Xanadu on Broadway (Original Broadway Cast Recording 2007)
P.S. CLASSICS - P.S. CLASSICS
Release date: 2008-01-08
Audio CD
Adult Contemporary, Broadway, Cast Recordings, Film Music, Music Theater, Musical Theater, Musicals, Original Cast Recordings, Pop, Pop/Rock, Showtunes / B'way, Soft Rock, Soundtracks
1. I m Alive
2. Magic
3. Evil Woman
4. Suddenly
5. Whenever You re Away From Me
6. Dancin
7. Strange Magic
8. All Over the World
9. Don t Walk Away
10. Fool
11. The Fall
12. Suspended in Time
13. Have You Never Been Mellow? 14. Xanadu
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Xanadu on Broadway (Original Broadway Cast Recording 2007)
Date undefinedWell, being a huge fan of the film and it's amazingly produced score, I was a little let down and shouldn't have expected a second coming. Obviously this is their own take on all the songs and it works well in that respect.
Before I give comments on each song, I'd like to point out that although these are great, fun, and beautiful arrangements of each song, the mixing is TERRIBLE. Certain instruments are not prominent enough and the voices are WAY too loud. Kerry Butler has a beautiful voice live but it sounds so nasally and grating here. Even more so than the character calls for.
I give the mixing a 2 out of 10
On to each song:
1.I'm Alive - Great tribute to the original. At the beginning when the guitar kicks in it sounded a little "Sesame Street does rock music" if that makes sense, but I understand the play is very campy. I am still very disappointed at how some of the synthesizer and keyboard detail is lost in the background because it's simply not loud enough. I LOVE the guitar solo. It's always been my favorite part of the song and it was the part I was most looking forward to in the song.
I notice in Broadway everything is very pronounced and precise and campy. Even in the music, there's no free-form bass with slide or pop or interesting embellishments, so at times the music sounds a little robotic/karaoke. The vocal arrangements are great!
2.Magic - One of my favorite songs. Very nice arrangement here. Dial it back a freaking notch on Kerry's grating voice though. Honestly. I love the guitarist's parts here and everything is very tight. I'm a musician so I really appreciate these kinds of things. As great of a voice that Kerry has, when the play comes to San Francisco I'd like to hope the new actress/singer doesn't have such a nasally grating voice. It really ruins the mood for me. I had to keep turning down my speaker to try and avoid her voice, and in the process the music kept getting quieter.
3.Evil Woman - Campy Broadway at its best I suppose. I am still a little put off at how much of a comedy the play is. I took the movie as an actual love story with some amazing music even though most people consider it cheesy. Great to hear a couple other songs added to the soundtrack, that relate to the story.
4.Suddenly - Well, one of the most beautiful songs of all time. I feel the speeding up and kind of flippant karaoke production didn't suit the song very well. Some more disco "wah" guitar and a slightly slower version would have helped. And the keyboard could have been vamped up like I saw it was during "Broadway in the park". Interrupting the song to speak is also a little annoying but I understand it's for the story. I never like when plays do this.
I think it would have come off funnier if the actors actually took their parts seriously and tried to be dramatic and not overly campy. Subtlety obviously does not exist in the Xanadu universe that's been created for this play.
5.Whenever you're away from me - Nice arrangement at the beginning but as it drifts off into a weird scatting contest with flashy drum fills and an even jazzier tune it loses the feeling of the song. A lot of songs that I considered to have a lot of meaning and emotion behind have been dulled down in this play, mainly due to being sped up. but I have to say again I'm thankful the play was produced at all and that it's become so successful. I'm a big Xanadu fan so it was super exciting to find out about. I saw rehearsal videos before the play officially came out where the music sounded much better. The ending from 3:20 on though is beautiful and brings a tear to my eye. The "better never stray" always emotionally gets me. Funny that the last 40 seconds of this song are probably the most emotional to me throughout the play. It's only because of the music though, I have no clue what goes on in the story.
6.Dancin' - A classic Xanadu song. Hell, they're ALL classics. Seriously I've said it 2 million times and I'll say it again. Xanadu has the best songs ever produced for a musical film. Simply put. They would totally stand alone as successful songs even if there was no movie. Impressive recreation of the original on this track. Cheyenne Jackson has an AMAZING voice. That is the voice of an angel. The only unfortunate thing again is the mixing. Even professional studio headphones [which I switched out for my crappy ones halfway through the song] didn't improve the quality.
7.Strange Magic - What can I say. It's a beautiful song. I'm glad to hear that [somehow] the voices aren't quite as overdone here. This is one of the better mixed songs I can actually hear the keyboard and other instruments. This song alone may give me a little of an opinion on the show. I know other fans will probably think I'm crazy with my views on this play so far, but I haven't seen it live. I've only heard the soundtrack and I'm waiting for it to come to San Francisco.
8.All over the world - Cheyenne Jackson's voice freaking shines on this song. The mixing isn't too bad here but of course, it could have been adjusted. The voices are over all too loud on the entire album. I love how much of a disco song this sounds like in this version. It wasn't quite as disco in the original but I love it here! One of my favorites from this soundtrack. At 1:15 there is a drum skip which I think shows bad editing and possibly that the drums weren't even real in the recording. Whatever it's ok, this is an amazing version of the song. This is an example where a crazy ending works.
9.Don't walk away - Amazing version of a beautiful song. Another showing off of Cheyenne's talent. Very nice guitar and keyboard work. I cannot see any other actor topping his voice when the musical tours. Not much to say about this one. Great production.
10.Fool - What an odd addition. It's not a well known song from the film but I love that that much attention to detail was put into researching for this play. I really like this version! I'm glad they included. I'm disappointed that Kerry couldn't pull off Olivia's high note here.
11.The Fall - I am very impressed with the attention to trying to recreate the original here. I'm surprised they were able to do such a good job. Never been one of my favorite Xanadu songs but maybe I'll change my mind. I love every single song so I can make an exception.
12.Suspended in time - Oh boy. Sped up again. And sometimes I want to smack my head at how much Kerry Butler exaggerates her voice. It's beautiful on its own, does it really need that? I think I'd like this a lot more if Kira wasn't made so annoying in this play! She was more ethereal and soft spoken and mysterious in the film. And the whispering thing [displayed in suddenly, magic, and this] makes me cringe.
13.Have you never been mellow? - What's this I hear? Mary Testa not overacting at the beginning? -Phew-! Finally! Actually I don't even know if that was her, but kudos to whoever it was. I'm just an honest Xanadu fan and I'm giving my feelings on this soundtrack. I love this Olivia song and I'm glad it was added. This, Evil Woman, and Strange Magic were clever additions.
14.Xanadu - I've pretty much put enough energy into this review. What can you say about the title track? It's just a big pile of glittery disco magic. Any version of Xanadu can get you dancing so I don't have much to complain about here.
Overall, I give this soundtrack a 7 out of 10.
I'd like to see this in San Francisco and see what the new actors bring to it.
Xanadu on Broadway (Original Broadway Cast Recording 2007)
Date undefinedBroadway play: 4.5 Stars; Original cast recording: 3.5 Stars
Let me state upfront that I absolutely loved the 1980 original movie soundtrack, featuring 5 ELO tracks on Side 1, and 4 John Farrar-penned Olivia Newton-John plus the ELO/Olivia title track on Side 2. The movie was horrible, but the music was great. Fast forward to 2007 when the news came that Xanadu was being worked into a Broadway musical. Well, I was skeptical, but no more. I was in New York recently on a business trip, and jumped on the chance to see it. Somehow the play works great where the movie didn't and it was a guilty pleasure all over for me.
"Xanadu on Broadway" (14 tracks; 43 min.) is the original Broadway cast recording featuring Kerry Butler and Cheyenne Jackson. This features the 10 songs of the original album, plus 4 added tracks, 2 ELO songs worked into the story line ("Evil Woman" and "Strange Magic") and 2 John Farrar songs, including the oldie but goodie Olivia hit "Have You Ever Been Mellow". In all, this is a terrific cast recording, with the best songs for me being "Suddenly", "Evil Woman" and, best of all, "Suspended in Time".
The running time of this album is just 43 min. and that gives you an idea how they had to stretch it out to make this into a Broadway musical (which is 90 min.). But in all, this recording is a great memento to the fabulous experience that "Xanadu on Broadway" was.
Xanadu on Broadway (Original Broadway Cast Recording 2007)
Date undefinedXANADU, the original Broadway cast album, captures the spirit in song of the best musical on Broadway. Funny, fabulous, loving, it will make you laugh and cry. Cheyenne Jackson is the greatest singing star on Broadway since Barbra Streisand and this album captures the beauty of his incredible voice. Jackie Hoffman and Mary Testa are a riot as the evil sisters and Kerry Butler will break your heart when she sings "Suspended in Time." The supporting cast are just incredible and I wish you could see their spectacular dancing as well as hear their beautiful voices. First rate!
