I was eighteen when I first heard it-- I lived in the music dorm at Florida State, which was coed and there was all manner of music playing all the time. The guy who lived across the hall from me had the LP of the West End cast, which was in '86, so really early on, and I remember hearing "Do You Hear the People Sing" blaring from his room and I was like "What is THAT?"
In HS, I would hang out with the drama geeks from the University. Without fail, every drunken party would involve a group singing of "Confrontation", followed by "Do You Hear The People Sing?" Good times.
In 89 I managed to pick up the London cast CD, and now every time I hear the American cast, it sounds wronger than a wrong thing.
I'm the same way with CHESS, Tep. My first version was the American cast recording, but then I got the London version and was pretty much ruined.
(What's funny is I think Philip Casnoff is on both of those American Cast recordings--)
Les miz and starlight exp I heard and learned the british versions first, so the amer are just not allowed. Starlight is much much different.
Well, Chess is such a weird show in that every single iteration, it's changed, not just a little, but considerably. How it should be staged, the songs, everything. It's like no one could ever agree how it would work best.
I'm going to be really interested to see the PBS production that's going to air in June that was filmed last year at the Royal Albert.
Oh, and can anyone else see John Barrowman as Enjolras?
Timelies all!
Cat woke me up far too early this morning. Good thing she's cute...
I've been singing bits of Les Mis all morning. I like Javert because the first version I heard was the best, dark-chocolate bass ever. Which translates to aural porn for me.
I've already moved on from Les Miz to Oliver!
I've already moved on from Les Miz to Oliver!
I've shifted to Chess! Heh. Murray Head singing "One Night in Bangkok" is my aural porn.
I do a mean Fagin, I have to say.
Sarameg--when prioritizing your list of to-dos, I STRONGLY urge you to do whatever ceilings and/or floor work you need before you move in, even if you have to put off other things. They are so much easier and cheaper to do before there is furniture to move and dust to worry about. Also this is a really d good time to hire plasterers, electricians, etc, due to the economic times, so if you are planning any work like that, try to see what can be done beforehand.
Signed,
Has Learned This The Hard Way
