Post by Fantasma da Opera on May 11, 2011 6:18:36 GMT -5
Only 2 years after the release of the Concept Recording, comes the Original Broadway Cast Recording of WONDERLAND. And like THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, the OBCR of WONDERLAND is a huge improvement over the Concept CD.
Like any Wildhorn Cast Recording, the songs stand alone by themselves, which means you don't really have have a narrative to follow. But since the libretto of WONDERLAND is a mess...that doesn't really matter.
The score was also all re-orchestrated which proved to be a big improvement in the majority of cases.
The review will be done, again, song by song. Many members of the Cast changed, I will re-evaluate all performances.
1 - Overture (Orchestra) - A haunting yet very pretty Overture which takes you back to a time when Disney movies had really good scores (you know, the times before the 3D cartoons etc). The first musical phrase of the score is also very significant. It's the line "I am my own invention" from the song of the same name. Then moves to a quick passed, classical tune. I liked it a lot.
2 - Home (Chloe/Carly Rose Sonenclar)- First of all let me say that, this version is NOT in the show. Actually none of the versions of "Home" in the CD are, since the song is now a duet between Alice and Chloe. It's a shame they didn't recorded that one. This is the first part of the old song, and barely has 2 minutes. (1:46). Carly Rose Sonenclar, unlike her predecessor, is very young but has a amazing voice. Which is what actually justifies this song...otherwise I would just skip it.
3 - Down the Rabbit Hole (Alice,Elevator Voice/Janet Dacal) - Ok...this song is weird. It's just 1 minute and is basically the song that is sung while Alice is going in the elevator down to Wonderland. It's not a very memorable song really...I feel it's perhaps too short...Or maybe it's the right length, but the lyrics are so bad that don't advance the story at all.
4 - Welcome to Wonderland (Ensemble) - The first cool song since the Overture. "Welcome to Wonderland" is the silly, wonderful, comical song that is sung by the Cast once Alice arrives in Wonderland. The only thing I think could improve this amazing song would be a bigger orchestra. Its the kind of song that would me just awesome with a bigger orchestra. Otherwise it's a pretty cool song, I like it A LOT!
5 - Drink Me (Unearthly voices) - Another psychedelic song. I don't really like it. It's weird and not even a real song. With 48 seconds it's just the "song" while Alice drinks the bottle to get smaller.
6 - "Who are you?" (aka Advice from a Caterpillar) (Caterpillar & Legs/E. Clayton Cornelious) - First of all, the title "Who are you?" was invented by me. The song is still called "Advice from a Caterpillar" but this version was SO changed that it became a different song. That's why I prefer to call it "Who are you?" since it's the point of the song. The lyrics here are hit and miss. They are mostly good but then there's the part where Alice sings "The way you talk sounds like a fortune cookie"...I would have preferred if they had kept the former "It seems to me that we go 'round and 'rounder". The Legs of the Caterpillar are the chorus. I like this version a lot, but I don't compare it to the old one. The old one was more Jazzy...this one is more a Broadway-style song. They are both great to me. And kudos to E. Clayton Cornelious who is an AMAZING Caterpillar (blessed the day Titus left the show!)
7 - Go with the flow (El Gato/José Llana) - José is reprising the role, but on the Concept he had recorded the short lived "Keep on dancing". Here he does an amazing job, even though the Spanish accent may annoy some. It doesn't really annoy me since the song itself is very Santana. I have to say, again, the new orchestrations improved the song a lot, and I specially love the electric-guitar solo. The lyrics changed little. Actually, it's probably the only song that kept the original lyrics almost intact.
8 - One Knight (White Knight/Darren Ritchie) - This is the song that DIDN'T changed the lyrics. Apparently it is a HUGE crowd pleaser, so if something is winning, better not touch it. I still don't like the song. I have seen the video-clip of the song and yes, on stage it works and it is funny. But on the CD is just a boy-band song. HOWEVER I have to add that this version is far more bearable than the one on the Concept CD.
9 - Mad Tea Party (Morris, the March Hare/Danny Stiles) - Another great song cut short and ruined by the lyrics. It's a silly tune that could be really amazing with witty lyrics, specially since right before it they do a joke with the "Tea Party". Yet, the lyrics are awful and repetitive. "High Tea, Low Tea...drink your own but don't drink my tea"
What the hell is this??? Shame on you Jack Murphy.10 - The Mad Hatter (Mad Hatter/Kate Shindle) - Blessed the day Kate Shindle joined the show. She is AMAZING. And "The Mad Hatter Song" is the second best in the show, only surpassed by another Hatter song. Also this one got new orchestrations which improved A LOT the song when compared to the former ones...I wish I could same the same about the lyrics.
"The Mad Hatter Song" had 3 sets of lyrics. The original ones in the Concept which were cool. The 2nd ones, from the 2nd Tampa Try-Out which where even better...and these 3rd ones which are a mash of the 1st lyrics with new ones...and are the worse. It's the only thing ruining the song. But Kate Shindle is so amazing that you will enjoy the song anyway, even if she was singing the phone-book.
11 - Hail the Queen (Queen of Hearts, Alice & Ensemble/Karen Mason, Janet Dacal & Ensemble) - Another great song that is no longer the same in the show. The lyrics in the show are far better than those they recorded in the CD. The ONLY set of lyrics in this version that is better than the one on stage is when the Queen sings "And you, young lady, who are you? I don't believe we've met" and Alice answers "I'm from the land of credit cards and endless debt". Apart from that, the rest of the lyrics are inferior. Also, the song was re-orchestrated in the show and now ends to a reference to GYPSY. In the CD they fortunately recorded the former version that ended with a long "Queeeeeeeeeeeeeen". Unfortunately they didn't recorded it properly as the fun in that long word was that the song tried to finish several times but the Queen sept the "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" going and so only at the 3rd or 4th time the song ended. In the CD that is lost. Which is a shame. Oh and Karen also seems to sing "weeeeeee" instead of "Queeeen"
12 - Home (reprise) (Alice/Janet Dacal) - The other reprise of Home. I really have nothing to add.
13 - A Nice Little Walk (Mad Hatter & Morris, the March Hare/Kate Shindle, Danny Styles) - I really like this song even though I liked the original lyrics better. It's a jazzy-waltz that is sung by the Hatter and the March Hare when they go to kidnap Chloe. In the show, Chloe also sings...here, for some weird reason, she doesn't. But still, it's a very deliciously evil song and both Kate and Danny do an amazing work with it. Love it.
14 - Through the Looking Glass (Alice, White Knight, Rabbit, Caterpillar, El Gato & Ensemble) - This song was heavily re-orchestrated. I like it better this way than the way it was on the Concept, specially lyric-wise. I just feel it needed a bigger BANG in the end, since this is the song that ends the 1st Act.
15 - I Will Prevail (Mad Hatter/Kate Shindle) - Anyone who is familiar with Wildhorn-shows knows that the best songs are always the villain songs. And this is it. Actually, the CD is worth buying ONLY FOR THIS TRACK. "I will prevail" is an amazing, rocky, evil song. The lyrics could use improvement but Kate and the song itself is so superb that even that doesn't really matter. Believe me, even if you don't care for this show, YOU WILL LOVE THIS SONG!
16 - I Am My Own Invention (L.Carrol, Alice/Darren Ritchie, Janet Dacal) - This song is a wonderful song. I really don't know how to describe it. It's a song that speaks to your heart and can make you look to yourself and think about how you "invented" yourself. I feel this song could be sung by a father to a son...or in this case, it seems like it's Alice's father singing to her, even if it isn't. Actually, if I were the bookwriter, I would turn the Victorian Gentleman (aka Louis Carroll) into Alice's father in the process to revising the book.
17 - Off with their Heads! (Queen of Hearts/Karen Mason) - Hmmm....I like the new beginning of the song but I feel that the old lyrics could still be used. I specially miss the "If there's debate/then legislate/and when in doubt it's off with their heads!". Karen Mason does an amazing job once again, just like she did on the Concept. This is no longer my second favourite song in the show 'cause they composed a lot of great new tunes but it's still a very cool song.
18 - Once more I can see (Alice/Janet Dacal) - I still like this song a lot, and I still don't like Janet. I'm sorry, but her voice, even though has improved, still doesn't click with me. It's too "dark" and I feel that this song could use a more innocent voice like Brandi Burkhardt's...This song didn't suffered any lyrical changes either, which is good.
19 - Together (White Knight, Caterpillar, Rabbit etc...) - Ok...so, the first time I heard this song was in Thomas Borchert CD "If I sing". Which means I am spoiled by his voice and so I don't like this version as much as I like Thomas. However, this version has 2 things in its favour that make it an improvement: 1st it's more divided by the characters and 2nd it has a big musical sequence that is a BIG improvement. Actually its my favourite part of the song...the one where no one sings! =P Because when they sing it just sounds again like a boy-band song.
Oh, and also...yes, this is the Into the Fire / Deep in the Darkest Night /The Steps of Tomorrow version in WONDERLAND. Because this show doesn't have the "The Riddle-like" song, they have the "Into the Fire-like" one
20 - Heroes (Caterpillar, Rabbit, El Gato, Chloe, Alice & Ensemble) - This is a GORGEOUS song. It's one of the most moving songs Frank ever wrote. And it's moving but NOT sappy. For some stupid reason this song was cut in the Broadway version. Let me say this: BIG MISTAKE! This song is the best song that the "good guys" have. It has wonderful lyrics, a wonderful tune and is just breathtaking. PUT IT BACK NOW! (Edit:this review was written before the announcement of the closing of the show...so...too late now)
21 - Finding Wonderland (Alice/ Janet Dacal & Ensemble) - This song is still amazing and hasn't changed except for the adding of a chorus in the end of the tune to give it more power. This is also, probably, the only song where I like Janet. The message is still there, the re-orchestrations just improved it. The only thing I didn't liked here was the way Janet started the song...she sings it as a pop song. She does the same with "Once more I can see" and I didn't liked that.
Overall this CD is a HUGE improvement on the Concept Recording. I pretty much like all the songs, and the only one I sometimes skip is still "One Knight". And then, as I said, you get "I will prevail", another great villain song by Wildhorn. Actually I think one of this days I will grab all the villain songs and burn them into one CD to have in the car constantly. They are always my favourites anyway.
One last note regarding Worst day of my life. Yes the song is still in the show, but it was completely changed and slowed down. I still would have liked if they had recorded it instead of putting 2 times the song "Home".
But since the show changed so much since the OBCR was recorded, my hopes are that, eventually, there will be an "Encore" like the Scarlet Pimpernel one but with all the new versions of the songs (instead of the OBCR and some new tracks only).
So, if you're looking for ONE CD of Wonderland to get, I would advise this one.
This CD will take 8 out of 10.
