CAST RECORDINGS OF 2023: A PERSONAL LOOK

This year I decided to take some liberties with my choice for best song, so it’s not really from a musical, but from a “song-only” recording with which I fell in love, “Start with a Bang”. I also decided to create a new award, “Best Discovery”, which is attributed to a score that has been released in a previous year but I only discovered it later, or a score that I rediscovered; THE VIOLET HOUR is the first winner of that award.

For my joy, in 2023 a few happy new scores in the traditional Broadway style were released, and it was about time for that to happen. The world is becoming too gloomy with wars happening everywhere, people seeing their rights revoked, corruption/dictator politicians in high places and denialists trying to erase so many important things from the History of the World. So, we all need happy musicals like SOME LIKE IT HOT, THE BIG TIME or the delicious second season of SCHIMAGADOON!

And now my choices among the 79 (more or less) new Musical recordings released in 2023 that I listened to. In order to get an idea of my Musical tastes take a look at my 20 FAVORITE SCORES of all time.

First, the “Jorge’s Place Awards”; then my “Top Twelve” new recordings of 2023, in alphabetical order and not including reissues.

If you like this, take a look at my choices of 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012.

MY TOP TWELVE RECORDINGS OF 2022 (in alphabetical order)

CAST RECORDINGS OF 2022: A PERSONAL LOOK

You know something? I’m a very conservative musical lover and I rarely care for pop, rock, country or rap scores. I believe they may work perfectly on stage, but not in my hears and heart. You see, I’m the guy who loves CHICAGO but hates HAMILTON.

So, with that in mind, I have to ask where were the new happy musical scores? It’s seems people forgot how to write them or maybe it’s the audiences that don’t care anymore for carefree musicals. Everything must be politically correct or about some serious subject. The new scores sound too much alike and rarely a new song comes to the spotlight. This year, on my humble opinion, the best scores were written for movies and not for stage musicals.

Well, here are my year choices among the 63 (more or less) new Musical recordings released in 2022. In order to get an idea of my Musical taste take a look at my 20 FAVORITE SCORES of all time.

First, the “Jorge’s Place Awards”; then my “Top Nine” new recordings of 2020, in preference order and not including reissues.

If you like this, take a look at my choices of 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012.

MY TOP NINE RECORDINGS OF 2022

CAST RECORDINGS OF 2021: A PERSONAL LOOK

It seems the way the world is today, not only because of Covid, has made us grimmer and bluer. Unfortunately, the new musicals aren’t happy ones, and we need more musical comedy to lift our hearts. So, yes, 2021 was a poor year for musicals like me, the ones who love the traditional Broadway sound.

Anyway, as usual, I made my year choices among the, more or less, 68 new related releases and here they are. In order to get an idea, take a look at my 20 FAVORITE SCORES of all time.

 

First, the “Jorge’s Place Awards”; then my “Top Nine” new recordings of 2020, in preference order and not including reissues.

If you like this, take a look at my choices of 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012.

MY TOP NINE RECORDINGS OF 2021

CAST RECORDINGS OF 2020: A PERSONAL LOOK

In this strange year of 2020, between cast recordings and movie/television musicals soundtracks, I counted 70 releases. Of course, I didn’t listen to all of them, but I only missed a few.

Before crucifying me for my choices, let me confess that I love the traditional Broadway sound and I have strong difficulties to enjoy other music styles. So, everything that sounds like rock country or folk hardly have a chance to catch my narrow-minded ears. In order to get an idea, take a look at my 20 FAVORITE SCORES of all time.

 

Without further delays, here are my choices.

If you like this, take a look at my choices of 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012.  

DESPERATE MEASURES: A CD Review

Off-Broadway Cast – 2018 / Music by David Friedman and lyrics by Peter Kellogg

Starring: Lauren Molina, Emma Degerstedt, Conor Ryan, Peter Saide, Nick Wyman, Gary Marachek

Rate: 5 (from 1 to 10) / Photos by Carol Rosegg

Review:Shakespeare and musical theatre may sound a little bit strange, but it had given us more than a couple of great scores, THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE, KISS ME KATE and WEST SIDE STORY, just come to mind.

This time, Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” becomes a western musical comedy and its authors, Peter Kellogg and David Friedman, saw their work winning the 2018 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics, plus the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical.

With a mixed of country and showtunes, sometimes this score reminded me of CALAMITY JANE, a score that I really enjoy. None of the songs of this new musical are up there with the likes of “Secret Love” and, sometimes, they sound too country for my traditional taste, but it makes for a pleasant listening. For me the highlights are the ballads “Look in Your Heart” and “What is This Feeling?”, both sung with soul by Emma Degerstedt; Laura Molina gives us the steamy “It’s Getting Hot in Here” (this one brings me memories of SMASH), Peter Saide shines with the Alan Menkinsh “Stop There”, the ladies have a good time with “In the Dark” and Lauren Molina and Conor Ryan share the comic-romantic duet “Just for You”.

The cast sounds like they are having fun with their characters and in complete harmony with the spirit of the score. The end result is an unpretentious score, nice to the ears and, sometimes, it puts a smile on our face.

PLAY IT AGAIN, MARVIN! A MARVIN HAMLISCH CELEBRATION: A CD Review

An Orchestral Celebration – 2018 / Music by Marvin Hamlisch 

Featuring:The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra under the direction of J. Ernest Green,

Sylvia McNair, Judy Harrison, Doug LaBrecque, Kevin Cole, Adrian Daurov

Rate: 8 (from 1 to 10) 

Review:Marvin Hamlisch will forever be remembered for his score for A CHORUS LINE and for giving us one of the most romantic songs of all time, the theme of the movie THE WAY WE WERE. But there’s much more from this award-winning composer, one of the two (the other one was Richard Rodgers) who won the PEGOT (this means winning the Pulitzer Prize, EMMY, Grammy, Oscar, Tony). In fact, he won three Oscars, four Grammys, four Emmys, a Tony, three Golden Globe awards and the Pulitzer Prize.

This highly enjoyable live recording is a great way of celebrating the melodious music of Hamlisch and starts with a haunting orchestral version of “The Way We Were”, followed by a terrific “A Chorus Line Concert”; later on, Judy Harrison gives us a good version of “Nothing” and the concert ends with a touching “What I Did for Love”.

Between all this, there’s the 007 song “Nobody Does It Better” from THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and Hamlisch’s famous adaptation of Scott Joplin’s ragtime music “The Entertainer” and “Pineapple Rag” from THE STING. Of special interest for musical lovers like me, there’s the song “Dreamers” from the musical JEAN SEBERG, plus two great songs from SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, “I Cannot Hear the City” and “At the Fountain”, beautifully sung by Doug LaBrecque; this musical has a highly interesting score that deserves to be rediscovered and its cut song “That’s How I Say Goodbye” fits perfectly within it and Sylvia McNair rendition is a strong one. For me, these three songs are among the highlights of this recording.

Hamlisch himself can be heard in previously recorded versions of “They’re Playing My Song” and “If You Really Knew Me”, both from THEY’RE PLAYING OUR SONG. Back to the movies, there’s the theme song from ICE CASTLES, the “Suite” from SOPHIE’S CHOICE, a song from THE CHAMP and Hamlisch’s first movie theme, THE SWIMMER. Near the end they give us a “Marvin’s Medley”, intimately played on piano by Kevin Cole.

On the whole, this is a wonderful celebration of Hamlisch’s music and he may be gone, but, as another famous composer wrote, “the melody lingers on”. Don’t miss it!

JANUARY-APRIL 2018: A QUICK PERSONAL LOOK TO SOME NEW SHOW MUSIC RELEASES

Before reading this, take a look at MY FAVORITE SCORES, so you may get an idea of what I like and keep in mind two other things. First, I don’t understand nothing about music; second, when it comes to my music tastes, I’m very narrow-minded and old fashioned. 

Now that I got that off my chest, here is a quick look at some of the show music recordings that were released from January to April 2018.

CALENDAR GIRLS – Gary Barlow & Tim Firth musical adaptation of the hit movie has a light pop score, that’s not really my cup of tea. The very British cast, led by Claire Moore and Joanna Riding, sung their songs with honesty. In the entire score there are three numbers that I enjoy, “Sunflower”, “Who Wants a Silent Night?”, where the cast sounds like they’re having fun, and, specially, “So I’ve Had a Little Work Done”, sung with gusto by Sophie-Louise Dann. 

ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE – Would you believe me if I told you that the name Jimmy Buffett meant nothing to me? Well, it’s true. While listening to this recording of a new jukebox Broadway musical I realized one thing, I don’t care much for Jimmy Buffett’s songs. Anyway, the tropical flavor of some of the songs and the nice cast makes this is a listenable recording. Numbers like “Volcano”, "We Are the People Our Parents Warned Us About/The Natives Are Restless", "My Head Hurts, My Feet Stink and I Don't Love Jesus" and “Grapefruit – Juicy Fruit” are mildly entertaining. If you’re a Buffett fan, I’m sure you’ll love this.

EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE – This new score with music by Dan Gillespie Sells and lyrics by Tom Macrae, isn’t for me. Its rock/pop songs are far from the style of music I enjoy and, although the cast sings them with heart and soul, I think the songs sound too much alike and only one was able to catch my attention. It’s sung by Josie Walker and it’s called “If I Met Myself Again”. I believe the younger generation and older ones with an open mind will like it.

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR LIVE – People who know me know that I’m not a big fan of Andrew Lloyd Weber, but there’s no doubt the guy writes some great songs, although not great scores. This new recording of one of his first big hits has a strong cast, with John Legend in the title role, but the score was never very high on my list. Anyway, I always liked “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” and “King Herod’s Song” was an entertaining number in the musical style I love; in this new recording, Sara Bareilles sings the first one with emotion and Alice Cooper has fun with the second one. “Superstar” and “Everything’s Alright” are the other two songs that I don’t mind listening to, the rest of the score is too ‘rockish’ for me. As for this new recording, I don’t think it’s better than previous ones.

KRIS KRINGLE – Christmas is still far away, but here is the studio cast recording of a new Christmas musical. Composers & lyricists Tim Janis & Angelo Natalie managed to get a cast that includes Broadway’s Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Nikki Renée Daniels, Janine LaManna and Kim Crosby, among others. The songs are cheerful, without being great, in the kind of the traditional Broadway style that I enjoy, with some of them on a more modern ballad mood. My favorite ones are “What Is So Merry ‘bout Christmas”, “Something Wonderful in You”, “Skip Ba Doo” and “Tonight We Will Roar”. If you’ll like Christmas songs you’ll enjoy this one.

ONCE ON THIS ISLAND – I have to confess that I never cared much for the original cast recording of this Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens musical, so I was surprised to find this new cast recording very pleasant to hear. It was like listening it for the first time and I enjoyed rediscovering songs like “Ti Moune”, “Mama Will Provide” and “Some Girls”. Some of the music reminded me of THE BOOK OF MORMON but, since the original Broadway production opened in 1990, I know that it should be the other way around. The songs are melodious, and the new cast sung them perfectly. I don’t love this score, but it gets a new life in this recording and that’s good news!

PRINCE OF BROADWAY – This revue or jukebox musical built around the work of Harold Prince take us back to some terrific scores but, with the rare exception of a riveting version of “The Right Girl” from FOLLIES (Tony Yazbeck sounds terrific), don’t bring nothing new to the songs. But there’s plenty to enjoy. Besides the mentioned number, my favorite tracks are Karen Ziemba’s “So What” and “The Worst Pies in London”, Brandon Uranowitz’s “Dressing Them Up” (one of my favorite Kander & Ebb songs), Chuck Cooper’s “Ol’ Man River”, Emily Skinner’s “Now You Know” and Tony Yazbeck’s “This Is Not Over Yet”. As for the new song “Do the Work”, it pales compared with the old ones. Anyway, for me, the highlight is “The Right Girl”!

WORKING – Here is another musical to which I never payed attention to and this London Cast recording won’t be changing it. There’s nothing wrong with the cast, but I don’t find the songs interesting. I know that several people wrote the songs but to my ears they don’t diverge much from one another, it’s like all composers were exactly on the same mood. Only one song caught my attention, “It’s an Art” by Stephen Schwartz. I know this is about real people, but there’s was no need for almost all songs being kind of depressing. Not my kind of score.