Ever been disappointed by a POTO cast recording?

[IamErik771]

I know we had a topic like this before, but it appears to have completely disappeared without a trace. So I'm starting it anew . . .

There have been several different cast recordings of POTO released over the years, in many different languages. Of these, which ones left you cold, or caused your eardrums extreme pain? Here are two that come readily to mind for me:


Original Canadian Cast Recording (1989)

I agree with Zelda (who posted in the original thread) that this version was disappointing, but for very different reasons. I've gained new respect and admiration for Colm Wilkinson's portrayal of Erik after listening to several live clips, and now believe that this recording doesn't do him justice . . . not by a long shot. I will say, however, that his renditions of "Wandering Child" and "Point of No Return" on this recording are very good. If only they had recorded this CD after the cast had actually started performing onstage, instead of several months before, Colm would have definitely sounded a lot better. On this recording, his MOTN gave me a headache, and some of his vocal 'quirks' in the final lair scene caused me to burst out laughing. Live, however . . . His Phantom definitely matches the quality of his Valjean in Les Misérables.

As for Rebecca Caine . . . I agree with Zelda that she sounds older and more mature than I usually like for Christine. However, for me, that's a relatively small thing that I'm willing to overlook. I find everything else about her portrayal to be absolutely amazing, particularly her emotion in sections like the Graveyard, "Point of No Return," and the final lair sequence. After hearing her acting, even on a studio recording, I have a hard time going back to Sarah Brightman; I've passed the point of no return. :mask:

As amazing as Rebecca is, however, I don't think she quite manages to make up for Colm and the supporting cast. The only other performer on this recording I liked at all was Peter Cormican as Piangi, but then again, I've never heard a Piangi I disliked. I found Lyse Guérin to be one of the weakest Carlottas I've ever heard, and the managers seemed to be trying way too hard to be funny (and still not succeeding). And Byron Nease as Raoul . . . probably the biggest disappointment of the day. His voice (imo) was all wrong for the role, his acting was nonexistent, and he made the character generally unlikable. I think he's the only Raoul from an original cast recording who's left such a bad impression on me.

Overall, I'd give this recording a B-minus. Without Rebecca Caine as Christine, however, the cast would probably get a D from me.


Original Korean Cast Recording (2002)

I found this recording to be extraordinarily disappointing, but not because of the performers themselves. Young-Seok Yoon (Erik), Hye-Kyoung Lee (Christine), and Ryu Jung-Han (Raoul) were all excellent in their respective roles. However, the recording itself -- the orchestrations and the songs they decided to use -- frustrated me to no end. The makers of this recording used the same instrumental tracks as the original Canadian cast CD, but only used some of the songs that were on that recording. "The Mirror," "Notes," the "All I Ask" reprise, "Wandering Child," and "Down Once More" were all removed for some reason.

Okay, seriously . . . The Korean theatre company was putting on their own complete production of the show, so if the Canadian folks refused to give them instrumentals for those songs, they should have just taken their own pit orchestra and recorded them, or else recorded the soundboard from a live preview performance for this CD (like the Japanese did for at least one of their Les Misérables recordings). There's really no excuse for that many songs to be left out of what was already a heavily trimmed highlights recording. Again, the performers were great, but since so many important songs were cut, none of them gets a chance to really shine.

There's one other problem I've heard about which I can't really confirm myself, because I can't speak Korean to save my life. I've heard, though, that the translation of the lyrics is downright awful. So if I ever take a Korean class and figure out the lyrics for myself, I'll get back to you and let you know whether that's true. XD

[Victoria]

I agree with you IamErik, the Canadian recording was a bit of a downfall in my eyes.

I don't really have a liking of Colm's voice as much (I'll have to give him a chance though before I knock him down to the bottom of my list)

I do love rebecca Caine's voice because I think it's so haunting but the pair togther just seemed so off balance

[masquerading rose]

James, you are my hero. You know that, right?

I don't think Colm's voice worked at all. In PoNR, he tried to sound seductive, but only succesded in sounding like and old man... *sudders* And I thought the was a huge age gape between Emmy and Gerry.

And the Raoul's voice only made him sound detached, and unlike everyone else.

I'll have to listen to more, and then I check by here again! I know, I sounded redundant. Sorry.

[IamErik771]

James, you are my hero. You know that, right?

Yay! I'm a hero! :D And w00t for people finally replying to this topic -- thank ye both very much.

Another recording I thought was disappointing was the "First Studio Recording" (with Graham Bickley singing Erik's part) from 1993. The "Second Studio Recording" (with Ethan Freeman in the lead) was so much better, and the rest of the cast was exactly the same. XD My main problem with Graham is that although he has a very lovely voice, he doesn't act at all in this recording. He sounds like he's sight-reading the songs, and has never heard them performed by anyone else. "Point of No Return" is especially disappointing in that regard. And unlike Ethan Freeman, Graham has never actually played Erik onstage, so I'm kind of confused as to why he was picked at all for this CD. I think Peter Karrie, Steve Barton, or Kevin Gray would have been far better choices out of those who had played Erik by 1993 (who didn't already have a POTO cast album).

That's a real pity, as I liked pretty much everyone else in the cast . . . True, Claire Moore (as Christine) had a noticeable lisp, but I didn't mind that quite so much. And John Barrowman (as Raoul) was simply awesome -- you "Doctor Who" fans may know him as Captain Jack, but he's got an amazing voice.

Another thing I found disappointing in both "Studio Recordings" was the fact that the instrumental tracks were all cheap karaoke tracks -- I kid you not! The title song and "Music of the Night" were especially disappointing there.

[Ingenuous Soprano]

I have to agree about Colm's version of Erik. Ugh! He needs to stick to Valjean and leave Erik alone!

Rebecca Caine's voice on the other hand is pure love! My goodness! The vocal agility, the emotion, the gorgeous tone, timbre and colour! Best recorded Christine I've heard. Maybe the best so far. (Though Elizabeth de Grazia has a beautiful, lighter voice) As to Rebecca sounding "old", it's simply the weight of her lyric soprano. It's a gorgeous sound and has nothing to do with her age then, her premiere in London, or now.

Byron was a bit... bland yet dramatic at the same time. Not exactly Raoul material (especially when against Steve Barton *listens to Barton's AIAoY* I could drool right now, he's so good). But when he's not trying to be Raoul, (youtubing is wonderful) he has a very pleasant voice. And I'm hapy to say that.
_______________________________

James, I found this one recording that apparently had a cast from Cats sing the songs. DON'T get it! Don't even hear a sample! It will make your ears bleed! And that's a warning for everyone.

[The Countess]

*shrug* Colm is Colm. You have to get used to him for you to even think about listening to his Phantom.

I'm not quite sure to find all these albums that ya'll are talking about. Links please?

[IamErik771]

I'm not quite sure to find all these albums that ya'll are talking about. Links please?

I actually found the Original Canadian Cast and 2nd Studio Recording in the music department of Borders Books and Music . . . the Canadian recording, especially, is pretty common. However, here are the links to their Amazon.com pages:

Original Canadian Cast Recording (Colm Wilkinson, Rebecca Caine, and Byron Nease) (http://www.amazon.com/Phantom-Opera-Highlights-Original-Canadian/dp/B0000072VS/ref=sr_1_26?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1208414537&sr=8-26)
1st Studio Recording (Graham Bickley, Claire Moore, and John Barrowman) (http://www.amazon.com/Phantom-Opera-Original-Soundtrack/dp/B000025XCS/ref=sr_1_28?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1208414729&sr=1-28)
2nd Studio Recording (Ethan Freeman, Claire Moore, and John Barrowman) (http://www.amazon.com/Andrew-Webbers-Phantom-Sunset-Boulevard/dp/B000005BGM/ref=sr_1_38?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1208414778&sr=1-38)

Not sure where to find the Korean cast -- a friend gave it to me.


I have to agree about Colm's version of Erik. Ugh! He needs to stick to Valjean and leave Erik alone!

Actually, if you think about it, he kind of was the original stage Erik in Andrew Lloyd Webber's version -- when the show was still being written (and before Charles Hart had taken over from Richard Stilgoe as lyricist), he performed in a "preview" version of the show at ALW's home in Sydmonton. But then again, Michael Crawford and Hal Prince brought so much to the show and character when the "final draft" of the show was made that Erik became a totally different role from what Colm had portrayed in the "preview." Still, it seems kind of natural that he would "come home" to POTO at some point after the show opened.

James, I found this one recording that apparently had a cast from Cats sing the songs. DON'T get it! Don't even hear a sample! It will make your ears bleed! And that's a warning for everyone.

Oh, dear . . . yes, I hope I'll never have to hear that one. Although . . . weren't Sarah Brightman and Steve Barton (the original Christine and Raoul in London) performing in Cats before ALW cast them in POTO? I think I read somewhere that they were. *shrug*

[Ingenuous Soprano]

Oh, dear . . . yes, I hope I'll never have to hear that one. Although . . . weren't Sarah Brightman and Steve Barton (the original Christine and Raoul in London) performing in Cats before ALW cast them in POTO? I think I read somewhere that they were. *shrug*

Yes, they were (Brightman in London and Barton in Germany I believe), but this isn't even a very good cast for Cats. Whether you hear the OLC or OBC of Cats, these people aren't that good.

[The Countess]

Is that sample on youtube or something? I want to be bad to myself and listen. Blast my curiousity. Hopefully it'll kill the Cat. Haha.

Thanks for the links as well, appericate it. :)

[Ingenuous Soprano]

I didn't hear it on youtube. It was on yahoo jukebox. My curiosity ended up torturing my ears! I nearly went running! I'd hoped it would get better as it went on, but nope.
I can't find it on amazon. Probably for the best. I'll let you know what it looks like though (otherwise the curiosity will only get worse!). The cover is black with a very feathery, strange sort of thing I think I remember it being a hat. Like the black one stage phantoms where in Wandering Child. It's called "A Tribute to the Phantom of the Opera".

[The Countess]

Alrighty, thank you very much. As always, you've been very helpful. Well, maybe you won't be so helpful if I die listening to it ;) Let's just cross our fingers that that doesn't happen because I don't think too many people will not miss me ;)

[Ingenuous Soprano]

Oh it's some "tribute"! Haha!

Don't die. I'd miss so you and so would other people here.

[The Countess]

:eek:

Oh my God, that was painful. What were they thinking? What were they thinking? That was dreadful, just dreadful. I listened to all of the tracks (rather 30 seconds but still) and out of all of them, Masquerade was the most passable. The guy who played Erik shamed POTO. Terriable...

[Ingenuous Soprano]

What did I tell you?

Blast our stupid curiosity!

[ChristineJ16]

Now you got me curious, but I couldn't get the samples to work. A little window kept popping up saying, "sorry, the sample is unable to be played". The Countess will probably tell me how lucky I am to not be able to hear it, lol!

[Ingenuous Soprano]

You have no idea how bad it is! My gosh! *facepalm from the memory of the agony*

[The Countess]

If you really have an urge to, I had a similar problem as well, try allowing all pop-up on the website.

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

My sister has a CD that's a tribute to ALW. The guy who sings as Erik sounds actually operatic, as does the woman singing Christine's part, but she is clearly an alto or mezzo and the "E" at the end isn't even attempted; that whole part of the song is shortened immensely and the music keeps going. Though the voices were lovely, I think they should have cast better for the tribute.

[Ingenuous Soprano]

That's definitely not the one I heard. You're lucky.

[IamErik771]

^_^; Much as I hate to continue picking on the original Canadian cast recording, I've got yet another issue with it now. A few weeks ago, a friend sent me a recording of a live performance of the same cast, from 1992 (I think).

And . . . they all sound great! Colm Wilkinson absolutely shines in terms of both singing and acting, the managers had me laughing like they should, Lyse Guérin actually made a very strong Carlotta, the chorus was very energetic (whereas they had no energy on the official recording), and even Byron Nease was acceptable -- I doubt he'll ever rank among my favourite Raouls, but he's no longer at the bottom of my list. So . . . what went wrong when they made the recording? I'm a bit afraid to ask, but maybe if they had waited for everyone to get settled into their roles before making it, the CD would have been a lot better.

*******

Another recording I was disappointed with was the:
Original Hamburg Cast. (http://www.amazon.com/Phantom-Opera-Original-German-Cast/dp/B000025XO1/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1210858836&sr=1-13)

This is another "highlights" recording that uses the same instrumental tracks as the Original Canadian Cast CD. But most of the cast is extremely good -- Anna Maria Kaufmann is among my favourite Christines ever, Hartwig Rudolz is a wonderful Raoul (and also played a great Firmin in the German dub of the 2004 film), and Pamela Sanabria makes a brilliant Carlotta.

So why am I disappointed with this recording? Five words: Peter Hofmann as the Phantom. His voice is unusual but acceptable; however, he conveys absolutely no emotion -- he sounds like he's sleepwalking through the role. I sincerely hope he didn't sound like that when he played the role onstage. If any of the other German Phantoms I've heard (even Uwe Kröger, whom I disliked but who at least tried to act) had done this recording instead, it could easily have been one of my very favourite recordings of the show ever -- I may have even ranked it higher than the Original London Cast, if only the Phantom had emoted just a little!

But yes, if you want to hear a fantastic Christine, Raoul, and supporting cast, do check out this recording. I must warn you, though, that you may find yourself skipping past "Musik der Nacht." :mask:

[Ingenuous Soprano]

I hope that his "Christine, ich liebe dich", at least, was okay though.

I like Uwe better as Der Tod in Elisabeth than as Erik in PDO (Phantom der Oper). Der Letzte Tanz is more up his alley than Musik der Nacht or Von Nun an Gibt es Kein Zurück. But, oh well.

I'll definitely have to hear the rest though. Thanks!

EDIT:
Listening to the clips on the German site.

Hofmann's not bad really. I like his voice, yeah he could have acted a heck of a lot more, but in the title song he sounds like he's trying to hypnotize her. Just the way he sings (translated) "Come sing with me tonight, by candlelight..." is all *wiggles fingers "magically"* very ... (how to say it?) it implies that. It sort of fits.... Sort of.

His part of "Von Nun an Gibt es Kein Zurück" could have been better.

"Das Unterirdische Labyrinth" is much better. He acts more in it. Not as much as Kaufmann, but at least he's acting.

[IamErik771]

Hmm, yeah . . . I guess it's a matter of personal taste. Some Phans I know say he's their favourite of any German Phantom. I'm just not feeling it, though. However, I heard a clip from a solo album that Anna Maria Kaufmann recorded, in which she sang "Das Phantom der Oper" with Peter, and I thought he sounded a good deal better.

I liked Alexander Göbel on the Vienna cast recording . . . His upper range wasn't the best, but his voice was wonderfully seductive. He also sang his verses in "Das Phantom der Oper" an octave lower -- apparently, that was done by the original director of the German-language productions because he liked it better that way, although most of the recent productions did it the original way. I still really wish Steve Barton had gotten to play Erik in a German production, though -- that would have been amazing. :D

[Ingenuous Soprano]

I guess. It's too something though and not enough energy.

(Listening now) His higher notes remind me of Uwe for some reason. Same tone colour, I guess. I like that he has a lot more energy than Peter. I'm not into the different title for "Music of the Night" (Music of the Darkness... Scary, a lot less romantic).

Steve would have been an awesome German Erik. Oh, gosh! I can't stop gushing about his gorgeous baritone! *sigh* Wishing he were somehow here again...

[angelgirl]

I can't really say much, seeing as I've only listened to the OLC, (With Micheal and Sarah,) but I was definetly NOT disapointed!
Anyone know where I can listen to any other cast recordings?
A.G.

[Madame le Courayer]

Try listening to the Original Canadian Cast recording with Colm Wilkinson as Erik and Rebecca Caine as Christine...the two best to play the roles as far as I'm concerned. You can browse youtube for videos or buy the album from Barnes and Noble.com.