The Music Man (1957 Original Broadway Cast)
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Free Music Notes for The Music Man (1957 Original Broadway Cast)
Free Music Review: A surprisingly so-so recording
Hit: 3 Stars
The score of The Music Man is not nearly as good as many people insist; A grating overture and some rather gratuitous barbershop-quartet songs, as well as composer Meredith Wilson's penchant for patter songs (this show has something like five of them) detract from the better elements. But on this recording, even the virtues of those elements are in doubt. Rock Island, a very clever (although rather long) number, is very hard to listen to- each salesman seems to have been in a different room of the recording studio, with all the parts spliced together later. The numbers featuring the full company (especially Iowa Stubborn) are annoyingly tinny-sounding (and as a side note, I dont know what the conductor was thinking during that number- the tempos are hiarious.) And Robert Preston, a great performer, does sound tired in many spots- when he chimes in in Till There Was You, it sounds as though his mind is somewhere else. The best thing about this record is Barbara Cook, in fine form (as always.) Oh, and I rather like the orchestrations.Free Music Review: Superior recording.
Hit: 5 Stars
If you find the orchestrations "tinny" then you'd better check your speakers. They are lush and fabulous. Robert Preston is better than in the movie soundtrack and Barbara Cook is brilliant-the perfect Marian. Also, you get the wonderful song "My White Knight" which does not appear in the film. This is the preferred recording.Free Music Review: A Good Recording
Hit: 3 Stars
I enjoyed this CD, although there were minor flaws. The orchestra sounded tinny and like a school band. Barabara Cook's voice was astounding. Robert Preston's vocal was better in the movie than in this, becuase on many tones he would struggle. In "Marian the Librarian" he sounded like he had a cold. His voice sounded "grander" in the film. Iggie Wolfington as Marcellus was wonderful, but his musical number "Shipoopi," along with "Seventy-Six Trombones," and "Marian the Librarian," had much more brief dances than supposed. Flaws aside, it was a good recording.Free Music Review: Definitive
Hit: 5 Stars
"Poor orchestrations?" You're kidding, right? The orchestrations are by the great Don Walker (with uncredited assistance from Irwin Kostal), and they blow the film's orchestrations out of the water with their wit and responsiveness to the music. Preston's patter is dazzling; Cook's singing is exquisite; and the precision of the "Rock Island" number has never been surpassed. This is the one to go for--but get the remastered version (marked "Angel re-issue"), also available at amazon.Free Music Review: One of Broadway's glories...
Hit: 5 Stars
Here's one of those shows from that late final flowering of the Golden Age of Broadway. Meredith Willson wrote a score that had so much melody and charm to it, at times, it threatens to melt. It's faithfully presented on the film soundtrack, but the Original Cast Recording features two incomparable jewels of the Lyric Theatre: the silken, Miss Barbara Cook, and the, well, uniquely-voiced, Mr Robert Preston. Yet, when these two come together at the end of "Till There Was You", we truly know we're alive and warm: Broadway knows few lovelier, sheer thrilling, moments of love, expressed. All carefully and expansively caught on this CD. Do buy this one...