CLOSER THAN EVER - A DISCUSSION

[ChiChi]

I know there is a new production of this playing. I've never seen it done live.

I bought and downloaded the cast recording about a year ago. I won't lie, I really think it has more bad material than good. But what I do like I like a lot. I love "It's Never that Easy / I've been here before" and "Patterns", but I like little else.

Is this a situation where the show actually plays better live than on a recording?

[GavestonPS]

I've never seen it live either, but I love the recording and have played it hundreds of times. It's not that I think every number is a gem, but it sounds like my ratio of hits to clunkers would be almost the opposite of yours.

Offhand, I don't know why. :shrugs:

[ChiChi]

I also LOVE "Next Time / I wouldn't Go Back"

[GavestonPS]

Some of the straight white man songs ("One of the Good Guys", "Fathers of Fathers") strike me as too "on the nose" and a few songs like "She Loves Me Not" may be dated, but I love the song from BABY ("The Bear, the Tiger, the Hamster and the Mole"), "Three Friends" and pretty much anything Sally Mayes sings.

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

The show is hit or miss and greatly depends on the cast. I like some of the songs a lot, but some of the sequences come off as horribly dated.

I saw the original York cast, but haven't gone back to see Coella and Noll's replacements. They were way better than the men in this production so I would wait for reports on the replacements before shelling out money to see it.

[ChiChi]

Sally Mayes has a good voice but I can't help but thinking it's all based on a really loud scream.

[KirbyCat]

Honestly, I hate the original cast recording. It is not nearly as pure sounding and beautiful as just a piano and bass. (In fact, if you look at the conductor's score that is licensed, it says that what is written in there is correct, and not to go by what the recording does.)

Seeing it live at the York was absolutely magical for me. I loved it! (I did see the Christiane and Jenn though, not their replacements.)

[tazber]

I love the recording (although the sound quality is lacking).

All the songs mentioned are great, as are:

Miss Byrd
You Wanna Be My Friend
Life Story (arguably the strongest song in the cycle)
If I Sing (lovely)
She Loves Me Not
One Of The Good Guys
Next Time/I Wouldn't Go Back
Back On Base
It's Never That Easy/I've Been Here Before


The duds are imho:
Like A Baby
There's Nothing Like It
Fandango
Patterns
The March Of Time
The Sound Of Muzak

Anything I didn't mention I'm ambivalent to.

But all in all I think it's a fantastic revue and can't wait for the new recording!

[tazber]

Sally Mayes has a good voice but I can't help but thinking it's all based on a really loud scream.

I totally get that ChiChi, but I think it's the way the recording was mixed. It's very trebly which doesn't go well with her voice.

[boggess]

I heard "Like a Baby" on Pandora last year and I thought the orchestrations were pretty, but I didn't much like the song. I think I'll check out the other songs now knowing that that's one of the worse of them.

[ggersten]

I don't know much about this show, except that SiriusXM plays "Life Story" pretty regularly. I have absolutely no sense of the show from that song, but I do like it quite a bit. The station plays several other songs from the show, but I don't recall the names.

[Mister Matt]

I did see a production of this many years ago and like every revue, it's all about the direction and cast since there is no book or narrative. The songs are pretty hit-and-miss and I've never been a huge fan of Maltby's lyrics, though Shire's melodies are usually catchy and can be quite stunning.

[tazber]

Life Story has become the song that always represents the show.

The show is a revue (or song cycle) about middle age. There is no narrative, but the songs are arranged semi-thematically.

Life Story closes act I and pretty well sums up the show in 6 minutes.

Plus it's a hell of a song.

[doodlenyc]

Lynne Wintersteller sang the crap outta that song.

I love her read of "AAAAA, they should all go home and have babies!"

[GavestonPS]

Thanks. I forgot to mention "Life Story". Great song, but maybe you have to be a certain age. (No, I'm not female.)

[After Eight]

I've never been a fan of any of Maltby and Shire's dull, colorless scores. I found the score to Closer Than Ever thoroughly uninteresting and unappealing when it first appeared, but sitting through this trite, dated, obvious material now for over two hours in a theatre was far, far worse.

[Emmaloucbway]

I saw the show in July with Noll and Colella, and loved it! I honestly enjoyed the music so much that I bought the original cast album. But as some people said above some songs are great, but others are just forgettable (Like A Baby, IMO).

Also I can't wait for the new cast album to be released with the original cast of this York revival, because I can't wait to hear the orchestrations with just the piano and bass. I do not like the orchestrations on the original 1990 cast recording!