{"id":4808,"date":"2016-01-04T18:17:46","date_gmt":"2016-01-04T23:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/?p=4808"},"modified":"2016-01-05T10:41:11","modified_gmt":"2016-01-05T15:41:11","slug":"beautiful-lp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/?p=4808","title":{"rendered":"‘Beautiful’ on LP"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"81-NypgJeaL._SL1500_\"<\/a> Since\u00a0the long-playing record went out of vogue, very few contemporary cast recordings have been released on vinyl, the most notable being the original Broadway cast recording of The Drowsy Chaperone<\/em><\/a> and the 2009 revival of Hair<\/em><\/a>. These came courtesy of Sh-K-Boom\/Ghostlight Records, who also issued\u00a0a limited vinyl edition of Beautiful, <\/em>the hit bio-musical about Carole King\u00a0currently playing the Sondheim Theatre. These three releases, while conceived as collector’s souvenirs, were in essence leading a return to form, as more musicals\u00a0seem to be taking part in the current vinyl renaissance.<\/p>\n

I’ve never been without a record player in my life, and I listen to LPs\u00a0whenever I can. My very first cast album was the London My Fair Lady<\/em> gatefold from Columbia.\u00a0I was that nerdy child<\/a> rummaging through boxes at second-hand bookshops and flea markets, picking out the\u00a0Golden Age records that would\u00a0start my life-long love of show music. (Spoiler alert: I am still that nerdy child).\u00a0It’s different from popping on a CD or downloading an album from\u00a0iTunes. Newer digital technologies are great for convenience, but the act of putting a record on a turntable, lifting a needle to the surface and waiting through those brief pops and crackles for the sound to pour out is a much more visceral, immersive experience. Plus, there’s the added pleasure of looking at the record sleeve and its artwork, allowing for greater appreciation of show logos and designs.<\/p>\n

I don’t think Beautiful<\/em> itself is a particularly great musical, but it is quite entertaining, especially thanks to its leading players. The show chronicles the early life and career of legend Carole King<\/a>, her collaborator\/husband (Gerry Goffin) and friends (songwriting team Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil) through the late 50s and 60s, up to her Carnegie Hall debut in 1971. The story is told in a rote fashion, with most of the song cues feeling like\u00a0elaborate setups for a\u00a0bizarre game of Name That Tune. The first act spends much of its time showing King and co. at work in the Brill Building, surprising the audience with an “I bet you didn’t know she wrote this one” attitude. The second act focuses on King finding her own voice as a singer-songwriter, though\u00a0I think the musical ends just as Carole King’s life starts to get really interesting.<\/p>\n

What\u00a0Beautiful<\/em> had going for it – and this is the most important element of all – was its leading lady Jessie Mueller, who was\u00a0a sensational doppelg\u00e4nger for King.\u00a0I’ve seen Ms. Mueller in almost everything she’s done since arriving in New York (with the exception of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever<\/em>) and she continues to astonish me.\u00a0Her voice is one of the modern wonders of contemporary musical theatre, seemingly able to sing any role in any tessitura<\/a>. Onstage and off, Mueller radiates warmth, charm and pluck. (She’s also my choice for a\u00a0Broadway revival of Funny Girl.\u00a0<\/em>In the meanwhile, I look forward to her return in Waitress<\/em>).<\/p>\n

But Mueller was not headlining a solo show. There’s also the delicious pairing of Spector and Larsen as King’s close friends Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. They are spectacularly warm, funny second bananas who should be headlining a separate Mann-Weil musical. (Billed as “The Carole King Musical,” Beautiful<\/em>\u00a0uses just a little too much of their tune-stack).\u00a0However,\u00a0Beautiful<\/em>\u00a0is even more enjoyable on second viewing. I went back to see it one more time before Mueller departed, and the\u00a0issues\u00a0I had were less problematic to me.<\/p>\n

While I have my reservations about Beautiful<\/em> the musical, Beautiful<\/em> the cast album is a treasure. \u00a0Capturing the best of the show (its songs and\u00a0performances), it plays quite well\u00a0on disc, though I am more inclined to revisit Mueller, Spector and Larsen’s contributions than the slavish recreations of ’60s pop hits. As someone who hasn’t taken to the jukebox musical trend, I’m surprised how often\u00a0I listen to the album, especially Mueller’s dynamic performance of the title song.<\/p>\n

The idea to release Beautiful<\/em> on LP came from marketing\u00a0whiz\u00a0Rick Miramontez over at O&M. Many of these were given out as voter swag to members of the various awards groups, ostensibly to capitalize on the nostalgia factor of Carole King among Baby Boomers. The vinyl release also went on sale at the theatre and from Sh-K-Boom\/Ghostlight’s website. It has since been made available at\u00a0Amazon<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Barnes & Noble<\/a>. The CD release liner notes (with lyrics) have been beautifully repurposed for the gatefold interior, as well as the individual record sleeves.<\/p>\n

Having purchased Beautiful<\/em> from iTunes, and being quite aware of how it sounded on my iPhone, I was unprepared for the record experience. Mueller’s voice has considerable warmth, but somehow she sounds even warmer here. I stopped what I was doing to hear her sing those first lines of “So Far Away,” and immediately picked up the needle so I could hear it again. Mueller’s voice was made for vinyl. Plus, the LP release comes with a digital download card, so you’ll have the cast recording\u00a0for your on-the-go needs.<\/p>\n

This release was meant as a sort of novelty to cash-in on the show’s nostalgia. However, it seems to have come at a perfect time: sales of vinyls are up (as are sales of turntables<\/a>). Sh-K-Boom has also released The Last Five Years<\/em> film soundtrack<\/a> as a 2-LP. Other musicals\u00a0(Hedwig and the Angry Inch<\/a><\/em>, School of Rock<\/a><\/em>, If\/Then<\/a><\/em>) have released their Broadway cast albums released in the LP format. Word is Hamilton<\/em>‘s best-selling and brilliant cast recording will be released on vinyl some time in 2016. Plus\u00a0Masterworks Broadway<\/a> has teamed up with Analog Spark<\/a> to reissue some of their classic cast albums. I hope this is an encouraging sign of what’s to come because #yesrecords (and because I require the original Broadway cast recording of The Bridges of Madison County<\/em> on vinyl).
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Since\u00a0the long-playing record went out of vogue, very few contemporary cast recordings have been released on vinyl, the most notable being the original Broadway cast recording of The Drowsy Chaperone and the 2009 revival of Hair. These came courtesy of Sh-K-Boom\/Ghostlight Records, who also issued\u00a0a limited vinyl edition of Beautiful, the hit bio-musical about Carole … Continue reading ‘Beautiful’ on LP<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2393,2573,2569,2571,1395,1926,2572,2570,1438,1925,2574],"class_list":["post-4808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anika-larsen","tag-barry-mann","tag-beautiful","tag-carole-king","tag-cast-albums","tag-cast-recordings","tag-cynthia-weil","tag-jarrod-spector","tag-jessie-mueller","tag-lp","tag-yes-records"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4808"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4955,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4808\/revisions\/4955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}