Sunday in the Park With George (2006 London Revival Cast)
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Free Music Notes for Sunday in the Park With George (2006 London Revival Cast)
Free Music Review: Intimate, shimmering and gorgeous
Hit: 5 Stars
I won't do too much comparisons to the original cast, because it's been done and done. This recording stands alone and strong, the performances are wonderful; intense and filled with life. I adore the voices and, technically speaking, the voices here are much stronger than the original cast. (with a few exceptions of course, and this is all subject to opinion.)
The orchestral reductions are just fine and allow the voices to truly move to the forefront. Everything is so clear and precise and having the extra dialogue illuminates the whole even more. Stunning.
What really strikes me is just how amazing this show sounds in this reduced format. It allows the show to shine and expand in unexpected ways, much like the brilliant new recording/production of Company. The same cannot be said for the new recording of Sweeney Todd, which feels almost castrated as a result. It's about as lifeless as one of Sweeney's victims, depite the amazing cast. It is unfair for them to be so stifled.
Thankfully, the actors here on Sunday are given more sonic space to expand and get their messages across.
The only thing that would make this new version better would be for it to get a live video release, which is par for the course with Sondheim.
Free Music Review: PICTURE PERFECT!
Hit: 4 Stars
There is really not much to say here, except that Daniel Evans is a wonderful George and Jenna Russell is a terrific Dot. The chemistry between them is impressive, and the orchestrations are excellent.
The process of combing chaos and control while creating art comes through loud and clear. This is an enjoyable listening of an intelligent revival.
Free Music Review: Wait for the new Broadway Cast recording
Hit: 5 Stars
I just read the NYTimes review by Ben Brantley and he loved the production. I love this recording for many reasons, but mostly because it does not have Manic Manny Patikin on it. Free Music Review: Gem of a recording
Hit: 4 Stars
What a wonderful recording of a great show. First of all, I need to say that Sunday in the Park With George is one of my favorite musicals. The soundtrack by Mandy & Bernadette will always be at the top of my list. That said, this British Cast recording is still great. The show won more Olivier Awards (England's version of the Tony Awards) than any other production last year.
Comparisons to the Broadway Cast Album are necessary and inevitable. Because they're Brits, the characters speak/sing with various British accents--George is refined, Dot is northern working class, etc. This only adds to the charm. Since this is a two disk set, we get to hear more of the show this time, especially more of the dialog. The only negative is that the orchestrations are simpler than the original, and I sometimes miss the fuller sounds.
I've had this CD for over a year now and find myself listening to it even more than the New York recording thes days.
Free Music Review: FINE MEMENTO - BUT ORIGINAL CAST IS STRONGER
Hit: 4 Stars
As a record of by far the best production of this wonderful Sondheim show that I have seen, this is great. As a stand-alone record of the music, I'm afraid it's no match for the original New York cast recording. On stage, Daniel Evans really gives depth and humanity to the two rather unlikeable Georges and stops Act 2 becoming the anticlimax it can sometimes seem. His voice, though, doesn't have the strength, the range of colour, the breath control or the power of Mandy Patinkin. Too often one finds oneself wanting those sustained notes that Sondheim lays above his pointilliste orchestration held for longer, both by Evans and by the Dot of Jenna Russell. This is especially true of the two big emotional numbers, We Do Not Belong Together and Move On. And the emotionally crunching big descant on 'And the light' in the latter song, so powerful in Patinkin's slightly weird ultra-high tenor, goes for relatively little here.
The orchestration, too, feels a little thin compared to the New York recording. The small band worked well in the confined spaces of the Chocolate Factory, but already felt a bit light in the West End and seems even more so on disc. Most importantly, the distinct colour - the 'tinta', if you like - that Sondheim gives this score is provided by the French Horn (suggested by the bugler in the painting). There wasn't one in the theatre where the part was mostly played by a saxophone. Here it crops up occasionally, but sounds very much as if it's played from the keyboards.
For the rest of the cast, it is predictably a bit swings and roundabouts. Simon Green's Jules is excellent as is his wife. Jenna Russell's Dot is fine up to a point, but I remain unconvinced by the Northern accent. Bernadette Peters American seems less intrusive and her singing is more intense, more characterful. The one outstanding actor/singer here is Gay Soper who makes George's Mother's number, Beautiful, a revelation - intensely moving and an even more successful point of rest before the great Act 1 Finale.
On the plus side, this recording includes more dialogue than the Original Cast disc, giving one a better idea of the plot. And, of course, Sondheim's score is still one of his finest. The move through dissonant chords to consonant harmony as George says 'harmony' may sound literal, but it works. So too the use of pointilliste riffs and ostinati to reflect George's unique painting technique. And the sequence of songs from Finishing the Hat through We Do Not Belong Together and Beautiful to the magical final assembly of the elements of the painting in Sunday is unaccountably overwhelming. That's what makes Sondheim and this show so special.
This is a fine memento of a great production of Sunday in the Park. But the Original Cast album still remains the first choice.