Various - Adding Machine: A Musical
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Free Music Notes for Adding Machine: A Musical
Free Music Review: Man...This couldnt make it to Broadway.
Hit: 4 Stars
This musical is great. Better than 99% of musicals that go to broadway. The score is amazing. The cast is great. The show is funny. Buy it.Free Music Review: Grabs You!
Hit: 4 Stars
Let's face it: the story is not a pretty one. The music faithfully reproduces the characters' feelings. Dark, but a good ride.Free Music Review: Adds up to dark musical
Hit: 3 Stars
The Adding Machine isn't an easy piece to listen to, but it's worth it. In the style of a chamber musical, the storyline itself is dark and unpleasant, but the music is haunting and delivers. Give it a listen and then listen to it again to pick up the details. Roger DeWitt, although in chorus, stands out with a great voice!Free Music Review: A few neat ideas captured in an unsatisfying (grating) way
Hit: 2 Stars
I too purchased "Adding Machine: A Musical" due to the encouraging and glowing earlier reviews. I suspect there may be a real disparity between those seeing and commenting on the staged show and those basing their reviews on the recording alone. I imagine the staged show could be an interesting and praiseworthy achievement, but the recording alone is what we are supposed to be reviewing here. I cannot imagine anyone taking great pleasure in repeated listens. A four or five star review for a unique and intriguing stage show is understandable (even one that offends the ear), but I doubt the average listener would find this recording such a remarkable experience.
It was only the final few tracks that made me decide upon two stars instead of one. This musical really grated on my nerves in almost every possible way. Much of the music and singing was staccato, shrill, and unpleasant to the ear. Primary accompaniment is piano and synthesizer (frequently making harsh techno experimentation sounds circa 1975). It is a dark, empty, jarring sound.
The characters are completely unsympathetic and unlikable. The wife (Mrs. Zero) is a nagging ungrateful bitter gossip. The husband (Mr. Zero) is gruff, whiny, bitter, and suffers a sense of entitlement. They and their acquaintances (having other number appellations; One, Two, etc.) display wanton bigotry in an offensive little rant in "The Party" using all manner of racial and ethnic slurs. The love interest/coworker (Daisy Devore) seems a depressed blow-hard early on as well. These are dark, joyless, abrasive people. People I'd rather not be around.
There are a few fleeting items of interest that hint at what could have been better material in my opinion. In prison, Zero meets Shrdlu who was raised by a very "religious" mother. There is an unfortunate incident involving a leg of lamb that is recounted in a gospel hymn style. The subject matter and lyrics in that styling (a successful composition) were entertaining. Additionally, on the philosophical side, Shrdlu's expectations for the afterlife and the actual result might have been further explored entertainingly. Daisy also gets a bit of a love ballad that unfortunately is quickly burdened with the constructs prevalent throughout the musical. Finally, the central concept of desiring life to "add up" to something valuable is a powerful idea. It just wasn't explored in a meaningful way.
Possibly the staging for the show brings the material uniquely to life. Perhaps I could better understand the artistic and thematic use of the cold and grating staccato sounds. Perhaps the juxtaposition of the harsher sounds and the few simple melodies or rhythms rightly interpreted makes for an emotionally fulfilling or enlightening experience. I dare not subject myself to repeated listens to find out.
Free Music Review: Very Ugly Music
Hit: 2 Stars
Usually, when I get a new show music CD, I tear off the wrapper, read the booklet and listen to the show immediately. With this CD I have not been able to listen to it all the way through even once. It must be one of those shows that you have to see to appreciate. It sounds mostly like a collection of those sung dialogue parts that you hear in opera between the arias (recitative) than any thing else.
It is probably very powerful in the theatre, and I probably would see it if it played in my local area, but this "music" basically is ugly and is not comfortable or casual listening at all. It resembles what any musical written by Bertolt Brecht would sound like without Kurt Weill.