I personally want to thank the musical's creators Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater for allowing this 52 year-old man an experience which could have easily been restricted only to students. The CD was available at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre several days before going on sale to the general public and I have found new and exciting dimensions to this recording with each repeated listening. The cast is phenomenal! Duncan Sheik's orchestrations are engrossing and the score is rapturous. This musical is going to set Broadway on fire!Free Music Review: Eep!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
So basically there are too many reviews for me to actually make a substantial comment about this CD that other people haven't.
I've seen the show around 10 times in the last 2 months. Enough said. As a 19 year old it is something wonderful and fresh for me to watch. The show and the score have a message to deliver - every single time you click play on this CD you can delve further into it uncovering themes and messages you may have missed the past 201392 times you listened to it. In an age where the stage is dominated by MTV's Legally Blonde, Hairspray, and happy [sometimes meaningless] scores - this is a diamond in the rough.
As the Original Broadway Cast is now... ::sniff:: gone, this little gem is something to hold onto forever.
However one comment must be made about this CD. While it is absolutely fantastic - it is in NO WAY a replacement for seeing the show. The Song of Purple Summer has been drastically re-written that delivers a harmony this CD cannot possibly provide. Many songs have been altered and, to be completely honest - though it is rare to find now-a-days - the singers are two thousand times more incredible live than they are on this recording. Some of the belting and harmonies just cannot do justice by listening to the CD. So make sure to see the show.
Free Music Review: Something special
Hit: 5 Stars
I saw this show at the Eugene O'Neill Theater just after Christmas and about 30 seconds into Lea Michele's hauntingly beautiful opening solo number, "Mamma Who Bore Me", I knew I was witnessing something special. I'm old enough to remember when groundbreaking shows/albums such as "Hair", "Tommy", and "Jesus Christ Superstar" burst onto the scene and I got the same feeling while watching Act I of "Spring Awakening", that this was something new and vital.
Now before I get flamed, I don't think "Spring Awakening" is on the same level, either in terms of quality or originality, as those classics from the late-60's musical revolution. But I've become bored to tears with, as one reviewer aptly described it, "the era of jukebox and made-by-corporate committee film-to-musical shows". "Spring Awakening" is a wake up call for the Broadway musical genre, something fresh and alive. It's youthful energy, creativity, and hormones splashed all over the stage. As some critics have noted, it's uneven in places but the best part of the show is the part being reviewed here, i.e. the soundtrack.
The score is terrific and the performances are outstanding. The lyrics are a bit obscure at times, but are spot on in most songs (e.g. "Totally F*cked").
Highly recommended.
Free Music Review: Sex, violence, and Rock and Roll: at last the Broadway Musical deserves respect.
Hit: 5 Stars
I've never seen a set of reviews for a musical equal to the ones the Broadway critics gave Spring Awakening. Could it be true that "Broadway may never be the same!" and that it is "The most thrilling rock musical ever!" The Original Cast Album demonstrates this to be true and more. Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik seem to be a perfect team. Sater's lyrics are pure poetry and Sheik's music makes them lucid and profoundly memorable. I got the sense that, for once, a musical was dispensing truth, not stereotypes. It's been many years since I've replayed an album as often as I've repeated this one. (Not since The Beatles' "Sergeant Pepper's...", in fact.) I keep getting that nagging feeling that I must hear it one more time to savor the intricacy and delicacy of perception (and toughness) of the lyrics. As you may have heard, the songs are exclusively expressions of the inner life, the subtext, of the characters, which means they are the unedited, heart-ripping outcries of the fourteen-year-old characters, plagued by the onrush of puberty, who populate the show. The performance on this disk is a knockout and it's given by a very professional cast, all between ages 15-20. Let's hope that this, as critcs have predicted, is the start of a new, richer, more adult kind of musical theatre.Free Music Review: A "Romeo and Juliet" for the rock n roll age.
Hit: 5 Stars
I saw this on Broadway without having heard this recording. In this particular case I'm glad I didn't as my experience of total shock and surprise and wonderment may somehow have been diminished. As I sat in my seat at The Eugene O'Neill Theatre I was held spellbound by the energy, talent and beauty of this cast (which features multiple Tony winner Stephen Spinella). However, as great as the cast is (and they are indeed great), the stars of the night were director Michael Mayer, choreographer Bill Jones and the composing team of Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater.
A teenage angst musical set in Germany circa 1890 and featuring a rock n roll score didn't actually sound like something that would interest me. Yet, in the hands of these grossly talented people, this material has been reanimated into a work of fabulous art, rooted in tradition and yet wholly original.
I picked up this CD after I returned home and have listened to it several times - and still cry. The music and lyrics are top drawer. The cast in dynamic. This is quality rock and roll - the high energy numbers are terrific, but the ballads (and they are plentiful) are what keep me listening again and again. Buy this CD (see this show).